Saul Rubinek

Saul Rubinek
Saul Rubinek at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International.
Born	(1948-07-02) July 2, 1948 Föhrenwald, Wolfratshausen, Upper Bavaria, Allied-occupied Germany
Occupation	Actor, Director, Producer and Playwright
Years active	1968–present
Spouse(s)	Kate (1977–?) Elinor Reid (1990–present; 2 children)

Saul Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a Canadian actor, director, producer and playwright, known for his work in TV, film, and stage. His first roles were in the TV films The Suicide Murders (1985) and Murder Sees the Light (1986). His first film role was in Obsessed (1987). He had roles in notable films including Against All Odds (1984), Oliver Stone's Wall Street (1987), The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), and the Academy Award-winning Western Unforgiven (1992). Rubinek's first play, Terrible Advice premiered in September 2011. He is also known for his role as Artie Nielsen in the Syfy TV series Warehouse 13.

Early life

Rubinek was born in Föhrenwald, Wolfratshausen, Germany, the son of Polish Jews Frania and Israel Rubinek, who was a factory worker, theatre company manager, Yiddish Theatre actor, and Talmudic scholar. Rubinek's parents were hidden by Polish farmers for over two years during World War II and moved to Canada in 1948.^[1][2][3]

Career

Early in his career Rubinek gained the attention of Canadian audiences when he starred as detective Benny Cooperman in two TV films, The Suicide Murders (1985) and Murder Sees the Light (1986), which are based on books in author Howard Engel's popular series of mystery novels set in the Niagara Region of Canada. Rubinek starred as Owen Hughes, the antagonist, in Obsessed (1987). In another TV film, Liberace: Behind the Music (1988), he played Seymour Heller, the long-time friend and manager of Liberace.

In 1982, he played Allan in the sexually-themed romantic comedy Soup For One, that was directed and written by Jonathan Kaufer and produced by Marvin Worth. Rubinek also appeared in Taylor Hackford's Against All Odds (1984), Oliver Stone's Wall Street (1987), as a lawyer, The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick (1988), as a fun-loving rabbi, Brian De Palma's The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), again as a lawyer, and in a lead part as a rabbi in The Quarrel (1991). He is also noted for his performance in Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992) as a pulp fiction writer. He had a notable role in Tony Scott's True Romance (1993) as a pompous, cocaine-addicted film producer. He also co-starred in the 1993 Emmy Award-winning American made-for-television docudrama And the Band Played On as Dr. Jim Curran. Rubinek played the character Kivas Fajo in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Most Toys". Rubinek, an ardent Star Trek fan, abruptly took over the part after David Rappaport, the actor who was originally cast in the role, attempted suicide shortly after filming of the episode had begun. Rappaport subsequently succeeded in committing suicide just after the episode premiered. Another science fiction role portrayed by Rubinek was as a documentary film director named Emmett Bregman, on the seventh season of the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, in a two-part episode called "Heroes, Parts 1 & 2". He also played Donny Douglas (Daphne Moon's fiancé and Niles Crane's divorce lawyer) in several episodes of the American sitcom Frasier. He appeared, in different roles, in two episodes of the 1995 revival of The Outer Limits. He played the role of Louis the Lion on YTV's The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon (1995). He also had a cameo appearance as a casino pit boss in the film Rush Hour 2.

Rubinek played Alan Mintz opposite Nicolas Cage in the 2000 film The Family Man. Also in 2000, Rubinek played Detective Saul Panzer in The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery, the series pilot for the 2001-2002 A&E TV series A Nero Wolfe Mystery, in which he would subsequently play the recurring role of reporter Lon Cohen. In 2005 he appeared in the short-lived American television series Blind Justice, and has appeared from 2006 to 2012 in the supporting role of Hastings Hathaway in the Jesse Stone series of TV films, starring Tom Selleck. His single-episode guest appearances during the 2000s include two 2004 episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, the "Adrift" episode in the beginning of Lost's second season in 2005, the 2006 "Invincible" episode of Eureka, the 2007 episode of the TV series Masters of Horror "The Washingtonians", and a 2008 episode of the TV series Psych. That same year he guest-starred as Victor Dubenich, the antagonist in the pilot episode of Leverage, reappearing in 2012 for the last two episodes of season 4. In 2013, he guest-starred in two subsequent episodes of the TV series Person of Interest.^[4][5]

In 2005, he directed the independent film, Cruel But Necessary. The following year he appeared in a supporting role in the 2009 Canadian feature comedy The Trotsky.

Rubinek starred in the Syfy series Warehouse 13 as Artie Nielsen, a covert agent employed by a secretive council to recover mystical artifacts with his team. The series finale was aired on May 19, 2014 on Syfy.

His first play, Terrible Advice premiered in September 2011 at the Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre in Southwark, London, starring Scott Bakula, Sharon Horgan, Andy Nyman and Caroline Quentin.^[6]

Filmography

Television

Film

Awards

• 1982 Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, for role in film Ticket to Heaven.

Director

• Jerry and Tom (1998)
• Club Land (TV 2001)
• Bleacher Bums (TV 2001) aka The Cheap Seats (Australian release video title)
• Cruel But Necessary (2005)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saul Rubinek.

• Saul Rubinek at the Internet Movie Database
• RubineX Cube
• "Actor to speak at Holocaust Education Week"; Frances Kraft, Canadian Jewish News, November 1, 2008