Andrew Rubin

Andrew Rubin
Andrew Rubin originated the role of Allan Willis, Tom and Helen's son, in Season 1 of The Jeffersons.
Personal Information
Gender:	Male
Height	6'0"
Birthname	Andrew Harold Rubin
Born:	(1946-06-22)June 22, 1946
Birthplace:	New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	October 5, 2015(2015-10-05) (aged 69)
Deathplace:	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation/ Career:	Actor
Years active:	1970–1998
Character information
Appeared on:	The Jeffersons
Episodes appeared in:	episode titled "Jenny's Low" in Season 1 of the series
Character played:	Allan Willis

Andrew Rubin (born June 22, 1946-died October 5, 2015) originated the role of Allan Willis, the son of Tom and Helen Willis, and the older brother of Jenny Willis on The Jeffersons TV series in Season 1, in the episode titled "Jenny's Low". He left the show in 1975 after one episode and was replaced in Season five by Jay Hammer, when the writers had Allan return from New Mexico.

Biography

Early life and career

Born Andrew Harold Rubin Andrew was born in the seaport town of New Bedford, Massachusetts. His father, Simon, owned a furniture and bedding factory and his mother, Leona (nee Greenstone) was an artist and international travel writer. Andy, as he was called then, began performing and acting at the age of 10. He wrote and starred in skits and plays at the Jewish Community Center. Afterward, he continued acting the leads in plays while attending New Bedford High School. He won a college acting scholarship from the high school in his senior year.

After breifly attending Wagner College in the mid 1960's, Andrew, with his heart in acting, auditioned for the famed American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, where he studied acting daily for two years. After graduation, he got a job as a page at NBC 30 Rock rising rapidly in the ranks to become the youngest full time writer in the history of the NBC Publicity Department. Going on auditions while at NBC landed him his first big time job. He was cast from hundreds of hopefuls to play the character of Cosmo in a guy/girl duo in a national commercial campaign (6 TV and 5 radio) for Sprite soda.

After being flown to California to shoot for two weeks on location, Rubin decided to move to California permanently to seek work. He met with success almost immediately, guest starring in various television dramatic series including "Ironside", "Streets of San Francisco", "Cannon" and dozens of others. He also scored recurring roles on well known comedies of the day such as "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman", "The Jeffersons", and "The Odd Couple".

Rubin's biggest break to date came when he was tapped by director Martin Ritt ('Hud','Sounder') to star as Walter Matthau's eldest son, Buddy, in the horse-racing picture "Casey's Shadow". Although the film and he got terrific reviews it was not a box office success because it conflicted with another Matthau film, "House Calls" (with Glenda Jackson) which was released the same day.

Another notable role the iconic 1984 comedy film, "Police Academy", playing the character of George Martin, the suave Lothario pretending to be Hispanic so he "could get the girls". Rubin then went on to star in three short-lived television series, "Jessica Novak" (with Helen Shaver), "Hometown" (TV version of "The Big Chill") and "Joe Bash", an offbeat comedy starring him and Peter Boyle as two lower Manhattan beat cops created and produced by Danny Arnold ("Barney Miller").

Andrew continued to work in TV doing films and mini-series ("Roughnecks", "Deadline: Madrid") and in movies ("Nuts"- playing Barbra Streisand's ex-husband, "Sunnyside", "Little Miss Marker", "Tell Me That You Love Me"). He also was a regular on the Los Angeles theater scene starring in the Company Theater's "James Joyce Memorial Liquid Theater", Sam Shepard's "The Unseen Hand" at the Odyssey, "Hopscotch" at LAAT and "The Passing Game", produced by Tom Hanks, at the Gene Dynarski.

It was about this time that Rubin went on what he calls a "walkabout" traveling the world. During that time he explored the pyramids of Egypt, the temples of India and the outback of Australia where he and his wife, Lauren, lived with an Aboriginal tribe in a remote region of the country. He would also return to work occasionally, playing Jules Bergman, ABC's Science correspondent in "From the Earth to the Moon", and also writing and starring in "Men and Their Fathers", a well received short film.

In 2012, Andrew began work in the filming of a documentary "The CURE Is U".

Death

On October 5, 2015, Rubin died of lung cancer in Los Angeles, CA.

External links

• Andrew Rubin at the Internet Movie Database
• Andrew Rubin article at Wikipedia