Edwin Sherin (January 15, 1930 – May 4, 2017) was an American-Canadian director and producer. He is best known as the director and executive producer of the
NBC drama series Law & Order (1991–2005).
When he was 16 years old, Sherin dropped out of
DeWitt Clinton High School and traveled to West Texas, where he worked on a cattle ranch. He eventually resumed his education at the
Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, graduating in 1948.[1] In 1952, he graduated from
Brown University, where he received a degree in international relations.[1] After graduation, Sherin enlisted in the Navy and fought in the
Korean War.[1]
He met
Jane Alexander while serving as the resident director at
Washington, DC's
Arena Stage, where he cast her and
James Earl Jones in The Great White Hope. In 1968, he directed the play and its two stars on
Broadway,[3] and the production marked the start not only of his Broadway directorial career, but a long professional and personal relationship with Alexander as well. In August 1973, he cast Jones as King Lear for his production on
King Lear at
The Public Theater'sShakespeare in the Park.[4]
He directed Alexander in First Monday in October on Broadway in 1978, Hedda Gabler at the Hartman Theatre (Connecticut) in 1981[5] in the American Playhouse television movie A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, in 1991.[6] and in the Broadway revival of The Visit.[7]
Sherin directed six plays at Washington, D.C.'s
Arena Stage, one per season for six consecutive seasons: The Wall (1963–64), Galileo (1964–65), St. Joan (1965–66), Macbeth (1966–67), The Iceman Cometh (1967–68), and King Lear (1968–69).[8]
Sherin won the 1969
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director for The Great White Hope[9] and was nominated for a 1974
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play, for Find Your Way Home.
Sherin directed the television films Lena: My 100 Children (1987), The Father Clements Story (1987), Settle the Score (1989), Daughter of the Streets (1990), and A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz (1991).
Sherin's first wife was actress Pamela Vevers, with whom he had three sons. The marriage ended in divorce.[1][16] In 1975, he married actress
Jane Alexander.[12]
^Arbuzov, Alekseĭ Nikolaevich.
ScriptDo You Turn Somersaults?: A Play in Two Parts (books.google.com), Samuel French, Inc., 1978,
ISBN0-573-60832-6, p.4