WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.009 Okay, let's unpack this. Yeah, let's do it. We 00:00:02.009 --> 00:00:06.370 are diving into a career that is truly the embodiment 00:00:06.370 --> 00:00:08.589 of that phrase, the voice you know, the face 00:00:08.589 --> 00:00:11.869 you recognize. We are talking about Fred Melamed. 00:00:12.050 --> 00:00:14.949 Fred Melamed, an incredible career. This is really 00:00:14.949 --> 00:00:16.969 a story of professional patience, you know, and 00:00:16.969 --> 00:00:19.429 then that sudden, almost explosive recognition 00:00:19.429 --> 00:00:21.890 that happens when a lifetime of craft finally 00:00:21.890 --> 00:00:24.510 meets the perfect role. Exactly. Our mission 00:00:24.510 --> 00:00:27.050 today isn't just like listing credits. It's about 00:00:27.050 --> 00:00:31.030 tracing this fascinating, almost dual trajectory. 00:00:31.210 --> 00:00:33.810 of Fred Melamed. The character actor and the 00:00:33.810 --> 00:00:36.630 voice artist. Precisely. And it's a career defined 00:00:36.630 --> 00:00:40.469 by these two really distinct phases. Almost contradictory, 00:00:40.649 --> 00:00:42.969 actually. How so? Well, first you've got this 00:00:42.969 --> 00:00:45.630 nearly 30 -year stretch where he's one of Hollywood's 00:00:45.630 --> 00:00:48.689 most invisible yet totally indispensable voices. 00:00:48.890 --> 00:00:50.810 Right, the pure sound of prestige. You heard 00:00:50.810 --> 00:00:53.829 him everywhere. Everywhere. And then, phase two. 00:00:54.429 --> 00:00:58.170 This dramatic late career shift into becoming 00:00:58.170 --> 00:01:00.909 this critically acclaimed, highly visible screen 00:01:00.909 --> 00:01:03.530 presence. It really is the ultimate slow burn 00:01:03.530 --> 00:01:06.129 success story, isn't it? It totally is. For decades, 00:01:06.290 --> 00:01:08.150 like you said, he's the sound of everything important. 00:01:08.290 --> 00:01:13.750 The Olympics, Mercedes -Benz, but his face. Secondary. 00:01:13.930 --> 00:01:16.450 Almost unknown to the wider public. Then, boom, 00:01:16.670 --> 00:01:19.310 the Coen brothers put his face on the map with 00:01:19.310 --> 00:01:22.409 a serious man, and suddenly he's irreplaceable. 00:01:22.469 --> 00:01:26.069 Yeah, Cy Abelman. Unforgettable. It's no wonder 00:01:26.069 --> 00:01:28.750 Vulture called him one of the 32 greatest character 00:01:28.750 --> 00:01:30.629 actors working today. Definitely earned that 00:01:30.629 --> 00:01:32.989 title. So this deep dive is really your shortcut 00:01:32.989 --> 00:01:35.790 to understanding that surprising versatility, 00:01:35.950 --> 00:01:38.049 that depth. OK, so to get that understanding, 00:01:38.189 --> 00:01:39.430 we need to start at the beginning, right? The 00:01:39.430 --> 00:01:41.629 foundations. Exactly. Got to look at the foundations. 00:01:41.849 --> 00:01:45.689 He was born May 13, 1956, New York City. And 00:01:45.689 --> 00:01:48.329 Melamed's path started with some serious theatrical 00:01:48.329 --> 00:01:51.090 credentials. Yeah, I saw that. A B .A. from Hampshire 00:01:51.090 --> 00:01:54.069 College. And then an M .F .A. from Yale. Yeah. 00:01:54.150 --> 00:01:56.049 The Yale School of Drama. Which is, you know, 00:01:56.069 --> 00:01:58.709 top tier. Absolutely. And he's been active professionally 00:01:58.709 --> 00:02:01.609 since 1981. So that's, what, over four decades 00:02:01.609 --> 00:02:03.790 in the business. Wow. That really underscores 00:02:03.790 --> 00:02:05.930 the persistence you mentioned earlier, the slow 00:02:05.930 --> 00:02:08.830 burn. Decades of work building up. Okay. So digging 00:02:08.830 --> 00:02:10.849 into the sources on his early life, something 00:02:10.849 --> 00:02:15.009 that immediately jumps out is the complex nature 00:02:15.009 --> 00:02:18.360 of his beginning, his parentage. The adoption. 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:20.740 Yeah, it's quite layered. It almost hints at 00:02:20.740 --> 00:02:23.000 a performer who is kind of destined to inhabit 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:26.099 dual roles or identities from the start. It's 00:02:26.099 --> 00:02:28.400 an extraordinary start, really. He was the product 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:31.020 of a brief love affair. Okay. Which meant he 00:02:31.020 --> 00:02:33.860 inherited this highly specific biological lineage. 00:02:34.419 --> 00:02:38.580 His mother was Nancy Zala, an actress and director. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:41.080 Oh, okay. Performance background there. Right. 00:02:41.159 --> 00:02:44.199 And his father was Stan Silverstone, a... British 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:46.840 psychoanalyst. Psychoanalyst. Interesting mix. 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:49.280 And here's the kicker for anyone who knows their 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:53.039 theater history. His biological father, Silverstone, 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:56.080 was actually related to the famous Adler acting 00:02:56.080 --> 00:02:58.800 family. No kidding. Luther and Stella Adler. 00:02:58.840 --> 00:03:01.699 That Adler family. An exact lineage. Stella Adler, 00:03:01.740 --> 00:03:04.039 the legendary acting teacher. Wow. So you've 00:03:04.039 --> 00:03:06.219 got the method acting pedigree and psychoanalysis, 00:03:06.259 --> 00:03:09.280 the literal study of human motivation in his 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:11.479 DNA. Pretty much, yeah. Whether he knew it or 00:03:11.479 --> 00:03:13.580 not at the time, it's like this thematic inheritance 00:03:13.580 --> 00:03:16.819 before he was even adopted. That's fascinating. 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:19.740 It really sets the stage. Then he was adopted 00:03:19.740 --> 00:03:21.979 by Louis Melamed, who was a Manhattan television 00:03:21.979 --> 00:03:24.300 producer. Okay, so staying within the industry, 00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:28.379 sort of. Definitely. And Seema Melamed, his adoptive 00:03:28.379 --> 00:03:31.199 mother, was a sometime actress and housewife. 00:03:32.139 --> 00:03:36.419 But the key here is Louis Melamed. The TV producer. 00:03:36.699 --> 00:03:38.759 Right. He wasn't just any producer. He worked 00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:40.759 with the legendary comedy writer and creator 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:44.699 Nat Hinken. Nat Hinken. Car 54, Where Are You? 00:03:44.819 --> 00:03:48.319 The Phil Silver Show. Exactly. Foundational sitcoms. 00:03:48.620 --> 00:03:50.520 Louie Melamed worked on this. Okay, that's a 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:52.900 really crucial context point. Nat Hinken's work 00:03:52.900 --> 00:03:56.259 was basically the blueprint for character -driven, 00:03:56.319 --> 00:03:59.280 structured TV comedy. Absolutely, the architecture 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:01.460 of it. So being raised by someone who understood 00:04:01.460 --> 00:04:04.039 that architecture, Fred Melamed must have had 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:06.659 this insider's view of how television and performance 00:04:06.659 --> 00:04:09.080 worked structurally right from the get -go. You 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:10.840 have to assume so, right? Yeah. That must have 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:13.340 been invaluable later on. Oh, completely. He 00:04:13.340 --> 00:04:15.740 was raised with this immediate, almost sophisticated 00:04:15.740 --> 00:04:19.040 understanding of... Pacing, timing, character 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:21.519 construction. Stuff few performers get that early. 00:04:21.699 --> 00:04:24.420 And his education reflected that high -achieving 00:04:24.420 --> 00:04:26.920 environment, too, didn't it? It did. He went 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:29.240 to Hunter College Elementary School first. Which 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:31.519 is specifically for gifted kids, I believe. That's 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:33.879 right. And then later, the Riverdale Country 00:04:33.879 --> 00:04:37.680 School. So, a very strong academic start. But 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:40.120 then things changed. The stability hit a bump. 00:04:40.339 --> 00:04:43.319 Yeah, when he was 16. The sources mentioned serious 00:04:43.319 --> 00:04:46.120 financial difficulties. Oh, wow. And family was 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:48.639 forced to relocate. They moved from that New 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:51.779 York, high -achieving world down to Hollywood, 00:04:51.879 --> 00:04:55.410 Florida. Whoa. That's a massive shift geographically, 00:04:55.470 --> 00:04:58.149 culturally, especially during those teenage years. 00:04:58.310 --> 00:05:00.509 Huge shift. And while that move is important 00:05:00.509 --> 00:05:03.569 context, what's maybe even more illuminating 00:05:03.569 --> 00:05:06.430 is this unusual insight he shared about his religious 00:05:06.430 --> 00:05:08.269 upbringing. Or the lack of it, right? Exactly. 00:05:08.290 --> 00:05:10.589 The lack thereof. He was raised in a secular, 00:05:10.750 --> 00:05:13.589 non -believing Jewish family. Okay. He actually 00:05:13.589 --> 00:05:15.930 recalled in interviews that his family found 00:05:15.930 --> 00:05:18.769 most of the formalized parts of Judaism either 00:05:18.769 --> 00:05:21.930 incomprehensible or just kind of off -putting. 00:05:22.170 --> 00:05:24.410 So they like the family holidays, the nostalgia 00:05:24.410 --> 00:05:27.730 maybe. Right, the cultural aspect perhaps. But 00:05:27.730 --> 00:05:30.149 there was no forced adherence. They never went 00:05:30.149 --> 00:05:33.269 to synagogue except for one cousin's bar mitzvah. 00:05:33.370 --> 00:05:35.250 And he chose not to go to Hebrew school himself. 00:05:35.550 --> 00:05:38.889 He did. And he emphasized it wasn't like rebellion. 00:05:38.889 --> 00:05:41.370 It was just genuinely a non -dogmatic household. 00:05:41.829 --> 00:05:44.269 No pressure either way. Okay, and here's the 00:05:44.269 --> 00:05:46.990 really interesting part I found. He credits that 00:05:46.990 --> 00:05:50.939 environment. That lack of forced dogma to overcome, 00:05:51.319 --> 00:05:53.620 as he put it, with actually helping him develop 00:05:53.620 --> 00:05:56.259 a belief in God later in life. Isn't that fascinating? 00:05:56.519 --> 00:05:58.500 He suggests that because he didn't have to push 00:05:58.500 --> 00:06:01.000 back against rigid rules or doctrines. Right. 00:06:01.100 --> 00:06:03.240 His own search for faith, when it eventually 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:07.139 happened, felt more genuine, unburdened. That's 00:06:07.139 --> 00:06:09.779 a really wild idea, that the absence of religious 00:06:09.779 --> 00:06:12.300 pressure actually created a pathway to spiritual 00:06:12.300 --> 00:06:14.339 belief later on. It flips the usual narrative, 00:06:14.459 --> 00:06:16.660 doesn't it? Totally. And how does that mindset... 00:06:17.319 --> 00:06:19.839 you know, appreciating critical distance, flexibility 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:23.040 over rigid rules. How might that translate to 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:25.420 his acting? Well, think about it. It seems like 00:06:25.420 --> 00:06:28.100 the perfect foundation for someone who needs 00:06:28.100 --> 00:06:31.579 to inhabit all these radically specific, sometimes 00:06:31.579 --> 00:06:34.139 contradictory characters. He's free from the 00:06:34.139 --> 00:06:36.680 pressure of always playing himself, maybe. It 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:39.420 allows for tremendous analytic distance, I think. 00:06:40.410 --> 00:06:42.670 He can observe and construct a character without 00:06:42.670 --> 00:06:45.290 being bound by a pre -existing personal dogma. 00:06:45.310 --> 00:06:47.850 Makes sense. But before Florida, before that 00:06:47.850 --> 00:06:50.769 move, he was already cementing his craft, right? 00:06:51.350 --> 00:06:54.050 Serious theatrical training. Oh yeah. At Hampshire 00:06:54.050 --> 00:06:56.670 College, he trained with some really towering 00:06:56.670 --> 00:07:00.110 figures. Tina Packer. Shakespearean master, founder 00:07:00.110 --> 00:07:02.569 of Shakespeare and Company. Exactly. John Quarry, 00:07:02.689 --> 00:07:05.170 the playwright. Brilliant experimental stuff. 00:07:05.529 --> 00:07:07.430 And members of the Living Theater, too. Wow. 00:07:07.589 --> 00:07:10.829 So that's exposure to classical rigor and radical 00:07:10.829 --> 00:07:13.350 experimentation right off the bat. That combination 00:07:13.350 --> 00:07:15.949 seems almost tailor -made for the kinds of directors 00:07:15.949 --> 00:07:18.209 he'd work with later, like the Coens or Woody 00:07:18.209 --> 00:07:20.490 Allen. Yeah, directors who blend high comedy 00:07:20.490 --> 00:07:23.850 with classical structure or even tragedy. And 00:07:23.850 --> 00:07:25.750 then he leveled up again, going to the Yale School 00:07:25.750 --> 00:07:28.500 of Drama. Which is notoriously competitive. Getting 00:07:28.500 --> 00:07:31.240 in is huge. Absolutely. And he was recognized 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:33.540 there, too. He was a Samuel F .B. Morris College 00:07:33.540 --> 00:07:36.060 Graduate Fellow. Okay. And nominated for the 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:38.699 Irene Ryan Award. That's a major national recognition 00:07:38.699 --> 00:07:41.399 for promising young actors. So clearly marked 00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:44.339 for success early on in the legitimate theater 00:07:44.339 --> 00:07:47.160 world. Definitely. And upon graduating, he was 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:49.639 immediately working. Serious theater scene stuff. 00:07:49.860 --> 00:07:52.720 The Guthrie Theater. Minneapolis. Yale Rep. The 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:55.660 Kennedy Center in D .C. And then Broadway. The 00:07:55.660 --> 00:07:58.259 big one. Right. His major debut came in 1981. 00:07:58.540 --> 00:08:01.019 The huge hit. Tony Award winning production of 00:08:01.019 --> 00:08:04.259 Amadeus. Peter Schaffer's play. Massive. Massive. 00:08:04.259 --> 00:08:06.180 He played multiple roles in that across this 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:09.040 run, which went until 1983. That was the launch 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:11.300 pad. A real testament to his classical training. 00:08:11.540 --> 00:08:14.500 Okay, so Amadeus ends in 83. A professional high, 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:18.279 no doubt. But then, a huge pivot point. Yeah, 00:08:18.300 --> 00:08:19.899 this is where it gets really interesting, like 00:08:19.899 --> 00:08:22.500 you said. Because the stage work seems to, well. 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:25.319 It vanishes for a long time and the voice takes 00:08:25.319 --> 00:08:27.600 over. What happened? What was the catalyst for 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:29.899 that shift? Malumet himself has talked about 00:08:29.899 --> 00:08:32.240 this. He described the period after Amadeus as 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:35.960 a period of personal darkness. Some kind of professional 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:38.600 or emotional reckoning, it sounds like. And it 00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:41.360 led him to basically stop doing stage acting 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:44.539 altogether for a very, very long time. Wow. But 00:08:44.539 --> 00:08:46.659 that crisis coincided with something else, right? 00:08:46.779 --> 00:08:49.399 Right. Pragmatism kicked in. He discovered the 00:08:49.399 --> 00:08:53.019 voiceover industry. Apparently, his agent helped 00:08:53.019 --> 00:08:55.139 guide him there. And that connection back to 00:08:55.139 --> 00:08:57.659 his father, Louis Melamed, the TV producer. Exactly. 00:08:57.659 --> 00:09:00.340 That insider knowledge of advertising, production, 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:02.799 how that world worked. Yeah. It must have given 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:05.940 him a leg up. So he trades the visible, maybe 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:09.639 demanding stage work for the stability and crucially 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:11.700 the anonymity of the recording booth. That's 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:14.179 the key. Anonymity. And when we say voice acting, 00:09:14.279 --> 00:09:16.169 we're not just talking about like... Local car 00:09:16.169 --> 00:09:18.990 dealership ads. He became the institutional voice 00:09:18.990 --> 00:09:22.029 of American prestige. Ubiquitous is the word. 00:09:22.409 --> 00:09:25.990 Seriously. For decades, if a network or a major 00:09:25.990 --> 00:09:29.490 brand needed to convey absolute authority, gravitas, 00:09:29.490 --> 00:09:32.090 high stakes drama. They called him. They called 00:09:32.090 --> 00:09:34.750 Fred Melamed. He became the instantly recognizable 00:09:34.750 --> 00:09:37.970 sound of the Olympics. Okay, huge. The smooth, 00:09:37.970 --> 00:09:40.230 authoritative cadence of Mercedes -Benz ads. 00:09:40.409 --> 00:09:42.419 Right, I can hear that now. The hard sell of 00:09:42.419 --> 00:09:46.899 CBS Sports, the urgency of the USA Network promos, 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:49.700 the massive scale of the Super Bowl broadcasts. 00:09:49.700 --> 00:09:51.879 He was the sound of televised importance. His 00:09:51.879 --> 00:09:54.600 voice wasn't just heard. You trusted it implicitly. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:09:58.559 Exactly. Trust, authority, control. If we tried 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:02.399 to pin down his vocal quality, what made it so 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:05.100 effective for that high stakes branding? It's 00:10:05.100 --> 00:10:08.139 deep, but not like gravelly movie trailer deep. 00:10:08.340 --> 00:10:12.269 No, it's more measured. Yeah. Intelligent. It 00:10:12.269 --> 00:10:14.889 implies this immense controlled power. Yeah. 00:10:14.970 --> 00:10:17.070 Control is a good word. It's the modulation, 00:10:17.129 --> 00:10:20.210 I think. Yeah. And the precision. Melamed's voice 00:10:20.210 --> 00:10:22.889 has this precise, almost intellectual cadence. 00:10:23.129 --> 00:10:25.350 It sounds educated, a little bit theatrical, 00:10:25.389 --> 00:10:28.210 maybe from the Yale training, but never oversold. 00:10:28.389 --> 00:10:31.350 Right, not hammy. Never. It just signals sophistication. 00:10:31.350 --> 00:10:33.269 The sophistication of the product or the event, 00:10:33.350 --> 00:10:36.269 and that voiceover world, clarity and conveying 00:10:36.269 --> 00:10:38.490 immediate emotional tone are everything. And 00:10:38.490 --> 00:10:40.409 that training, the classical stage work, combined 00:10:40.409 --> 00:10:42.009 with the media exposure from his upbringing, 00:10:42.250 --> 00:10:44.429 it paid off massively. Hugely. But here's where 00:10:44.429 --> 00:10:46.529 we get to the really deep cut. The thing that 00:10:46.529 --> 00:10:48.730 proves his technical mastery beyond just reading 00:10:48.730 --> 00:10:51.490 ad copy beautifully. The sources note he was 00:10:51.490 --> 00:10:54.629 known within the industry for dubbing. Get this. 00:10:55.570 --> 00:10:57.990 Entire performances of other actors in films. 00:10:58.230 --> 00:11:00.629 Wait, not just ADR. Not just leaping a line here 00:11:00.629 --> 00:11:02.870 or there if the sound was bad. No, no. We're 00:11:02.870 --> 00:11:05.250 talking full vocal replacement. Yeah. If an actor, 00:11:05.370 --> 00:11:07.169 for whatever reason, maybe they got sick, maybe 00:11:07.169 --> 00:11:09.009 their accent wasn't right, maybe the location 00:11:09.009 --> 00:11:11.669 sound was a total disaster. Okay. Milamid would 00:11:11.669 --> 00:11:14.279 step into the booth. And he didn't just have 00:11:14.279 --> 00:11:17.179 to sound convincing. He had perfectly match the 00:11:17.179 --> 00:11:19.740 lip movements, the sync. Oh, my God. The emotional 00:11:19.740 --> 00:11:22.320 intensity, even the breathing patterns of the 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:26.059 actor on screen whose face wasn't his. That requires 00:11:26.059 --> 00:11:29.580 an almost schizophrenic level of control. You 00:11:29.580 --> 00:11:31.720 have to completely separate your own identity 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:33.840 from the voice you're producing while perfectly 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:36.360 mimicking someone else's physical rhythm. It's 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:38.799 the ultimate hidden performance. A ghost in the 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:41.039 machine, truly. It lines up perfectly with that 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:42.919 theme we talked about earlier. Hidden identities, 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:46.360 dual roles. It really does. And this anonymity, 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:49.019 this hidden career, allowed him to maintain a 00:11:49.019 --> 00:11:51.159 parallel track, especially with his film work. 00:11:51.460 --> 00:11:54.639 And specifically, his prolific output in the 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:57.419 Woody Allen universe. Yeah, his run with Woody 00:11:57.419 --> 00:11:59.779 Allen is just astonishing when you look at the 00:11:59.779 --> 00:12:01.720 numbers. It's incredible. He's appeared in more 00:12:01.720 --> 00:12:04.580 Allen movies than any other actor besides Diane 00:12:04.580 --> 00:12:07.120 Keaton, Mia Farrow, and Woody Allen himself. 00:12:07.850 --> 00:12:10.269 Think about that. That's more than Diane Weist, 00:12:10.309 --> 00:12:12.649 more than Tony Roberts, more than Wallace Shawn. 00:12:13.179 --> 00:12:15.580 That's a profound testament to his reliability 00:12:15.580 --> 00:12:18.919 and Allen's clear appreciation for his specific 00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:21.899 presence, that urban, intellectual, slightly 00:12:21.899 --> 00:12:24.600 neurotic vibe. The consistency is key. He started 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:27.539 pretty early with Allen, 1986, Hannah and her 00:12:27.539 --> 00:12:30.419 sisters. Right. But look at the types of characters 00:12:30.419 --> 00:12:33.000 Allen repeatedly cast him as. Usually professionals, 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:35.539 right? Doctors, lawyers. Exactly. The sophisticated 00:12:35.539 --> 00:12:38.899 friend, the smug professional, the educated urbanite 00:12:38.899 --> 00:12:41.320 who's often morally dubious or intellectually 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:44.809 pompous. He was in. Radio Days in 87. And wasn't 00:12:44.809 --> 00:12:46.870 he the ophthalmologist in Crimes and Misdemeanors? 00:12:46.990 --> 00:12:49.909 Yes. The wealthy ophthalmologist who meets a 00:12:49.909 --> 00:12:53.429 rather morally compromising end. That was 1989. 00:12:53.669 --> 00:12:55.970 Such a great role. Then Shadows and Fog in 91. 00:12:56.169 --> 00:12:58.429 Husbands and Wives in 92. Hollywood ending in 00:12:58.429 --> 00:13:01.090 2002. He just kept showing up. And these roles, 00:13:01.389 --> 00:13:03.350 even though they were often supporting parts, 00:13:03.590 --> 00:13:06.830 they allowed him to start honing that specific 00:13:06.830 --> 00:13:09.590 onscreen persona, didn't they? That controlled, 00:13:09.610 --> 00:13:12.990 slightly antagonistic intellectual. Yeah, the 00:13:12.990 --> 00:13:15.909 seeds of Cy Abelman were maybe being sown there. 00:13:16.250 --> 00:13:18.090 Which would obviously define his big breakthrough 00:13:18.090 --> 00:13:20.610 later. But even back in the 80s, his film work 00:13:20.610 --> 00:13:23.429 wasn't exclusively Woody Allen. No, not at all. 00:13:23.450 --> 00:13:26.710 His actual feature debut was in Marshall Brickman's 00:13:26.710 --> 00:13:29.750 comedy Lovesick. That was 1983. Marshall Brickman, 00:13:29.789 --> 00:13:32.389 another Allen collaborator, interestingly. Right. 00:13:32.490 --> 00:13:34.750 And then you see him taking on a really diverse, 00:13:35.029 --> 00:13:37.940 high profile 80s roles outside that circle. He 00:13:37.940 --> 00:13:40.639 was in Roland Jaffe's big period epic, The Mission, 00:13:40.779 --> 00:13:44.200 in 1986. Which is about as far from a Woody Allen 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:46.659 comedy as you can get. Dramatically different, 00:13:46.820 --> 00:13:49.120 yeah. And who could forget, or maybe some tried 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:51.940 to forget, his role in Elaine May's notoriously 00:13:51.940 --> 00:13:54.600 expensive and controversial comedy, Ishtar. Oh, 00:13:54.620 --> 00:13:57.960 Ishtar, 1987. He was in that. And The Pickup 00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:00.500 Artist with Robert Downey Jr. and Molly Ringwald, 00:14:00.659 --> 00:14:02.320 same year. So he was definitely a constantly 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:05.159 working actor, using that lucrative voice work, 00:14:05.259 --> 00:14:08.320 presumably. You'd have to assume so. To subsidize 00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:11.580 and support this film career that was slowly, 00:14:11.580 --> 00:14:14.899 steadily building towards finding that one defining 00:14:14.899 --> 00:14:17.899 character. Right. So if that last section was 00:14:17.899 --> 00:14:20.899 about his defining voice, achieving this kind 00:14:20.899 --> 00:14:22.980 of anonymous reliability. Yeah, the invisible 00:14:22.980 --> 00:14:26.779 career. This next section is all about the moment 00:14:26.779 --> 00:14:30.120 his distinctive face and that carefully modulated 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:32.899 persona. suddenly became internationally known. 00:14:33.080 --> 00:14:34.720 This is the breakthrough. This is the breakthrough. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:36.460 It's the moment the character actor finds the 00:14:36.460 --> 00:14:39.399 perfect, iconic vehicle. And that vehicle, that 00:14:39.399 --> 00:14:42.100 character, has to be Cy Abelman. Oh, absolutely. 00:14:42.419 --> 00:14:45.919 The unforgettable, unnervingly polite Cy Abelman 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:49.299 in Joel and Ethan Coen's 2009 masterpiece, A 00:14:49.299 --> 00:14:51.559 Serious Man. He's just a master class in passive 00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:53.480 -aggressive villainy. He's terrifyingly nice. 00:14:53.740 --> 00:14:55.620 He really is. And the film itself was nominated 00:14:55.620 --> 00:14:57.639 for Best Picture, so it had huge visibility. 00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:01.870 Melamed's portrayal of Cy... The man who essentially 00:15:01.870 --> 00:15:04.309 destroys the protagonist, Larry Gopnik, with 00:15:04.309 --> 00:15:07.110 extreme composure and faux sensitivity. Yeah. 00:15:07.230 --> 00:15:10.009 It brought him widespread critical acclaim. And 00:15:10.009 --> 00:15:12.470 what's so fascinating is how he uses that voice, 00:15:12.529 --> 00:15:16.129 that precise, trustworthy cadence he spent decades 00:15:16.129 --> 00:15:19.590 perfecting in voiceovers. He uses it to deliver 00:15:19.590 --> 00:15:22.250 these devastating lines with such sensitive, 00:15:22.330 --> 00:15:25.909 controlled calm. He basically weaponizes politeness. 00:15:26.090 --> 00:15:28.289 Perfectly put. He weaponizes politeness. And 00:15:28.289 --> 00:15:31.789 the critical praise was. Well, astronomical doesn't 00:15:31.789 --> 00:15:33.049 quite cover it. Yeah, we're not talking about 00:15:33.049 --> 00:15:35.509 just, oh, he was good. We're talking comparisons 00:15:35.509 --> 00:15:38.809 to some of the all -time great modern movie villains. 00:15:38.889 --> 00:15:40.830 You really need the quotes to get the scale of 00:15:40.830 --> 00:15:43.649 it. Film Confessional just went for it. They 00:15:43.649 --> 00:15:46.129 called Cy Abelman as great a contemporary movie 00:15:46.129 --> 00:15:49.490 villain as the Joker, Hans Landa, or Anton Chigurh. 00:15:49.629 --> 00:15:53.440 Wow. Joker, Landa, Chigurh, those are iconic, 00:15:53.539 --> 00:15:56.519 terrifying figures. Right. And they argued Mohamed 00:15:56.519 --> 00:15:58.879 had contrived the year's most brilliant force 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:01.600 of destruction, placing a character who basically 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:03.740 just wears a windbreaker and speaks calmly next 00:16:03.740 --> 00:16:05.659 to, you know, murderous psychopaths. It shows 00:16:05.659 --> 00:16:08.039 the sheer psychological terror he managed to 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:10.879 project. Exactly. And Empire Magazine agreed. 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:14.620 They labeled Cy Abelman one of the best Coen 00:16:14.620 --> 00:16:17.990 Bros characters of all time. Which... given the 00:16:17.990 --> 00:16:20.830 Coen's gallery of characters, is incredibly high 00:16:20.830 --> 00:16:24.669 praise. It resonated so deeply because, I think, 00:16:24.769 --> 00:16:28.730 it captured this specific type of societal menace, 00:16:28.789 --> 00:16:31.509 the person who can absolutely ruin your life 00:16:31.509 --> 00:16:34.110 while claiming they're only doing it out of sincere 00:16:34.110 --> 00:16:38.070 concern. Ugh, yeah. We've all maybe met a milder 00:16:38.070 --> 00:16:40.549 version of Cy Obleman. Unfortunately, yes. And 00:16:40.549 --> 00:16:43.029 the recognition was tangible, too. Awards bodies 00:16:43.029 --> 00:16:45.769 noticed. He shared the Independent Spirit Robert 00:16:45.769 --> 00:16:48.429 Altman Award, right? For the ensemble. He did, 00:16:48.490 --> 00:16:52.120 honoring the whole cast. And critically... Publications 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:54.399 like New York Magazine listed his performance 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:57.039 as among the best performances of the decade, 00:16:57.220 --> 00:17:00.440 not just the year, the decade. That's huge. And 00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:03.200 the biggest praise, arguably, came from the titans 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:05.279 of American film criticism at the time. Yeah, 00:17:05.299 --> 00:17:07.160 this was significant. A .O. Scott at the New 00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:09.559 York Times, Michael Phillips at the Chicago Tribune, 00:17:09.579 --> 00:17:12.619 and the late, great Roger Ebert. All three. All 00:17:12.619 --> 00:17:14.779 three publicly stated that his performance was 00:17:14.779 --> 00:17:16.940 absolutely worthy of an Academy Award nomination. 00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:20.039 Which he didn't get, unfortunately. No, he didn't. 00:17:20.410 --> 00:17:22.529 but for those three critics to align on that 00:17:22.529 --> 00:17:26.410 it was the moment the industry and syriot's film 00:17:26.410 --> 00:17:29.589 watchers collectively realized that the decades 00:17:29.589 --> 00:17:32.250 of invisible craft had produced this performer 00:17:32.250 --> 00:17:36.279 of absolutely singular ability The secret was 00:17:36.279 --> 00:17:38.359 out. And that visibility from a serious man, 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:41.059 it must have directly led to this sustained period 00:17:41.059 --> 00:17:43.339 of high -profile work that followed. Oh, absolutely. 00:17:43.539 --> 00:17:46.019 It opened doors, particularly reuniting him with 00:17:46.019 --> 00:17:48.279 major auteurs. He got back together with the 00:17:48.279 --> 00:17:50.819 Coen brothers pretty quickly in 2016 for Hail 00:17:50.819 --> 00:17:53.140 Caesar. Right, the big Hollywood ensemble piece. 00:17:53.319 --> 00:17:55.380 Yeah, appearing alongside George Clooney, Tilda 00:17:55.380 --> 00:17:57.500 Swinton, Ralph Fiennes. I mean, that's the A 00:17:57.500 --> 00:18:00.000 -list. And he became a real mainstay in the independent 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:02.160 film scene too, didn't you? Where that unique 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:04.940 ability to play highly specific, maybe slightly... 00:18:04.940 --> 00:18:07.339 abrasive characters is really valued. Exactly. 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:09.779 These aren't just like generic supporting roles. 00:18:09.980 --> 00:18:12.319 They're complex character studies. Like in Lake 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:16.200 Bell's movie. Yes. He starred as Sam in Lake 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:20.319 Bell's 2013 Sundance hit, In a World. which, 00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:22.579 fittingly, is a film about voice actors. Ah, 00:18:22.660 --> 00:18:25.279 perfect casting. Right. It won the Waldo Salt 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:27.740 Screenwriting Award at Sundance. It allowed him 00:18:27.740 --> 00:18:30.240 to kind of directly address his own career history 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:32.519 right there on screen. That's great. And then 00:18:32.519 --> 00:18:35.180 there are others. Lemon. Lemon in 2017. Yeah. 00:18:35.240 --> 00:18:37.359 And then he also did some interesting genre work 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:41.089 that really utilized his gravitas. The brutal 00:18:41.089 --> 00:18:44.309 Western horror film Bone Tomahawk in 2015. Oh, 00:18:44.329 --> 00:18:46.490 yeah, with Kurt Russell. Intense movie. Very 00:18:46.490 --> 00:18:49.250 intense. And S. Craig Zoller's other film, the 00:18:49.250 --> 00:18:52.250 really violent crime thriller Brawl in Cell Block 00:18:52.250 --> 00:18:56.349 99 in 2017 alongside Vince Vaughn. So these roles 00:18:56.349 --> 00:18:58.869 proved he could do more than just the smug intellectual 00:18:58.869 --> 00:19:01.900 type. He had range beyond Cy Abelman. Definitely 00:19:01.900 --> 00:19:04.740 showed more grit, more darkness sometimes. And 00:19:04.740 --> 00:19:07.480 the success of this whole 2010s period also seemed 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:09.619 to facilitate something really significant, maybe 00:19:09.619 --> 00:19:12.160 emotionally significant for him. Which was? A 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:14.859 return to the stage. Ah, after decades away, 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:16.960 after that period of personal darkness that started 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:19.619 after Amadeus back in the early 80s. Exactly. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:22.880 This return in 2011 felt hugely symbolic. He 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:24.420 came back to Broadway in a production called 00:19:24.420 --> 00:19:27.970 Relatively Speaking. And get this. It was a collection 00:19:27.970 --> 00:19:30.630 of one -act plays, and he originated roles in 00:19:30.630 --> 00:19:33.250 pieces written by two people he already had close 00:19:33.250 --> 00:19:37.150 ties with. Ethan Coen wrote one called Talking 00:19:37.150 --> 00:19:40.490 Cure, and Elaine May wrote the other, George 00:19:40.490 --> 00:19:43.730 is Dead. Elaine May from Ishtar. It all comes 00:19:43.730 --> 00:19:46.390 full circle. Right. It shows a performer returning 00:19:46.390 --> 00:19:48.970 to the craft of theater, but maybe on his own 00:19:48.970 --> 00:19:51.210 terms this time, working with friends and masters 00:19:51.210 --> 00:19:53.210 he respected. That's wonderful. And he didn't 00:19:53.210 --> 00:19:55.640 stop there with theater, did he? No. His acclaimed 00:19:55.640 --> 00:19:59.079 performance in 2012 as Vanya in Chekhov's Uncle 00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:02.319 Vanya. A massive role. Huge role. At Guildhall 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:05.319 in the Hamptons. That really cemented his full 00:20:05.319 --> 00:20:07.839 return to theatrical seriousness. The New York 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:09.799 Times reviewed it. What'd they say? They praised 00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:13.380 his excellent, multi -layered performance. And 00:20:13.380 --> 00:20:15.759 they specifically noted his ability to capture 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:19.880 both the comic, awkward lover aspect of Vanya, 00:20:20.019 --> 00:20:22.119 while simultaneously bringing out what they call 00:20:22.119 --> 00:20:25.809 Vanya's vast... That combination, the funny, 00:20:25.849 --> 00:20:28.410 maybe awkward surface masking a deeper, tragic 00:20:28.410 --> 00:20:31.029 interior. That feels like the defining quality 00:20:31.029 --> 00:20:33.529 of his best screen roles, too, doesn't it? Absolutely. 00:20:33.730 --> 00:20:36.329 Yeah. Cy Abelman is funny until he's terrifying. 00:20:37.069 --> 00:20:40.269 It's that blend he nails. OK, so building on 00:20:40.269 --> 00:20:42.789 that. film breakthrough and the return to stage, 00:20:43.009 --> 00:20:46.269 Melamed then really cements his status, I'd say, 00:20:46.390 --> 00:20:50.130 as the go -to character actor for prestige television. 00:20:50.369 --> 00:20:52.769 Late 2010s, right through the 2020s. Yeah, he 00:20:52.769 --> 00:20:54.470 becomes indispensable. If you're making quality 00:20:54.470 --> 00:20:56.950 TV, you want Fred Melamed in there somewhere. 00:20:57.190 --> 00:21:00.509 He became the guy for those memorable, often 00:21:00.509 --> 00:21:03.490 antagonistic, or sometimes just comically exasperating 00:21:03.490 --> 00:21:05.789 roles across pretty much every major platform, 00:21:06.009 --> 00:21:08.549 streaming network. And the versatility is just 00:21:08.549 --> 00:21:10.410 staggering. Yeah. You can switch... seamlessly 00:21:10.410 --> 00:21:14.130 between like hyper -caffeinated comedy and really 00:21:14.130 --> 00:21:16.910 nuanced drama. Let's talk comedy first. His roles 00:21:16.910 --> 00:21:19.009 there often seem to lean into that signature 00:21:19.009 --> 00:21:21.750 smug cadence, right? Absolutely. He weaponizes 00:21:21.750 --> 00:21:24.309 it for laughs too. Yeah. He was Bruce Ben -Bakarach 00:21:24.309 --> 00:21:26.849 for 20 episodes of Maria Bamford's show Lady 00:21:26.849 --> 00:21:29.250 Dynamite on Netflix. This was wonderfully weird. 00:21:29.430 --> 00:21:31.890 Totally. He voiced the cartoon villain Gumball 00:21:31.890 --> 00:21:33.829 to great name in Adventure Time. Oh, I didn't 00:21:33.829 --> 00:21:35.970 know that was him. Yep. And who can forget his 00:21:35.970 --> 00:21:38.970 perfectly pompous turns as DC Parlov, the fantasy 00:21:38.970 --> 00:21:42.369 author, on Brooklyn Nine -Nine. Hilarious. The 00:21:42.369 --> 00:21:45.569 Skyfire Cycle. Exactly. Or the supremely self 00:21:45.569 --> 00:21:48.430 -satisfied J. Cronkite Valley Forge on New Girl. 00:21:48.839 --> 00:21:51.619 These roles just show his mastery of that high 00:21:51.619 --> 00:21:54.339 -speed, often absurd comic timing. But I think 00:21:54.339 --> 00:21:57.799 the perfect crystallization of his comedy persona, 00:21:58.099 --> 00:22:00.000 for me anyway, has got to be his recurring role 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.160 on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Ah, yes. As Larry David's 00:22:03.160 --> 00:22:06.619 psychiatrist. Dr. Arthur Thurgood. So smug. So 00:22:06.619 --> 00:22:09.200 hyper -composed. The scenes between Larry David 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:12.460 and Fred Melamed are just gold. Because Melamed, 00:22:12.539 --> 00:22:15.920 as Dr. Thurgood, never loses his composure. Ever. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.099 No matter what Larry throws at him. He delivers. 00:22:18.220 --> 00:22:21.019 these incredibly smug judgments with this clinical, 00:22:21.099 --> 00:22:24.839 almost infuriating calm. And that contrast, Melamed's 00:22:24.839 --> 00:22:27.180 measured voice against Larry's escalating frustration 00:22:27.180 --> 00:22:30.089 that's fundamentally comedic gold. And it directly 00:22:30.089 --> 00:22:32.029 leverages that vocal control, that precision 00:22:32.029 --> 00:22:34.450 he honed for decades doing voiceovers. Absolutely. 00:22:34.509 --> 00:22:36.130 He's using the same tool, just for a different 00:22:36.130 --> 00:22:38.150 effect. Now, switching over to drama and prestige 00:22:38.150 --> 00:22:40.990 TV, his presence instantly signals something 00:22:40.990 --> 00:22:43.289 else. Institutional power, complexity. Yeah, 00:22:43.329 --> 00:22:46.029 he often plays figures of authority. Legal, corporate. 00:22:46.170 --> 00:22:48.710 He was excellent as Judge Alan Cartman on The 00:22:48.710 --> 00:22:51.029 Good Wife. Kind of a tough guy jurist. Right. 00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:53.700 And his guest role on Fargo was particularly 00:22:53.700 --> 00:22:57.180 acclaimed, wasn't it? Yes. On the FX hit Fargo, 00:22:57.319 --> 00:22:59.740 he played Howard Zimmerman in the episode called 00:22:59.740 --> 00:23:03.220 The Law of Non -Contradiction. Which feels very 00:23:03.220 --> 00:23:06.220 Coen -esque, just from the title. Totally. It 00:23:06.220 --> 00:23:08.640 was a classic Coen -esque role, demanding that 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:12.240 mix of the mundane and the deeply strange. It 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:14.819 proves his ongoing connection to that whole aesthetic. 00:23:14.940 --> 00:23:16.960 It popped up in The Morning Show, too. Yep, as 00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:19.660 Neil Altman on The Morning Show. So consistently 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:22.440 in these high profile, critically respected dramas. 00:23:22.700 --> 00:23:25.460 And the 2020s have really ensured his continued 00:23:25.460 --> 00:23:28.720 relevance, putting him in huge pop culture franchises, 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:31.079 but also keeping him in critically acclaimed 00:23:31.079 --> 00:23:33.680 indie films. He balanced it perfectly. His entry 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:36.220 into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2021 was 00:23:36.220 --> 00:23:38.400 a pretty big moment. In WandaVision. Right, in 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:40.440 WandaVision. He played Todd Davis, who seems 00:23:40.440 --> 00:23:42.980 like Vision's normal boss initially, but then 00:23:42.980 --> 00:23:45.920 transforms into this highly stylized, almost 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:49.099 creepy sitcom persona, Arthur Hart. in that bizarre 00:23:49.099 --> 00:23:51.339 black and white premiere episode. Filmed before 00:23:51.339 --> 00:23:54.339 a live studio audience. Yeah, that was unsettling. 00:23:54.440 --> 00:23:57.059 And casting Melamed, a veteran character actor 00:23:57.059 --> 00:24:00.079 known for that subtle menace into that hyper 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:02.559 -controlled, surreal environment, it was kind 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:05.279 of genius. It immediately set the unsettling 00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:07.900 tone for the whole series. Definitely. But at 00:24:07.900 --> 00:24:10.039 the same time... He kept his indie credentials 00:24:10.039 --> 00:24:13.119 strong. He anchored two really successful festival 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:16.099 films around them. He did. He played Joel, this 00:24:16.099 --> 00:24:18.920 sort of sympathetic, maybe slightly awkward father 00:24:18.920 --> 00:24:22.220 figure in Emma Seligman's fantastic debut film, 00:24:22.339 --> 00:24:26.200 Shiva Baby. Which got huge acclaim in 2020. Massive 00:24:26.200 --> 00:24:28.759 buzz. Yeah. And then the following year, 2021, 00:24:29.259 --> 00:24:31.859 he was Marty in Nicole Beckwith's critically 00:24:31.859 --> 00:24:35.019 praised pregnancy comedy together. Together with 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:37.480 Ed Helms and Patty Harrison. Right. And those 00:24:37.480 --> 00:24:39.140 roles, they show his warmer side, don't they? 00:24:39.559 --> 00:24:42.099 Sincerity, warmth. Right. A real contrast to 00:24:42.099 --> 00:24:44.440 the antagonism of Cy Abelman or the smugness 00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:46.720 of Dr. Thurgood. Totally. Shows the range is 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:49.180 still expanding. And his career renaissance was 00:24:49.180 --> 00:24:50.960 kind of officially confirmed, you could say, 00:24:51.019 --> 00:24:54.440 in 2021 when Vulture and New York Magazine solidified 00:24:54.440 --> 00:24:56.400 his status. That's when they named him one of 00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:58.640 the 32 greatest character actors working today. 00:24:59.150 --> 00:25:01.690 Exactly. A huge validation. And his recent work 00:25:01.690 --> 00:25:03.869 has kept up that high prestige level, leading 00:25:03.869 --> 00:25:06.509 to more awards recognition, too. Yeah. His recurring 00:25:06.509 --> 00:25:09.529 role is Tom Passoro in the dark HBO comedy Barry. 00:25:09.670 --> 00:25:13.009 Great show. Great show. That was 2022 to 2023. 00:25:13.230 --> 00:25:15.250 That was another highlight. And it led to his 00:25:15.250 --> 00:25:17.089 nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Awards 00:25:17.089 --> 00:25:21.079 in 2024 for the ensemble. outstanding performance 00:25:21.079 --> 00:25:24.019 in a comedy series. So this whole phase just 00:25:24.019 --> 00:25:26.480 demonstrates that the man who was once the anonymous 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:30.480 voice is now an absolutely essential, celebrated 00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:33.660 part of almost any top tier cast, whether it's 00:25:33.660 --> 00:25:37.319 comedy or drama. Okay, so to really get the full 00:25:37.319 --> 00:25:39.839 picture of Fred Melamed as an artist, we kind 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:41.640 of have to look beyond just the performances, 00:25:41.779 --> 00:25:44.779 right? We need to consider his output as a writer, 00:25:44.839 --> 00:25:47.500 as a creator, which brings us back, interestingly, 00:25:47.640 --> 00:25:50.819 to that theme of hidden lives and focused, brilliant 00:25:50.819 --> 00:25:53.200 output. He's not just an actor waiting for the 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:55.640 phone to ring. He's an active screenwriter. He's 00:25:55.640 --> 00:25:57.839 got three produced screenplays listed. What are 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:00.140 they? Girl of the Perfume River, A Jones for 00:26:00.140 --> 00:26:03.230 Gash, and The Ash Hat Project. Okay. But his 00:26:03.230 --> 00:26:06.269 current writing project seems the most thematically 00:26:06.269 --> 00:26:08.650 resonant, maybe. The Map Thief Project. Yes, 00:26:08.690 --> 00:26:10.410 let's definitely focus on this for a minute. 00:26:10.509 --> 00:26:13.309 It's incredibly rich, almost self -referential 00:26:13.309 --> 00:26:15.609 when you think about his career. So he's developing 00:26:15.609 --> 00:26:17.670 a long -form television version of something 00:26:17.670 --> 00:26:19.730 called The Preservationists. Right, which is 00:26:19.730 --> 00:26:22.589 a fictional drama, but it's inspired by a true 00:26:22.589 --> 00:26:25.509 case involving a college friend of his. A college 00:26:25.509 --> 00:26:28.309 friend from Hampshire. Exactly. The friend was 00:26:28.309 --> 00:26:32.890 Edward Forbes Smiley III. A cartographic expert, 00:26:33.089 --> 00:26:36.730 a dealer in antique maps. Someone Melman knew 00:26:36.730 --> 00:26:39.190 back in college. Okay, so a respected figure 00:26:39.190 --> 00:26:41.809 in that niche world. Highly respected. Yeah. 00:26:41.910 --> 00:26:44.390 Until he was caught and eventually admitted to 00:26:44.390 --> 00:26:46.670 being, in his own words, the most brazen and 00:26:46.670 --> 00:26:50.029 prolific map thief of all time. Wow. Stealing 00:26:50.029 --> 00:26:52.789 rare maps from libraries and institutions? Decisely. 00:26:52.789 --> 00:26:55.529 Yale's library, Harvard's, the British library, 00:26:55.869 --> 00:26:58.250 high -level stuff. Okay, the thematic parallel 00:26:58.250 --> 00:27:01.319 here is just... It's undeniable and kind of essential 00:27:01.319 --> 00:27:03.440 to understanding Melamed's artistic perspective, 00:27:03.660 --> 00:27:06.819 maybe. How so? Lay it out. Well, you have Melamed, 00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:10.200 who spent decades inhabiting hidden roles, literally 00:27:10.200 --> 00:27:13.180 dubbing other actors' voices, voicing global 00:27:13.180 --> 00:27:15.950 brands anonymously. The invisible man with the 00:27:15.950 --> 00:27:18.710 authoritative voice. Right. And now he chooses 00:27:18.710 --> 00:27:21.609 to write a fictionalized drama about a brilliant 00:27:21.609 --> 00:27:24.809 hidden figure from his own past who also operated 00:27:24.809 --> 00:27:27.569 on the periphery, stealing identities or artifacts 00:27:27.569 --> 00:27:30.750 while maintaining this polite professional facade. 00:27:31.309 --> 00:27:33.950 Yeah, the link is too compelling to ignore. Yeah. 00:27:34.329 --> 00:27:36.670 the man who provides a professional, respected 00:27:36.670 --> 00:27:39.690 voice masking a hidden technical virtuosity. 00:27:39.829 --> 00:27:42.170 And the map expert who provides professional, 00:27:42.210 --> 00:27:45.549 respected knowledge, masking a prolific criminal 00:27:45.549 --> 00:27:49.450 secret. It suggests a deep, maybe personal fascination 00:27:49.450 --> 00:27:51.750 with that concept of the successful hidden double 00:27:51.750 --> 00:27:54.410 life, what goes on behind the facade. Absolutely. 00:27:54.589 --> 00:27:56.390 Okay. Shifting slightly to his personal life 00:27:56.390 --> 00:27:58.289 for context. We know he lived out in Montauk, 00:27:58.329 --> 00:27:59.910 New York for many years. Right. The end of Long 00:27:59.910 --> 00:28:02.289 Island. Kind of artistic, maybe a bit isolated 00:28:02.289 --> 00:28:04.569 out there. Yeah, before relocating to Los Angeles 00:28:04.569 --> 00:28:07.210 in 2013, which lines up pretty neatly with his 00:28:07.210 --> 00:28:10.009 big critical career upswing after A Serious Man. 00:28:10.150 --> 00:28:13.289 Good point. The timing makes sense. And he moved 00:28:13.289 --> 00:28:16.589 with his then -wife, Leslie Spieler, and their 00:28:16.589 --> 00:28:19.900 twin sons. They've been married since 1999. So 00:28:19.900 --> 00:28:23.140 moving to L .A. probably helped stabilize things, 00:28:23.279 --> 00:28:26.339 consolidate his focus during that period of professional 00:28:26.339 --> 00:28:29.660 acceleration. Likely. And it's also really crucial 00:28:29.660 --> 00:28:32.240 to note the dedication that he and Leslie shared 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:34.660 regarding their family life. This relates to 00:28:34.660 --> 00:28:37.599 their sons, right? Yes. Both of their twin sons 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:40.640 were diagnosed with autism. Okay. And this diagnosis 00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:44.220 led both Fred and his wife Leslie to become heavily 00:28:44.220 --> 00:28:47.849 involved in advocacy. for persons living with 00:28:47.849 --> 00:28:50.289 autism spectrum disorder and for their families. 00:28:50.450 --> 00:28:52.769 So while his professional life is often focused 00:28:52.769 --> 00:28:55.089 on portraying these complex, sometimes morally 00:28:55.089 --> 00:28:57.950 ambiguous characters, his personal life has been 00:28:57.950 --> 00:29:01.490 grounded in this deep, very specific, very real 00:29:01.490 --> 00:29:03.710 -world advocacy. That's a powerful contrast, 00:29:03.769 --> 00:29:06.269 or maybe a balance, channeling energy into genuine 00:29:06.269 --> 00:29:08.910 purpose. Shows another dimension, for sure. It's 00:29:08.910 --> 00:29:10.650 noted in the sources that his marriage, Leslie, 00:29:10.849 --> 00:29:13.690 did end. They divorced in 2021. So as we kind 00:29:13.690 --> 00:29:15.890 of summarize his accolades, thinking about his 00:29:15.890 --> 00:29:18.140 whole life, career, we really need to balance 00:29:18.140 --> 00:29:20.859 the recognition he got for both phases. Right. 00:29:20.920 --> 00:29:24.079 The visible and the invisible. Exactly. He won 00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:26.259 that Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award for 00:29:26.259 --> 00:29:29.779 A Serious Man, celebrating his face, his screen 00:29:29.779 --> 00:29:32.660 presence as part of that ensemble. Yep. But equally 00:29:32.660 --> 00:29:35.400 important. maybe, is the Lifetime Achievement 00:29:35.400 --> 00:29:37.400 Award he received back at the Voice Awards in 00:29:37.400 --> 00:29:41.220 2014. Ah, celebrating the anonymous sound. Precisely. 00:29:41.259 --> 00:29:44.039 It proves that eventually, the industry recognized 00:29:44.039 --> 00:29:47.259 the full scope of his mastery, the visible and 00:29:47.259 --> 00:29:50.039 the invisible parts of his craft. Hashtag Chagas 00:29:50.039 --> 00:29:53.079 Outro. So what does this all mean? When you put 00:29:53.079 --> 00:29:55.099 it all together, Fred Melmed's career is, yes, 00:29:55.099 --> 00:29:57.319 it's a masterclass in the slow, sustained build. 00:29:57.460 --> 00:29:59.440 We've established that. Definitely the long game. 00:29:59.619 --> 00:30:02.119 But maybe more profoundly, it's a study in professional 00:30:02.119 --> 00:30:04.849 duality. It really is. How do you mean? He spent 00:30:04.849 --> 00:30:07.569 decades mastering technical, anonymous control, 00:30:07.730 --> 00:30:10.029 being this voice artist where his face was completely 00:30:10.029 --> 00:30:12.910 secondary. He achieved success by perfecting 00:30:12.910 --> 00:30:16.109 a sound that conveyed trust, authority, but always 00:30:16.109 --> 00:30:18.130 just out of sight. The voice he knew. But didn't 00:30:18.130 --> 00:30:21.809 necessarily place. Then he transformed into this 00:30:21.809 --> 00:30:24.289 consummate character actor where his specific 00:30:24.289 --> 00:30:27.490 nuance, his instantly recognizable features are 00:30:27.490 --> 00:30:29.440 paramount. They're the whole point. The face 00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:31.940 you recognize, yeah. He went from being the guy 00:30:31.940 --> 00:30:35.079 who could secretly dub anyone's voice to the 00:30:35.079 --> 00:30:38.019 guy who is absolutely essential as this specific 00:30:38.019 --> 00:30:40.619 guy, whether it's the velvet -gloved menace of 00:30:40.619 --> 00:30:43.180 Cy Abelman or the smug psychiatrist Dr. Thurgood 00:30:43.180 --> 00:30:46.640 or those complex, powerful figures in prestige 00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:49.859 dramas. His defining trait, maybe, is that journey, 00:30:50.019 --> 00:30:52.460 moving from the anonymity of the sound booth 00:30:52.460 --> 00:30:55.000 to the undeniable specificity of the screen. 00:30:55.319 --> 00:30:57.640 And all while retaining that core vocal quality, 00:30:57.660 --> 00:31:00.259 that controlled, measured cadence, it's still 00:31:00.259 --> 00:31:02.400 there. It's his signature, linking both halves 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:04.700 of his career. Yeah. And this movement, this 00:31:04.700 --> 00:31:08.460 ability he has to inhabit the profoundly specific. 00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:11.799 It feels like it has deep roots in his biography, 00:31:12.019 --> 00:31:14.160 like we discussed. Finding his way to critical 00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:16.640 thinking, even faith, through a path defined 00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:19.779 by non -dogma, by a kind of freedom from definition 00:31:19.779 --> 00:31:21.920 early on. Which brings us right back to that 00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:24.039 fascinating figure he's writing about now, the 00:31:24.039 --> 00:31:26.900 map thief, Edward Forbes Smiley III. The man 00:31:26.900 --> 00:31:30.519 who lived a brilliant hidden identity. So given 00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:33.440 Melamed's own history, managing that double life 00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:36.180 of the anonymous voice and the emerging actor, 00:31:36.339 --> 00:31:39.359 and given his childhood defined by that secular, 00:31:39.460 --> 00:31:42.099 non -dogmatic environment, here's the final thought 00:31:42.099 --> 00:31:44.859 for you to chew on. Was that upbringing, that 00:31:44.859 --> 00:31:48.099 freedom from forced ideological molds, was that 00:31:48.099 --> 00:31:50.299 the very foundation that allowed him to develop 00:31:50.299 --> 00:31:52.859 the flexibility, the critical distance needed 00:31:52.859 --> 00:31:55.740 to so convincingly inhabit all these profoundly 00:31:55.740 --> 00:31:59.519 specific, often antagonistic personas? later 00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:02.640 in life. It's a compelling thought. Did the lack 00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:04.799 of dogma enable the actor? It certainly gives 00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:06.440 you something deep to think about, doesn't it? 00:32:06.519 --> 00:32:08.700 Next time you hear that familiar authoritative 00:32:08.700 --> 00:32:11.200 voice or see that unforgettable composed face 00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:12.160 pop up on your screen.