Herb Edelman as an announcer for Armed Forces Radio, he enrolled in Brooklyn College as a theater student, but eventually dropped out. He later worked as a hotel manager and as a taxicab driver. One of his fares was director Mike Nichols, who in 1963 cast Edelman in his breakthrough Broadway role, as the bewildered telephone repairman in Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park". Edelman reprised his role in the 1967 film version (starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda). He appeared in the movie versions of Simon's "The Odd Couple" (1968) and "California Suite" (1978). He also appeared in an installment of
Barefoot in the Park (film) lead female role had been offered to Natalie Wood who had already played opposite Robert Redford in two movies. Wood declined the offer because she wanted to take time off from acting. Natwick was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Fonda was nominated for a BAFTA as Best Foreign Actress, and Simon received a nod from the Writers Guild of America. Corie (Jane Fonda), a free spirited young woman, and Paul Bratter (Robert Redford), a conservative, less free-spirited man, are a recently married couple, who move into a fifth floor apartment in Greenwich Village (one of the