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
Robert and Raymond Hakim with "À double tour" (1959) and "Les Bonnes Femmes" (1960), but worked with older directors (Luis Buñuel "Belle de jour" 1968) sometimes relatively new to international audiences (Michelangelo Antonioni "L'Eclisse" 1962). They also worked with Roger Vadim on a remake of "La Ronde" (1964), which starred Vadim's then wife, Jane Fonda. The Hakim's have a mixed reputation; American director Joseph Losey had an especially fraught relationship with them while making "Eva" (1962). In post-production, Losey and his team found the film had been recut during the weekend without their consultation; Losey and Robert Hakim almost came to blows. Michel Legrand