Robert Ellenstein was an American film, television and theatre actor.

The son of Meyer Ellenstein, a Newark dentist, Robert Ellenstein grew up in that New Jersey city and saw his father go on to become its two-term mayor. He served in the Air Corps during World War II: earning a Purple Heart

Purple Heart

The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...

 during his service. He attended NYU and graduated with honors from the University of Iowa. He began acting, directing and teaching in Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

. A veteran of the "Golden Age" of live TV (he played Quasimodo in a live Robert Montgomery Presents

Robert Montgomery Presents

Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950 until June 24, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its seven-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example,...

(1950) version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"), for the same show played the lead in "A Case of Identity", later turned into the film "The Wrong Man", he was the first actor to play Albert Einstein on TV. Ellenstein made his first film in 1954 (MGM

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

's Rogue Cop

Rogue Cop

Rogue Cop is a film noir directed by Roy Rowland, based on the novel by William P. McGivern , and starring Robert Taylor, Janet Leigh, and George Raft.-Plot:...

), he was featured in Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest". In 1961, he played the mobster Legs Diamond in an episode of NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

's 1920s crime drama The Lawless Years

The Lawless Years

The Lawless Years is the first television crime drama set during the Roaring 20s, having predated ABC's far more successful The Untouchables with Robert Stack by six months. The 47-episode half-hour series aired nonconsecutively on NBC from April 16 to August 27, 1959, from October 1, 1959, to...

with James Gregory

James Gregory (actor)

James Gregory was an American character actor noted for his deep, gravelly voice and playing brash roles such as McCarthy-like Senator John Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate , the audacious General Ursus in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, and loudmouthed Inspector Luger in Barney Miller...

.

He also directed television with an episode of the 1960s sitcom

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

, Love on a Rooftop

Love on a Rooftop

Love on a Rooftop is an American sitcom about a newlywed couple, Dave and Julie Willis, and their humorous struggles to survive in San Francisco on Dave's apprentice architect's salary of $85.37 a week...

with Judy Carne

Judy Carne

Judy Carne is an English actress best remembered for the phrase "Sock it to me!" on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.-Career:...

 and many live TV episodes. Ellenstein had over 200 television appearances. He performed hundreds of stage roles as an actor. He directed dozens theatre productions in New York, Los Angeles and in regional theater. He was artistic director of The Company of Angels and Founding Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Repertory Company. He received a lifetime achievement in theatre award from the LA Weekly in 1988. He is best known for having played the villain in the pilot episode of Moonlighting

Moonlighting (TV series)

Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...

(1985), and then the Federation President in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a 1986 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series and completes the story arc begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek III: The...

(1986). Ellenstein taught theatre professionally and academically for over 50 years, founding the Academy of Stage and Cinema Arts in Los Angeles.

He died on October 28, 2010. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Lois, daughter Jan and his two sons, David and Peter, both of whom are artistic directors of theatres.