Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Catskills Comedian Jan Murray Dies at 89

Jan Murray, a Jewish comedian who got his start in the Catskills, died Sunday at 89. Murray, who was born Murray Janofsky in the Bronx to immigrant parents, was one of a generation of Jewish comedians that includes Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Shecky Greene and Buddy Hackett. He was a star of 1950s television, using his gravelly voice and his quick wit as a host of such game shows as “Treasure Hunt.” Murray’s second wife, who was not Jewish, hosted an annual Passover Seder at the couple’s house that was a Hollywood tradition, The New York Times reported.

Murray was also the longtime master of ceremonies for the annual West Coast Chabad Telethon.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.