Film & TV / Theatre & dance
Jeffrey Tambor
born 1944 · actor
Arrested Development and Larry Sanders Show actor who earned his master's degree in theater at Wayne State University in Detroit.
- Born
San Francisco, California
age 82- Birth name
- Jeffrey Michael Tambor
- Detroit years
- 1960s
- Field
- Film & TV, Theatre & dance
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
A San Francisco native, Jeffrey Tambor studied acting at San Francisco State University and then came to Detroit for graduate work at Wayne State University, whose theater program ran the Hilberry, a graduate repertory company in a converted church on Cass Avenue. After earning his master's degree he worked in regional theater and on Broadway before television made him a familiar face: first as the fussy neighbor Jeffrey Brookes in The Ropers (1979–1980), then as the insecure sidekick Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show and as George Bluth Sr. on Arrested Development. As Maura Pfefferman in Transparent he won two Emmys and a Golden Globe. In 2017 two women on the show accused him of harassment; he denied the allegations, and Amazon confirmed in 2018 that he would not return. Wayne State remains the Detroit chapter of his training.
Highlights
- Master's degree, Wayne State University
- Hank Kingsley in The Larry Sanders Show (1992–1998)
- George Bluth Sr. in Arrested Development
- Two Emmys and a Golden Globe for Transparent
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1960s
Wayne State University
Tambor earned his master's degree in theater here.
Studied here · 1960s
Hilberry Theatre
Closed · 1964–2022
Wayne State's graduate repertory theater, opened in 1964 in a 1917 Christian Science church. It closed in 2022 for conversion into a jazz center; the new Hilberry Gateway opened next door in 2023.