Who was Jackie Mason's wife Jyll Rosenfeld? Rabbi-turned-standup comedian dies at 93
Stand-up comedian Jackie Mason, whose career spanned over decades and who became a national figure through a series of successful one-man shows died on Saturday, July 24, at the age of 93. Mason's friend, lawyer Raoul Felder, confirmed the news of his death.
The sad news came to light when Mason’s long-time friend and lawyer Felder confirmed the news to The New York Times. Mason is survived by his wife Jyll Rosenfeld and their children.
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Who was Jackie Mason's wife?
Mason was married to Jyll Rosenfeld, who has worked as a producer and writer for 'A Stroke of Genius' (1984), 'Stiffs' (1985) and 'One Angry Man' (2010). The couple got married on August 14, 1991.
Mason was one of the last of the Borscht Belt comedians, who recurred on 'The Simpsons' as the voice of Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky, the father of Krusty the Clown, winning his second Emmy for his efforts in 1992 and most recently voicing the character in a 2014 episode. He also appeared as himself in a 2007 episode of '30 Rock'. In the 2004 TV special 'Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time', he was ranked No. 63. The comic won a 1987 special Tony Award for his highly successful solo effort 'Jackie Mason’s The World According to Me!', which ran for 573 performances. He received an Emmy for writing the show after it aired on television in 1988. The one-man Broadway outings that followed included 'Jackie Mason: Brand New' in 1990-91, 'Jackie Mason: Politically Incorrect' in 1994-95, 'Love Thy Neighbor' in 1996-97, 'Much Ado About Everything' in 1999-2000 and 'Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed' in 2005. His final one-man show, 'Jackie Mason: The Ultimate Jew,' skipped Broadway.
“My parents never knew I was a comedian; my father was an orthodox rabbi who felt that all his sons should also become rabbis,” he said in 2015. He worked as a rabbi in both North Carolina and Pennsylvania and decided to pursue a career as a writer and performer following the death of his father in 1959. “Being a comedian would be tantamount to being a murderer so to protect him I never told him.” His style unabashedly drew from his Jewish upbringing. “I find it hard to be told (as I often used to be) that I was ‘too Jewish,’ he said. “This is like saying to a bear, ‘You have too much fur.'” “Doing comedy and finding new material is very easy for me,” he added. “I am an avid reader, I get through at least four newspapers a day and I am a TV news junkie so by the end of the day with the world in such disarray it is very easy to find humor in a dozen situations.”
Mason made his feature debut in 1972 as the star of 'The Stoolie' and later starred in 'Caddyshack II' in 1988. He had supporting roles in films like Steve Martin's 'The Jerk' and 'Mel Brooks’ 'The History of the World: Part I'. On television, he starred in the brief sitcom 1989 'Chicken Soup' and hosted 1992’s 'The Jackie Mason Show'.