A Life Extraordinarily Well-Lived

Mark Zeller, born April 20, 1932 in Brooklyn, New York, died peacefully at his beloved home in Middlefield, Massachusetts on November 22, 2025 at the age of 93. 

Mark’s first performance came early: a word-for-word memorization of his Uncle Nathan’s Yiddish borscht-belt comedy routine, delivered for guests at his father Sam Zeller’s bed-and-breakfast in the Catskills. In 1949, he lied about his age to teach ballroom dancing at Arthur Murray Dance Studio on 5th Avenue which began a seven decade career in theater.

Mark went on to study with some of the most influential teachers of the 20th century, including Uta Hagen, Sanford Meisner, Kristin Linklater, and Robert Weede. Mark taught at NYU, Brooklyn College, the National Shakespeare Conservatory, under Jerome Robbins at the American Theater Laboratory, and was the founding director of Bill Ball’s American Conservatory Theater.

On Broadway, Mark appeared in Shangri-La, Arabian Nights, Reuben Reuben, Saratoga, Happy Hunting, and Ari. In the 1990 revival of Fiddler on the Roof, he played Lazar Wolf and understudied for Chaim Topol’s Tevye. During the first Gulf War, Mark stepped into the title role when Topol was unable to perform. His work there led to the starring role in a new Broadway production, Chu Chem, by Ted Allan and Mitch Lee.

In 1980, Mark and his wife, Dana Zeller-Alexis, founded the 78th Street Theatre Lab, an acting school and Off-Off-Broadway home that nurtured generations of New York’s aspiring actors, directors, and playwrights which they ran for thirty years. 

Mark and Dana never stopped performing. They made a late-career artistic home at the Boutique Theater in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where Mark’s final performance at the age of 87 was an evening of Leonard Cohen songs.

Mark was a joyful, strong, and loving father, grandfather, and brother. He is survived by his wife, Dana Zeller-Alexis; his son Steven and Steven’s wife, Dana; his sister Inez; and his granddaughter Lily.