If you can still hum “Final Frontier,” the gentle piano tune Paul Reiser wrote with Don Was, you probably also remember where you sat when it played on NBC. Mad About You premiered on September 23, 1992, and for seven seasons it followed Paul and Jamie Buchman through a small Manhattan apartment, a not very bright dog named Murray and the kind of arguments real married couples have on the way home from a party. “We always endeavored to sound more like real life than a TV show,” Reiser told the Associated Press in 2019.
The show signed off on May 24, 1999, after collecting 12 Emmys, four of them for Helen Hunt alone, and it came back for a 12 episode revival on Spectrum in November 2019. In the 34 years since that first episode, the Buchmans’ extended family has grown smaller. Some of the people who played their parents are gone, one guest star has reached 100, and one friend traded acting for a therapist’s office. Here is where the Mad About You cast stands today, starting with the actors we have lost.
Is Carroll O’Connor Still Alive?
Jamie’s parents were recast twice, and the third and final father was the man America knew as Archie Bunker. Carroll O’Connor played Gus Stemple opposite Carol Burnett as Jamie’s mother, beginning with “Jamie’s Parents,” the show’s 100th episode, in November 1996, and he came back as late as May 1999. By then, he had won four Emmys for All in the Family and another for In the Heat of the Night.
Carroll O’Connor is no longer alive. He died of a heart attack on June 21, 2001, at Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California, after complications from diabetes. Born August 2, 1924, he was 76. Paul’s side of the family had its own unforgettable father, and he came from Broadway.
Is Louis Zorich Still Alive?
Burt Buchman, the sporting goods salesman who announced himself at every door, was played by Louis Zorich in 70 episodes. Zorich was a Tony nominee for Hadrian VII in 1969, and movie fans also knew him as Pete, the Greek restaurant owner in The Muppets Take Manhattan. Off screen, he was married for more than five decades to Olympia Dukakis, who won her Oscar for playing Cher’s mother in Moonstruck.
Louis Zorich died at his home in New York on January 30, 2018, at 93. His agency did not give a cause. Reiser wrote on Twitter that “Louis had the heartiest laugh and the biggest heart. I will miss him dearly,” as CBS News reported. Burt was never alone at those dinners, though, and the woman beside him had a famous résumé of her own.
Is Cynthia Harris Still Alive?
Cynthia Harris played Sylvia Buchman, the comic, fretting mother who could turn a compliment into a complaint before dessert. She was recurring from 1993 and became a regular for the last two seasons, and she returned for the 2019 revival. Long before that, she earned a BAFTA nomination playing Wallis Simpson in the miniseries Edward and Mrs. Simpson. Shoppers in New England knew her for nearly two decades as “Mrs. B.” in Bradlees department store ads, and in 1993 she helped found The Actors Company Theatre in New York.
Cynthia Harris is no longer alive. She died in New York City on October 3, 2021, at 87, as we reported in our story on the death of the Mad About You mom. Born August 9, 1934, she had lived with Type 1 diabetes for much of her life, though no cause of death was announced. One more familiar face on the show belonged to a man who started acting at an age when most people retire.
Is Jerry Adler Still Alive?
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Jerry Adler turned up as Mr. Wicker in a dozen episodes between 1993 and 1999, and he came back for the revival in 2019. His path to the screen was an unusual one. He spent about four decades behind the scenes on Broadway, including as stage manager of the original 1956 production of My Fair Lady, and his first acting role came in 1991, when he was 62. He went on to play Hesh Rabkin, Tony’s adviser on The Sopranos, and Howard Lyman on The Good Wife.
Jerry Adler died at his Manhattan home on August 23, 2025. Born February 4, 1929, he was 96, and his family said he “passed peacefully in his sleep,” according to TVLine. No cause was given. The rest of the main cast is still with us, including one actress who walked away from Hollywood on purpose.
Is Leila Kenzle Still Alive?
Leila Kenzle played Fran Devanow, Jamie’s best friend, through the first six seasons, and she and Richard Kind’s Mark were the couple the Buchmans measured themselves against. When the sitcom ended, Kenzle went back to school. She earned a master’s degree in psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles in 2002, and her last screen role was in the 2003 thriller Identity.
Yes, Leila Kenzle is alive. Born July 16, 1960, in Patchogue, New York, she is 66 and works as a marriage and family therapist in Los Angeles, which is why Fran did not return for the 2019 revival. She has been married to acting coach Neil Monaco since 1994. Jamie’s sister, on the other hand, came back without hesitation.
Is Anne Ramsay Still Alive?
Anne Ramsay was Lisa Stemple, Jamie’s restless, unlucky younger sister, a regular for five seasons who returned for the final year and again in 2019. Movie fans saw her as Helen Haley in A League of Their Own, and she later played Greta Van Susteren in Bombshell.
Yes, Anne Ramsay is alive. She was born September 11, 1960, in Los Angeles County and raised in La Habra, California, which makes her 66. She has stayed busy on television, with a recurring role on Ordinary Joe and 2024 guest spots on Grey’s Anatomy and CSI: Vegas. We caught up with her career in our look at Anne Ramsay after Mad About You. Paul’s loud, lovable cousin is still working too.
Is John Pankow Still Alive?
John Pankow played Ira Buchman, the cousin who never met a bad idea he would not pitch, in 143 episodes. Ira became so central that Pankow was a regular from the second season through the revival. Afterward, he found a second sitcom home as Merc Lapidus, the network boss on Episodes with Matt LeBlanc, from 2011 to 2017, and he was on Broadway in Kiss Me, Kate in 2019.
Yes, John Pankow is alive. Born April 28, 1954, in St. Louis, he is 72 and lives in New York City with his wife of 40 years, actress Kristine Sutherland, whom Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans know as Buffy’s mother. Music lovers might like this detail: his older brother is James Pankow, a founding member of the band Chicago. Fran’s husband, Mark, is now one of the busiest actors in New York.
Is Richard Kind Still Alive?
Richard Kind played Dr. Mark Devanow, a regular in the first season who kept coming back through season seven and again in 2019. Few actors have worked more since. He played Paul Lassiter on Spin City, Larry’s cousin Andy on Curb Your Enthusiasm and voiced Bing Bong, the imaginary friend who made grown adults cry in Pixar’s Inside Out. He also earned a Tony nomination for The Big Knife in 2013.
Yes, Richard Kind is alive. Born November 22, 1956, in Trenton, New Jersey, he is 69 and turns 70 next month. He plays Vince Fish on Only Murders in the Building, is the announcer on Netflix’s Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney, and in 2026 he joined The Producers in London’s West End and played Edna Turnblad in Hairspray at The Muny in St. Louis. The dog walker who strolled through the Buchmans’ lives had his own off-screen connection to Jamie.
Is Hank Azaria Still Alive?
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Hank Azaria played Nat Ostertag, Murray’s walker, in 16 episodes from 1995 to 1999, and the part earned him an Emmy nomination in 1998. He told the A.V. Club he based Nat’s voice on a man he grew up with, who loved the character without realizing it was him. Azaria and Helen Hunt began dating in 1994 and married on July 17, 1999, two months after the finale. They divorced in December 2000.
Yes, Hank Azaria is alive. Born April 25, 1964, in Queens, he is 62 and still voices Moe and Chief Wiggum on The Simpsons. He has also found a second act as a rock singer. His Bruce Springsteen tribute, Hank Azaria and the EZ Street Band, began as a surprise for his 60th birthday party and played The Stone Pony in Asbury Park on October 14, 2026. Another recurring player went from Mad About You straight into television history.
Is Lisa Kudrow Still Alive?
Lisa Kudrow played Ursula Buffay, the hopelessly vague waitress at Riff’s, in 24 episodes. It was her first recurring role, and when Friends cast her as Phoebe, NBC had the same face on its Thursday schedule twice. The fix was to make Ursula Phoebe’s twin. “I was preserving Mad About You for myself,” she said in a March 2026 Vanity Fair interview reported by People, in case Friends failed. “I was thrilled, you know, that I could still be Ursula.”
Yes, Lisa Kudrow is alive. Born July 30, 1963, in Encino, California, she is 63. Her HBO series The Comeback returned for its third and final season in March 2026, and she is reprising Michele in Romy and Michele 2, slated for 2027. Three more guest stars won Emmys on the show, and all three are still with us.
Are Cyndi Lauper, Carol Burnett & Mel Brooks Still Alive?
Cyndi Lauper won an Emmy in 1995 as Marianne Lugasso in “Money Changes Everything.” Carol Burnett won hers in 1997 as Jamie’s mother, Theresa Stemple, and returned for the revival. Mel Brooks won three Emmys in a row, from 1997 to 1999, as Paul’s Uncle Phil.
All three are alive. Lauper, born June 22, 1953, is 73. She entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on November 8, 2025, and played her first Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace in the spring of 2026. Burnett, born April 26, 1933, is 93, and she said her Emmy nominated role in Palm Royale was “probably” her last acting job. Brooks was born June 28, 1926, and turned 100 this summer, when the American Film Institute named Blazing Saddles the funniest film of all time. That brings us back to the couple at the heart of it all.
Are Helen Hunt & Paul Reiser Still Alive?
Helen Hunt won four straight Emmys as Jamie, from 1996 to 1999, and in the middle of that run she won the Best Actress Oscar for As Good as It Gets. She also directed the series finale. Paul Reiser, who created the show with Danny Jacobson, wrote the bestseller Couplehood, and for the final season NBC paid the two stars $1 million an episode, the Los Angeles Times reported in 1999.
Yes, both are alive. Hunt, born June 15, 1963, in Culver City, is 63. She starred in Blindspotting, played a network boss on Hacks and rekindled a 1988 romance with actor Jeffrey Nordling in 2022. Reiser, born March 30, 1956, in New York City, turned 70 this spring. A new generation knows him as Dr. Sam Owens on Stranger Things, and he earned an Emmy nomination for The Kominsky Method before co-writing Michael McDonald’s 2024 memoir What a Fool Believes. In 2026 he returned to The Boys for its final season while touring the country with his stand-up show.
The two never stopped seeing each other, either. For two decades they met for lunch, and the revival was the one subject they agreed to avoid. “We had 20 years of lunches where we said, ‘Absolutely never, ever,'” Hunt told the Associated Press. When they finally stepped back onto a Buchman set in 2019, she said, “It was totally weird until four hours in, when it was weird that it wasn’t weird.”