Early Life
Margolin was born to a Jewish family in New York City. Her father, Benjamin Margolin, was a Russian-born Jewish accountant who founded what became the Kidney Foundation of New York; her mother, Annette Lief, worked as a dental assistant.1 She attended the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan1 and initially considered a career in medicine before committing to acting.
Career
Margolin's professional career began on Broadway while she was still a teenager. In 1961 she won the role of Anna in Morris West's Daughter of Silence, beating approximately 200 other candidates for the part.1 The performance earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play and a Theatre World Award in 1962.1
Director Frank Perry saw her in that production and cast her directly from the stage into his debut feature film, David and Lisa (1962).1 She played Lisa, a schizophrenic teenager who communicates only in rhyme, opposite Keir Dullea. The low-budget independent film became a critical and commercial success, and Margolin's performance earned her the Best Actress award at the San Francisco International Film Festival,3 a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Newcomer (1963), and a BAFTA nomination for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles (1964).1 The film's director, Frank Perry, received the Best First Work award at the Venice International Film Festival for the same picture.4
Hollywood quickly took notice, and Margolin moved into studio productions. Her 1960s film credits included The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) alongside Charlton Heston and John Wayne, Morituri (1965) opposite Marlon Brando, Bus Riley's Back in Town (1965), Nevada Smith (1966) with Steve McQueen, and Enter Laughing (1967).5 She worked with Woody Allen on Take the Money and Run (1969), playing his character's wife, and Allen brought her back in a flashback sequence in Annie Hall (1977).1
After the mid-1970s, major film roles became less frequent. She continued to work in television throughout the 1980s, appearing in series including The Edge of Night, Ben Casey, The Defenders, Police Woman, Murder, She Wrote, and Columbo.5 On film she appeared alongside Roy Scheider in Jonathan Demme's thriller Last Embrace (1979).5 Her final screen credit was Ghostbusters II (1989).2
Ghostbusters II
In Ghostbusters II (1989) Margolin portrayed the Prosecutor, the district attorney who brings criminal charges against the Ghostbusters following their unauthorized excavation under First Avenue.2 Confident of securing convictions and working alongside mayoral aide Jack Hardemayer, she examined the Con Edison Supervisor from First Avenue and pressed the point that the defendants had violated the judicial restraining order that forbade them from operating as paranormal investigators.
During the chaos that followed Judge Wexler's sentencing, the ghost of Nunzio Scoleri seized the Prosecutor by her ankle and dragged her across the courtroom before she was carried outside through the courtroom doors, which then crackled with electricity.2 The role marked her final appearance in a theatrical film.1
Personal Life
Margolin was married twice. Her first marriage, to entertainment manager Jerry Brandt, lasted from August 1968 to October 1971.1 She later married actor Ted Wass in December 1979 and the couple had two children, including son Julian Wass.1
Death
Margolin died on December 17, 1993, in Los Angeles, California, from ovarian cancer. She was 50 years old.1 She was cremated and her ashes were placed in an urn garden at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.1
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
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"Janet Margolin," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Margolin.
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Ghostbusters II (1989), directed by Ivan Reitman. Columbia Pictures.
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San Francisco International Film Festival, "David and Lisa" (1962 film entry), San Francisco Film Society, accessed 2026-06-13, https://history.sffs.org/films/film_details.php?id=1185.
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"David and Lisa," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_and_Lisa.
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IMDb, "Janet Margolin," accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0546755/.
