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Jordan Charney (born April 1, 1937, Brooklyn, New York)1 is an American character actor who built a decades-long career in daytime television, primetime series, and film, frequently cast as judges, attorneys, and authority figures. He is known to Ghostbusters fans as Dean Yeager, the Columbia University administrator who fires the Ghostbusters from the university in Ghostbusters (1984).
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Charney was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Abraham Charney and Rose (nee Resnick) Charney, and grew up with a sister, Barbara Schreier.1 He attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in speech and theatre from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 1960, and later attended the Lincoln Center Training Program in 1962. He is fluent in Hebrew, French, and Yiddish, and studied Russian.1
Charney made his Off-Broadway debut in 1961, replacing Peter Mark Richman in the Edward Albee play The Zoo Story.1
Charney built his early career in daytime soap opera. He created the role of Julian Dark on the CBS serial The Secret Storm in the early to mid-1960s.2 From 1967 to 1974, he played Sam Lucas, a former convict who became a lawyer, on Another World and its spin-off Somerset.2 He subsequently appeared as Lt. Vince Wolek on One Life to Live from 1975 to 1977.2
His film career includes The Hospital (1971), Sidney Lumet's acclaimed media satire Network (1976), in which he played Harry Hunter, a mid-level television network executive caught up in the chaos of a ratings-driven news division, and Frances (1982), where he portrayed theater critic and director Harold Clurman.2
On primetime television, Charney is recognizable from a recurring role as Frank Angelino, Jack Tripper's restaurant boss, in twelve episodes of Three's Company (1981-1983).1 He appeared in Hill Street Blues (1981) and returned to television courts repeatedly as Judge Donald Karan across nine episodes of Law & Order (1992-2006).2 His imposing presence at 6'1" and facility with authority-bearing roles made him a reliable presence in legal and institutional settings across his career.2
Beyond performing, Charney served as artistic director of the theatre workshop Steps for more than ten years, and as artistic director of Actors Alley Repertory in California's San Fernando Valley from approximately 1982 for six years.1
In Ghostbusters (1984), Charney portrays Dean Yeager, a Columbia University administrator who delivers the scene in which the Ghostbusters are terminated from the university. In Chapter 4: Terminated, Yeager informs Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler that the Board of Regents has ended their grant and they must vacate the premises immediately. He delivers the film's most pointed institutional rebuke directed at the principal characters, calling Venkman's theories "the worst kind of popular tripe," his methods "sloppy," and his conclusions "highly questionable," before declaring him a poor scientist with no place in the department or the university.3
Charney also appears in the deleted scene "Stake" from the original film.4
The actor's first name left a small mark on the IDW Comics canon. On Cover B of Ghostbusters Year One Issue #2, a Columbia University business card for Dean Yeager bears the first name "Jordan," an in-joke taken directly from Charney's name.5 Within the issue itself, however, the IDW canon establishes the character's first name as Harold (making him Harold Yeager in that continuity), so "Jordan Yeager" exists only on the cover prop.5
Charney has been married to Nancy Cooperstein, a television director and theatrical producer, since November 14, 1966. They have two children, including opera singer Allison Charney, and five grandchildren.1
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
"Jordan Charney," Wikipedia, accessed June 13, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Charney. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7
"Jordan Charney (nm0153366)," IMDb, accessed June 13, 2026, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0153366/. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6
Ghostbusters (1984), Columbia Pictures, directed by Ivan Reitman. Chapter 4: Terminated. ↩
Spook Central, "Ghostbusters Deleted Scene: Dean Yaeger's Lecture," https://www.spookcentral.tk/sclib/ghostbusters-deleted-dean-yaegers-lecture. ↩
Ghostbusters Year One Issue #2 (IDW Publishing, 2020), Cover B; in-issue page 2. ↩ ↩2
