The Jersey City-born actor has often been compared to Zero Mostel because his Tony Award-winning roles—as endearingly sly Max Bialystock in The Producers and wisecracking Roman slave Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum—were in revivals of shows in which Mostel starred.

Seen in: Best Of Jersey

When he placed his native city of Newark at the center of Goodbye, Columbus in 1959, Roth became indelibly associated with the state of New Jersey and what it means to grow up Jewish here.

Seen in: Best Of Jersey

For the record, Sister James Delores of the Villa Maria by the Sea in Stone Harbor would like it known that she doesn’t surf. However, she was once a good enough athlete to be asked to join the first women’s professional baseball team in Chicago.

Seen in: Beaches, Jersey Shore