Guest actors & actresses who are no longer with us

Ralph Ahn, who played the fan-favorite “New Girl” character Tran, died on Feb. 26, the Korean American Federation of Los Angeles reported. He was 95.

Ahn appeared in seven episodes of the sitcom alongside Jake Johnson, who played Nick Miller. A man of very few words, Tran serves as a friend and grandfather figure. Through facial expressions and body language, he helps Nick sort out his problems. His only two speaking lines in the show are “You are a huge baby” and “Drive.”

Johnson took to Instagram to honor Ahn, writing, “RIP. So much fun to work with. He gave so much with literally no lines. I loved when he was on set. I was always expecting to somehow work with him again. Condolences to his family/friends.”

“New Girl” star Zooey Deschanel also mourned the loss, commenting, “Noooooo” with a crying emoji.

In a 2014 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, “New Girl” creator Elizabeth Meriwether said it was a no-brainer to make Ahn a recurring character on the show.

“He’s really easy to write for [laughs]. It was Jake Johnson’s idea, originally. He texted me about it. We all thought it was so funny,” Meriwether said. “Going into this year, I think one of the writers in the retreat pitched his granddaughter being a love interest. But Jake also wanted to do something like that.”

Across his career, Ahn also acted in films including “Eyes of an Angel,” “Younger and Younger” and “Life Stinks,” as well as TV series such as “The Golden Girls,” “Suddenly Susan,” “The King of Queens,” “The Shield,” “The Division” and “Gilmore Girls.”

He was the son of Korean independence activist Dosan Ahn Chang-ho, an early leader in the Korean American community. Born in Los Angeles, Ralph Ahn got into acting thanks to his brother Philip Ahn, the first Korean American film actor in Hollywood, who played Master Kan on the TV series “Kung Fu.”

Richard Roat, a versatile character actor whose half-century-long career was punctuated by notable guest appearances on three of the most popular sitcoms of recent decades, “Cheers,” “Friends” and “Seinfeld,” died on Aug. 5 in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 89.

Kathy (Arntzen) Roat, his wife and only immediate survivor, said the cause was a heart attack. She said Mr. Roat, who lived in Glendale, died in a condo while on vacation.

On a 1985 episode of “Cheers,” as the imperious boss of the barstool habitué Norm Peterson (George Wendt), he threatened to fire Norm if he didn’t accept a promotion (and raise) to become the company’s “corporate killer” — the person who terminates people.

“Studies have shown that it’s particularly humiliating when you’re fired by someone who is clearly and markedly superior to yourself,” Mr. Roat’s character tells Norm coldly. “That wouldn’t be the case with you, Norman. You’re just an ordinary Joe. We checked out your home life. You have absolutely nothing that anyone could possibly envy or resent.”

In 1996, on “Seinfeld,” Mr. Roat was a dermatologist who labeled Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) a “difficult” patient when she sought treatment for a rash. His character turned from friendly to stern when he checked her patient history.

“Well, that doesn’t look serious,” he says, barely examining her. “You’ll be fine.” He then adds notes to her history when she complains that the rash is “really itchy.”

And on “Friends,” in 2000, he was a professor at the college where Ross (David Schwimmer) taught. At one point he tells Ross that Ross was violating campus rules by dating a student.

“They’re going to fire you,” he says.

“Really, it’s not just frowned upon?” Ross asks.

Mr. Roat worked primarily in television, starting in 1962 with two very different series about police officers: the sitcom “Car 54, Where Are You?” and the drama “Naked City.” He was a regular on the daytime soap opera “The Doctors” from 1963 to 1964, and over the next 45 years was seen on comedies like “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Murphy Brown” and “Ellen” and dramas like “The Fugitive,” “Columbo,” “Matlock” and “Dynasty.”

In a 1986 episode of “The Golden Girls,” as the boyfriend of Rose (Betty White), he dies in bed after they sleep together.

He also worked regularly in regional theater. He starred with Jo Anne Worley in Ken Ludwig’s theatrical farce “Moon Over Buffalo” at the Pasadena Playhouse, and in William Luce’s one-man show “Barrymore,” about the actor John Barrymore, at the Dorset Theater Festival in Vermont. He played the title role, based on Lyndon B. Johnson, in Barbara Garson’s political satire “Macbird!” at the Players’ Ring Gallery in Los Angeles, and a married character in Mart Crowley’s “The Boys in the Band,” about a group of gay men, at what is now the Montalbán Theater, also in Los Angeles.

In 1962 he played Mark Antony in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of “Julius Caesar.”

Richard Donald Roat Jr. was born on July 3, 1933, in Hartford, Conn. His father was a glazier, and his mother, Lois (Bowan) Roat, was a homemaker.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in Hartford in 1956, Mr. Roat acted with the Mark Twain Masquers and other local theatrical groups. He also earned a living by driving a bakery truck and holding other odd jobs.

In 1961 he made his Broadway debut as a replacement for Michael Ebert in “The Wall,” a play about Jews in occupied Poland during World War II.

Mr. Roat played Dr. Jerry Chandler during 172 episodes of “The Doctors” and told The Portland Press Herald that he felt grateful for the opportunity to act regularly.

“There’s room for less than one percent of the new actors in nighttime television,” he said. “Unless you’re a ‘regular’ and get a running assignment for a season-long series, your chances in nighttime television are practically nil.”

His last television role was in the drama “24” in 2009.

Mr. Roat had another long-running role, which he pursued as an actor and continued after he retired that year: as a tax preparer for people in the entertainment business. During a slow period in his acting career in the late 1960s, he took a job in an accountant’s office. On April 15 of that first year, the accountant had a nervous breakdown, Kathy Roat said, and Mr. Roat “took some tax forms and decided to become a tax preparer.”