Sherin started out as an actor, training at the
Paul Mann's Actors Workshop and studying with
John Houseman at the
American Shakespeare Theatre. and the production marked the start not only of his Broadway directorial career, but a long professional and personal relationship with Alexander as well. In August 1973, he cast Jones as King Lear for his production on
King Lear at
The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park. He directed Alexander in
First Monday in October on Broadway in 1978,
Hedda Gabler at the Hartman Theatre (Connecticut) in 1981 in the American Playhouse television movie ''A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz
, in 1991. and in the Broadway revival of The Visit''. Sherin directed six plays at Washington, D.C.'s
Arena Stage, one per season for six consecutive seasons:
The Wall (1963–64),
Galileo (1964–65),
St. Joan (1965–66),
Macbeth (1966–67),
The Iceman Cometh (1967–68), and
King Lear (1968–69). Sherin won the 1969
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director for
The Great White Hope and was nominated for a 1974
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play, for
Find Your Way Home. In 1972, he directed a revival of
The Time of Your Life, at the
Huntington Hartford Theater in Los Angeles, with a cast that included
Henry Fonda,
Richard Dreyfuss and
Jane Alexander. In 1974, Sherin directed a revival of
A Streetcar Named Desire at
London's
Piccadilly Theatre with
Claire Bloom,
Martin Shaw,
Joss Ackland, and
Morag Hood. In 2009, Sherin directed Alexander again in Thom Thomas's
A Moon to Dance By at
The Pittsburgh Playhouse, an then at the
George Street Playhouse in
New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Television Sherin executive-produced 163 episodes of the
NBC drama
Law & Order, between 1993 and 2000. His television directing credits include all three editions of the current
Law & Order franchise;
Hill Street Blues;
L.A. Law;
Doogie Howser, M.D.;
Homicide: Life on the Street; and
Medium. Sherin directed the television films
Lena: My 100 Children (1987),
The Father Clements Story (1987),
Settle the Score (1989),
Daughter of the Streets (1990), and ''A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz'' (1991).
Movies Sherin directed two theatrical films:
Valdez Is Coming with
Burt Lancaster and
Susan Clark and ''
My Old Man's Place'' with
William Devane and
Michael Moriarty. Both films were released in 1971. ==Personal life==