Honestly, Dr. Jerome Oziel is one of those figures in true crime history who feels like he was written by a Hollywood screenwriter specifically to be a villain. But he’s real. He was the therapist Erik Menendez called in a panic on Halloween in 1989. He’s also the guy who recorded those chilling confessions and eventually watched his own career go up in flames because of his mistress, his ethics, and his proximity to one of the most famous murders in American history.
Because the Menendez case has been adapted for the screen so many times, we’ve seen several different versions of Oziel. Each actor brings a slightly different vibe to the role—some lean into the sleaze, others into the sheer terror of being threatened by two brothers who just blew their parents away with shotguns.
If you’re watching a show right now and wondering, "Wait, where do I know this guy from?" you’re probably looking at one of these four men.
Dallas Roberts in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2024)
If you just finished bingeing the Ryan Murphy Netflix series, the face you have burned into your brain is Dallas Roberts.
He plays Oziel as a man who is clearly out of his depth but also remarkably opportunistic. Roberts has this way of looking perpetually nervous yet somehow calculated. In the show, he’s the one who has to handle the bombshell confession that changes everything. You might recognize Roberts from The Walking Dead (he was Milton, the Governor’s scientist) or Glass Onion.
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In Monsters, Roberts captures that specific 1980s Beverly Hills therapist energy—expensive suits, a somewhat clinical coldness, and a chaotic personal life that eventually leads to his undoing. The scenes between him and Leslie Grossman (who plays his mistress, Judalon Smyth) are some of the most bizarre and darkly comedic parts of the whole series.
Josh Charles in Law & Order True Crime (2017)
Before the Netflix hype, NBC did their own deep dive with Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders. In this version, Josh Charles took on the role of Dr. Oziel.
Now, if you’re a fan of The Good Wife, seeing Josh Charles as a morally questionable therapist might have been a bit of a shock. He plays the role with a bit more "prestige TV" weight. His version of Oziel feels a little more like a traditional professional who gets caught in a nightmare, though the show doesn't shy away from the fact that he was breaking all sorts of rules by letting his mistress listen in on sessions.
It’s a more grounded performance compared to the almost satirical tone of the Murphy version. Charles makes you feel the weight of the secret he’s holding.
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Dwight Schultz in Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills (1994)
We have to go back—way back. Only a few years after the actual murders took place, the TV movies started rolling out. In the 1994 film Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills, Dr. Jerome Oziel was played by Dwight Schultz.
You probably know Schultz as "Howling Mad" Murdock from The A-Team or Reginald Barclay from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Seeing him go from those iconic roles to playing a therapist caught in a murder scandal was a huge deal at the time. This version of the story was produced while the trials were still fresh in the public's mind, so the portrayal is very much of its era—lots of dramatic lighting and high-stakes 90s television energy.
Stanley Kamel in Honor Thy Father and Mother: The Menendez Killings (1994)
1994 was a busy year for the Menendez brothers on TV. In a competing movie titled Honor Thy Father and Mother, the role went to Stanley Kamel.
Kamel was a legendary character actor. Most people know him as Dr. Charles Kroger—the therapist to Adrian Monk in the show Monk. It’s actually pretty ironic that he’s most famous for playing a kind, patient therapist, considering his Oziel was much more entangled in the grit and grime of the Menendez trial.
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Why is this role so hard to play?
Playing Jerome Oziel isn't like playing a hero. You're playing a man who essentially lost his license to practice psychology in 1997 after a mountain of ethical complaints.
He wasn't just a witness; he was a participant in the drama. He recorded the brothers. He allegedly told his mistress about the confessions. He claimed he was being threatened. Actors have to balance the fear of a man who thinks he might be murdered by his clients with the questionable ethics of a man who was having an affair with a patient.
What happened to the real Dr. Oziel?
If you’re wondering what the man behind the characters is up to today, he’s mostly stayed out of the spotlight since the 90s. After surrendering his license in California, he moved out of state. Reports have placed him in New Mexico, where he reportedly shifted into marital mediation and business consulting.
He has consistently defended his actions, claiming he didn't "lose" his license so much as he chose not to fight for it because he was moving on to a different career anyway. Depending on which show you watch, you’ll probably walk away with a very different opinion on whether that’s the truth or just a good PR spin.
Next Steps for the True Crime Obsessed:
If you want to compare the dramatizations to the real thing, your best bet is to look up the original 1993 court testimony of Jerome Oziel. Most of it is available on YouTube via Court TV archives. Watching Dallas Roberts or Josh Charles and then seeing the real Oziel on the stand is a fascinating exercise in how Hollywood "polishes" real-life figures for the screen.