Lerner has since made a name for himself in TV movies, portraying real-life characters Pierre Salinger, in "The Missiles of October" (1974); Jack Ruby, in "Ruby and Oswald" (1978); film mogul Jack Warner, in "Moviola: This Year's Blonde" (1980); Columbia studio head Harry Cohn, in "Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess" (1983); and impresario Oscar Hammerstein, in "Melba" (1989). His big-screen portrait of crass, fictitious film mogul Jack Lipnick, in the Coen brothers satire "Barton Fink" (1991), earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. His subsequent film roles (e.g., "Newsies" 1992; "No Escape" 1994) did not fully take advantage of his abilities. In 1996, Lerner was cast as the lawyer father of a young Beverly Hills teen in the ABC sitcom version of the big screen hit "Clueless" (inheriting the role created by Dan Hedaya); however, when the show switched networks to UPN and was revamped for the 1997-98 season, Lerner's character was dropped.