Joseph Wapner

Joseph Wapner
Spouse	Mickie Wapner
Children	Frederick, David, Sarah

Joseph Albert Wapner (born November 15, 1919 in Los Angeles, California), is a former American judge and TV personality of the real-life courtroom-style show The People's Court, which ran in syndication from 1981 - 1993 for 2,484 episodes.

On The People's Court, Wapner mediated a binding arbitration which was set up to resemble a small claims court by pitting parties, without lawyers, against each other. What Judge Wapner did was change the face of television forever. The legacy of the show's high popularity has led to myriad other similar syndicated shows such as Judge Alex, Cristina's Court, Judge Maria Lopez, Judge Mills Lane, Judge Mathis, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Hatchett, Judge David Young, Moral Court, Texas Justice and Judge Judy.

Five years after The People's Court ended its original run, Wapner starred on cable channel Animal Planet's Judge Wapner's Animal Court, presiding over real cases involving or about animals. This lasted from 1998 - 2000. He also made an appearance in the pilot episode of Sliders, playing himself (as "Commissar Wapner") in a Parallel Earth in which the Soviet Union conquered the United States; Officer Rusty Burrell and Doug Llewelyn also appeared in the episode.

Judge Wapner attended Hollywood High School and was actress Lana Turner's boyfriend for a short while in high school[1]. Wapner is a graduate of the University of Southern California (1941) and the USC Law School (1948), serving in World War II in between. Appointed by Governor Pat Brown to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1959, Wapner served 2 years before being elevated to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, where he served for 18 years before retiring. Wapner has been active in Jewish causes, including sitting on the board of a Jewish school.

Wapner currently resides in Athens, Georgia.

• Author of A View from the Bench (ISBN 0-451-82193-9)