Philip Baker Hall

Philip Baker Hall
Hall at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	(1933-09-10) September 10, 1933 (age 87) Toledo, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1960–present[1]
Spouse(s)	Dianne Lewis ​ ​ (m. 1973; div. 1976)​ Holly Wolfle ​ (m. 1981)​
Children	4
Military career
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Battles/wars	Korean War

Philip Baker Hall (born September 10, 1933)^[2] is an American actor. Although known primarily as a prolific character actor, Hall has played leading roles in films, including Secret Honor, Hard Eight and Duck. He is known for his supporting roles in films, Say Anything... (1989), Boogie Nights (1997), The Truman Show (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Insider (1999), The Contender (2000), Zodiac (2007) and Argo (2012).

Personal life[]

Hall was born in Toledo, Ohio, the son of Alice Birdene (née McDonald) and William Alexander Hall, a factory worker in Montgomery, Alabama.^[3][4] He attended the University of Toledo.^[5] Hall served in Germany as an Army translator^[6] and as a high school English teacher.^[7] In 1960, he became an actor.^[1] He moved to New York, enjoying success in Off Broadway and Broadway productions. He married Holly Wolfle, and has two daughters, Adella and Anna.^[1]

Career[]

After his film debut Cowards,^[8] Hall joined the Los Angeles Theatre Center.^[1][8] His first television appearance came in an episode of the sitcom Good Times.^[8] The following year, Hall guest starred in episodes of M*A*S*H and Man from Atlantis.^[9][10] He had over 200 guest roles since 1977.

He played Richard Nixon in Robert Altman's biopic president film Secret Honor.^[11] Roger Ebert praised Hall's performance writing, "Nixon is portrayed by Philip Baker Hall, an actor previously unknown to me, with such savage intensity, such passion, such venom, such scandal, that we cannot turn away. Hall looks a little like the real Nixon; he could be a cousin, and he sounds a little like him. That's close enough. This is not an impersonation, it's a performance."^[12] Vincent Canby of The New York Times also praised Hall's performance writing, "Mr. Hall's immense performance, which is as astonishing and risky -for the chances the actor takes and survives".^[13] During the 1980s, Hall starred in various films in supporting roles, including Nothing in Common, Midnight Run, Say Anything... and Ghostbusters II. Hall played the detective in the Seinfeld episode "The Library",^[8] and reprised the role in the final episode of the series.^[8]

Hall starred in Paul Thomas Anderson's directorial debut film Hard Eight. Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised Hall writing, "Here is another great performance. He is a man who has been around, who knows casinos and gambling, who finds himself attached to three people he could easily have avoided, who thinks before he acts."^[14] For his performance he received a Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Male Lead. Hall later starred in two of Anderson's films, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and the short film Cigarettes & Coffee. Hall also starred with Philip Seymour Hoffman in four films.^[15] In the 1990s, Hall had a very productive decade starring in a variety of films such as Michael Bay's action thriller The Rock, Peter Weir's science fiction drama The Truman Show, Anthony Minghella's psychological thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley and Michael Mann's drama The Insider. During the 2000s, Hall worked steadily in other films, including Lars von Trier's drama film Dogville,^[8] David Fincher's thriller Zodiac and Ben Affleck's Argo.^[8]

He played Captain Diel in the Rush Hour trilogy (though his scenes were cut from the theatrical release of Rush Hour 2 and he was uncredited for his scene in Rush Hour 3).^[8][15] He also appeared in the religious comedy Bruce Almighty (2003) starring Jim Carrey.^[16] He also appeared in The Sum of All Fears,^[8] In Good Company, The Amityville Horror, The Matador, You Kill Me, All Good Things and 50/50. Hall starred in the sitcom The Loop.^[8] He guest starred in the animated series The Life & Times of Tim and in. He played Dr. Morrison, Larry David's physician, on Curb Your Enthusiasm^[8] and an equally crotchety neighbor of the Dunphy family on Modern Family.^[8] He appeared in an episode for The Newsroom^[8] and appeared in a series of Holiday Inn commercials.

Filmography[]

Awards and nominations[]

References[]

External links[]

• Philip Baker Hall at IMDb
• Philip Baker Hall at the Internet Off-Broadway Database