Philip Baker Hall

Hall was born in Toledo, Ohio.[2] His mother was Alice Birdene (née McDonald), and his father, William Alexander Hall, was a factory worker in Montgomery, Alabama.[3][4] He attended the University of Toledo.[5] He served in Germany as a United States Army translator[6] and as a high school teacher.[7] He worked for Off Broadway and Broadway productions in New York.[1] He married Holly Wolfle, and has two daughters, Adella and Anna.[1]

After his film debut Cowards,[8] Hall joined the Los Angeles Theatre Center.[1][8] His first television role came for an episode of Good Times.[8] 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 the one-character film Secret Honor.[11] Roger Ebert said about Hall and the film: "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 said about Hall: "Mr. Hall's immense performance, which is as astonishing and risky - for the chances the actor takes and survives - as that of the Oscar-winning F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus."[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 a detective chasing down a long-overdue library book in the Seinfeld episodes "The Library" and "The Finale".[8] His first Seinfeld appearance was widely lauded as one of the best guest stars on the series, and led to many other acting jobs.[14]

Hall starred in Paul Thomas Anderson's short film Cigarettes & Coffee, which was adapted into Anderson's directorial debut film Hard Eight. For the film, Hall played a senior gambler who mentors a homeless man (John C. Reilly). Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said about Hall, "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."[15] Hall was nominated for the Best Male Lead. He later starred in Anderson's other films, Boogie Nights and Magnolia. He also starred with Philip Seymour Hoffman in four films.[16] Hall had starred in a variety of films in the 1990s, including The Rock, The Truman Show, The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Insider. He had starred in other films in the 2000s, including Dogville,[8] Zodiac and Argo.[8] He played Captain Diel in the Rush Hour trilogy (though his scenes were cut from Rush Hour 2 and he was uncredited for the scene in Rush Hour 3).[8][16] Hall starred in the fantasy film Bruce Almighty.[17] He starred 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. He played a physician in Curb Your Enthusiasm[8] and an equally crotchety neighbor in Modern Family.[8] He appeared in an episode for The Newsroom and for the Holiday Inn commercial.[8] For the short film Dear Chickens he won best actor at Los Angeles Short Festival and Filmets Badalona Film Festival in Barcela.[18][19]

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