Philip Baker Hall

Infobox actor

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caption = Philip Baker Hall
birthdate = birth_date_and_age|1931|9|10
birthplace = Toledo, Ohio

Philip Baker Hall (born September 10, 1931) is an American actor.

Biography

Early life

Hall was born in Toledo, Ohio and attended the University of Toledo. [ [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800022198/bio Philip Baker Hall Biography - Yahoo! Movies ] ] As a younger man, Hall served in the military, started a family and became a high school English teacher. In 1961, he decided to become an actor. He moved to New York, enjoying success in Off Broadway and Broadway productions.

Career

In 1975, Hall moved to Los Angeles to make a career in television. Since then, he has had over 200 guest roles on television shows.

He starred in many films, including Robert Altman's "Secret Honor" in which he played Richard Nixon, but had not garnered much recognition for his performances. It was not until Paul Thomas Anderson wrote a role in his film "Hard Eight", specifically for Hall, that a cult following arose. (Anderson was a big fan of Hall's work, particularly "Secret Honor".) Hall went on to have significant roles in Anderson's two subsequent films, "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia". He also had a minor role as Captain Diel in the "Rush Hour" trilogy (though his scenes were cut from the theatrical release of "Rush Hour 2").

Additionally, Hall has had roles in "Ghostbusters II", "Say Anything", "The Rock ", "The Truman Show", "Bruce Almighty", "You Kill Me", "In Good Company", "Dogville", "The Amityville Horror", "The Matador", "The Sum of All Fears", "The Zodiac" and "Zodiac". More recently, he played a recurring role in the 2006-07 FOX sitcom "The Loop" and had a guest starring role in "The West Wing".

Hall is well known to "Seinfeld" fans as Lt. Joe Bookman, the 'library cop' who tracks Jerry down for a long-overdue library book in "The Library". More recently he appeared as a doctor on Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm".

Hall also appears in a series of humorous Holiday Inn commercials.

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0001311|name=Philip Baker Hall