Dan Hedaya

Dan Hedaya
Born	July 24, 1940 (1940-07-24) (age 71) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1970–present

Dan Hedaya (born July 24, 1940) is an American character actor. He often plays sleazy villains or uptight, wisecracking individuals; three of his best-known roles are as Italian Mafia boss Tony Costello in Wise Guys, a cuckolded husband in the Coen brothers' crime thriller Blood Simple, and the scheming Nick Tortelli on the sitcom Cheers.

Life and career

Hedaya was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Sephardic Jewish family from Syria.^[1][2][3] His father emigrated from Aleppo.^[4] Hedaya was raised in Bensonhurst, and worked as a junior high school teacher for many years before deciding to pursue acting full-time.^[4]

Alongside a successful career in the movies, Hedaya has held several TV roles, including Carla Tortelli's ex-husband Nick on the sitcom Cheers and its short-lived spinoff The Tortellis. He played the estranged father of Mallory Keaton's boyfriend, Nick, on the sitcom Family Ties. More recently, he played an Italian-American priest in the controversial and quickly cancelled NBC series The Book of Daniel. Adding to his list of television credits is his performance as the long-lost father of Adrian Monk on Monk. He also guest starred in 1997 and 2005 as a wise cracking lawyer on the medical drama ER.

In films, Hedaya has played the evil dictator Arius in 1985's Commando, Mel Horowitz, the father of Alicia Silverstone's Cher in the 1995 film Clueless. He played Julian Marty in the first Coen brothers' feature, Blood Simple. His physical similarity to Richard Nixon led to his being cast as the former president for the film Dick.

In 2006, Hedaya received the P.T. Barnum Award from Tufts University for his exceptional work in the field of media and entertainment.

Filmography

• The Twilight Zone (1 episode)
• The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979) .... Alex Heller
• Night of the Juggler (1980) .... Sgt. Otis Barnes
• Hill Street Blues (1981) .... Detective Macafee
• True Confessions (1981) .... Howard Terke
• I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982) .... Dr. Klein
• Endangered Species (1982) .... Peck
• Blood Simple (1984) .... Julian Marty
• Reckless (1984) .... Peter Daniels
• The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) .... John Gomez
• Commando (1985) .... Arius
• Act Break/The Burning Man/Dealer's Choice (15 November 1985) - Nick (segment "Dealer's Choice")
• A Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986) .... Harry
• Running Scared (1986) .... Captain Logan
• Wise Guys (1986) .... Anthony Castelo
• Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) ... The dour boss, Frank Waturi
• Pacific Heights (1990) ... The banker
• The Addams Family (1991) .... Tully Alford
• The Mighty Ducks (1992) .... Sunny Young
• Benny & Joon (1993) .... Thomas
• For Love or Money (1993) .... Gene Salvatore
• Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) .... Tournament Director
• Rookie of the Year (1993) .... Larry Fisher
• Nixon (1995) .... Trini Cardoza
• Clueless (1995) .... Mel Horowitz
• To Die For (1995) .... Joe Maretto
• The Usual Suspects (1995) .... Sgt. Geoffrey 'Jeff' Rabin
• Marvin's Room (1996) .... Bob
• Ransom (1996) .... Jackie Brown
• The First Wives Club (1996) .... Morton Cushman
• Daylight (1996).... EMS Officer Frank Kraft
• Freeway (1996).... Detective Garnet Wallace
• Alien Resurrection (1997) .... General Perez
• A Life Less Ordinary (1997) .... Gabriel
• A Civil Action (1998) .... John Riley
• A Night at the Roxbury (1998) .... Kamehl Butabi
• The Hurricane (1999) .... Detective Sgt. Della Pesca Paterson PD
• Dick (1999) .... President Richard M. 'Dick' Nixon
• Shaft (2000) .... Detective Jack Roselli
• The Crew (2000) .... Mike 'The Brick' Donatelli
• Yes, Dear (2000) .... Don Ludke
• Mulholland Drive (2001) .... Vincenzo Castigliane
• Swimfan (2002) .... Coach Simkins
• Quicksand (2002) .... General Stewart
• Robots (2005) .... Mr.Gunk (voice)
• Pizza My Heart (2005) .... Vinnie Montebello
• Strangers with Candy (2006) - Guy Blank
• The Good Student (2006) .... Gabrial
• Monk (2006) .... Jack Monk

References

1. ^ "Philadelphia Rings a Bell FOR 'First Wives Club' Actor". Jewish Exponent. 1996-10-03. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-2974557.html. Retrieved 2007-12-10. 
2. ^ Weinraub, Bernard (1995-11-14). "After 20 Years, Dan Hedaya Is Fading Out of Anonymity". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9402EED91539F937A25752C1A963958260. Retrieved 2007-12-10. 
3. ^ Zenner, Walter P. (2000). A Global Community: The Jews from Aleppo, Syria. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0814327915. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Schleier, Curt (1999-10-28). "A Night at the Sephardic Film Festival". The Jewish Journal. http://www.jewishjournal.com/articles/item/a_night_at_the_sephardic_film_festival_19991029/. Retrieved 2009-06-15. 

External links

• Dan Hedaya at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Hedaya, Dan
Alternative names
Short description	Actor
Date of birth	1940-7-24
Place of birth	Brooklyn, New York, U,S.
Date of death
Place of death