Philip Baker Hall

Philip Baker Hall, qui a joué dans les trois premiers films de Paul Thomas Anderson, est mort à 90 ans.

Pour beaucoup de gens, Philip Baker Hall est surtout associé à l’un des personnages les plus mémorables de Seinfeld. Dans la troisième saison de la fameuse série humoristique, il joue le lieutenant Joe Bookman, un enquêteur zélé travaillant pour le compte d’une bibliothèque qui réclame à Jerry un livre qu’il n’aurait jamais retourné. C’est un acteur que j’adore. Personne n’a un visage ou une voix comme lui, a dit Paul Thomas Anderson au sujet de Philip Baker Hall en entrevue au Los Angeles Times en 1998. Philip Baker Hall a joué dans les deux films subséquents du cinéaste. Dans Boogie Nights, il campe le rôle d’un producteur de films pornos, et dans Magnolia, celui d’un animateur de jeu télévisé. Je lis ce scénario, et j’ai franchement de la misère à croire que ce garçon l’a bel et bien écrit, a dit Philip Baker Hall en entrevue au site AV Club en 2012. Né à Toledo, en Ohio, Philip Baker Hall est déménagé à Los Angeles en 1975, où il a surtout travaillé dans des productions théâtrales alors qu'il était en début de carrière. Membre de la troupe L.A. Actor Theatre, il a incarné le président républicain déchu Richard Nixon dans la pièce Secret Honor, un rôle qu’il a repris dans l’adaptation cinématographique de Robert Altman en 1984. Un jour de 1992, alors qu’il tournait dans une émission de PBS, il a rencontré un assistant de production dans la jeune vingtaine nommé Paul Thomas Anderson. Les deux hommes traînaient ensemble, fumant des cigarettes et buvant des cafés entre les scènes. L’aspirant cinéaste a alors remis à l’acteur le scénario d’un court métrage qu’il espérait réaliser, Cigarettes & Coffee.

Grande figure du cinéma américain, Philip Baker Hall, qui a brillé dans Seinfeld, Magnolia ou encore Boogie Nights, s'est éteint à l'âge de 90 ans.

Dans les années 2000, Philip Baker Hall ne chôme pas. En 1991, c'est son rôle dans l'iconique sitcom Seinfeld qui le projette sur le devant de la scène et le fait connaitre au grand public. De petits rôles en petits rôles, il est devenu une grande figure du cinéma américain, une "gueule" comme diraient certains.

L'acteur américain, habitué des films de Paul Thomas Anderson, et grand second rôle de séries et de longs-métrages, vient de mourir à l'âge de 90 ans.

Né en 1931 dans l'Ohio, Philip Baker Hall a démarré sa carrière sur les planches à Los Angeles. En parallèle, il a tenu quelques petits rôles dans des longs-métrages tels que Midnight Run, avec Robert De Niro, ou S.O.S. Fantômes 2. D'après son épouse Holly Wolfle Hall, qui a fait part de sa disparition à Associated Press lundi, l'acteur est mort entouré de ses proches et était en bonne santé jusqu'à il y a quelques semaines. Sam Farmer, journaliste pour le Los Angeles Times et voisin de l'acteur, lui a rendu hommage sur Twitter: "Mon voisin, ami, et l'une des personnes les plus sages, talentueuses et gentilles que j'ai jamais rencontrées, Philip Baker Hall, est mort paisiblement la nuit dernière. (...) Il laisse un vide dans le monde." Après l'avoir fait jouer dans un premier court-métrage qui a rencontré un succès critique, Cigarettes & Coffee, il fait appel à l'acteur pour nombre de ses films: Double mise, qui offre une nouvelle notoriété à Philip Baker Hall, Boogie Nights ou Magnolia. C'est avec ce nouvel élan que Philip Baker Hall devient un second rôle récurrent à Hollywood, du Truman Show à Zodiac en passant par la trilogie comique Rush Hour. Mort de l'acteur américain Philip Baker Hall, vu dans "Seinfeld" et "Magnolia" L'acteur américain Philip Baker Hall, vu notamment dans les films Magnolia, Bruce Tout-Puissant et Zodiac ainsi que dans la série culte Seinfeld, est mort dimanche à Glendale (Californie) à l'âge de 90 ans.

L'acteur Philip Baker Hall, qui a notamment joué dans Seinfeld et les films Paul Thomas Anderson, est décédé à l'âge de 90 ans.

C’est un voisin de l’acteur qui a été le premier a transmettre la triste nouvelle. Le monde a un espace vide en lui», a-t-il ajouté. My neighbor, friend, and one of the wisest, most talented and kindest people I’ve ever met, Philip Baker Hall, died peacefully last night. The world has an empty space in it.pic.twitter.com/pBCaILjHPT «Mon voisin, mon ami, et l'une des personnes les plus sages, les plus talentueuses et les plus gentilles que j'ai jamais rencontrées, Philip Baker Hall, est mort paisiblement la nuit dernière», a écrit Sam Farmer sur Twitter. «Il était entouré de ses proches. L’acteur Philip Baker Hall, qui a notamment joué dans «Seinfeld» et les films de Paul Thomas Anderson, est décédé à l'âge de 90 ans.

A lire sur AlloCiné : Second rôle du cinéma américain, Philip Baker Hall est décédé ce 12 mai à l'âge de 90 ans. Il avait été révélé par le réalisateur Paul ...

Entre-temps, on peut aussi apercevoir Philip Baker Hall en shérif dans l'angoissant Psycho de Gus Van Sant, en officier de police dans l'hilarant Rush Hour de Brett Ratner ou en journaliste dans l'émouvant Truman Show de Peter Weir. Par la suite, on le retrouve dans certaines grosses productions calibrées comme La Somme de toutes les peurs en 2000, des comédies grand public comme Bruce tout-puissant en 2003 ou des films plus exigeants comme Dogville de Lars von Trier en 2002. En 1991, son visage commence à être connu du grand public grâce à son rôle dans la série américaine Seinfeld. Mais c'est grâce à Paul Thomas Anderson, que sa carrière cinématographique prend forme.

He won critical acclaim for his dramatic work — and generations of devoted fans as Lieutenant Bookman, the hardcore library cop on “Seinfeld.”

After graduating in 1953 and completing Army service, he supported himself and a growing family as a high school teacher in Ohio before tiring of the “hypocrisy and bureaucracy” of academic life. He uprooted his wife and children to New York and was quickly exposed to the vagaries of professional show business. “Before Bookman, my agent would say, ‘Well, they really liked your work, they really love you, but they don’t think you’re right for this,’” he told the A.V. Club. “After Bookman, there was no door closed to me in the industry. “It was kind of incredible,” he added. The project, “ Cigarettes & Coffee” (1993), featuring an interconnected series of stories set in a diner, became a hit at the Sundance Film Festival and launched Anderson’s feature career. Although his television and film appearances were often too fleeting to merit mention in reviews, Mr. Hall became one of the most reliable and welcome character actors of his era. His marriages to Maryella Holst and Dianne Lewis ended in divorce. He played enough judges to form a bar association, but the hint of menace in his voice also made him effective as old-school hoods and others on the fringes of society. Mr. Hall’s trio of high-profile roles for Anderson, along with his “Seinfeld” appearance, were his windfall. Mr. Hall copied neither Nixon’s voice nor his mannerisms but, by all accounts, he succeeded in portraying a wounded soul. Philip Baker Hall was born in Toledo on Sept. 10, 1931. It’s always fun to take those kinds of parts and play them with as much serious passion as you can muster.”

The veteran character actor died on Sunday night “surrounded by loved ones,” tweeted his neighbor, “Los Angeles Times” reporter Sam Farmer.

Hall was raised “in the slums of the north end of Toledo” during the Depression, as the actor told The Washington Post in 2017. Despite his wide range of work, Hall acknowledged he had a particular gift for portraying grim characters. Hall first met Anderson while filming a PBS movie, where Anderson was working as a production assistant. I didn’t know where to start,” Hall told the outlet. The actor’s naivete would give way to a five-decade career, with at least 185 titles on his IMDB page. The world has an empty space in it.”

Philip Baker Hall, the prolific character actor of film and theater who starred in Paul Thomas Anderson's early movies and who memorably hunted down a ...

“I’m reading this script, and I truly had trouble believing that that kid wrote this script,” Hall told the AV Club in 2012. In it, Hall played a wise and courteous itinerate gambler named Sydney who schools a young drifter (John C. Reilly) on the craft. Anderson, believing Hall hadn't gotten his due in film, asked him to look at a script he had written for a 20-minute short film titled “Cigarettes & Coffee.” While shooting bit parts in Hollywood (an episode of “Good Times” was one of his first gigs), Hall worked with the L.A. Actor Theatre. There he played Richard Nixon in the one-act play “Secret Honor,” a role he reprised in Robert Altman's 1984 film adaptation. “I had an affinity for playing those roles.” His range was wide, but Hall, who had a natural gravitas, often played men in suits, trench coats and lab coats.

He appeared in “Secret Honor,” “Boogie Nights,” “Seinfeld” and dozens of other movies and television shows.

In his final film, “The Last Word” (2017), he was the ex-husband of a retired executive (Shirley MacLaine) determined to control her own obituary. He had learned the character types that summoned the best of his gifts — “highly stressed older men,” he said in the Washington Post interview, “who are at the limit of their tolerance for suffering and stress and pain.” In 1973, Mr. Hall married Dianne Lewis. They divorced in 1976, and he married Holly Wolfle in 1981. Even “ Secret Honor,” the one-man Nixon film, began as a stage script, first performed at the Provincetown Playhouse in Manhattan. In “Boogie Nights” (1997), he played a budget-conscious porn-theater magnate. Mr. Hall had small roles in international touring productions with the American Repertory Company, a cultural exchange program. And he was the star of “ Hard Eight” (1996), as a preternaturally calm retired professional gambler who is sincerely trying to help an aimless younger man. It sometimes seemed that Mr. Hall had appeared on every series of his day. The raspy voice, the resigned posture, the world-weary eyes with heavy bags and the thatch of hair that gradually turned white magnified a gravitas that made Mr. Hall’s characters believable, even when audiences knew better. It was, in fact, “one of the last roles I ever auditioned for, simply because so many doors opened up” afterward. In a career of more than 80 films and 200 television appearances, he was often cast as men accustomed to being listened to — doctors, lawyers, generals, detectives, cabinet members, priests and way too many judges. “You never get to walk around.”

Philip Baker Hall Dies: 'Seinfeld,' 'Curb' Actor Who Worked With Paul Thomas Anderson On 'Magnolia,' 'Boogie Nights' And 'Hard Eight' Was 90.

The world has an empty space in it. My neighbor, friend, and one of the wisest, most talented and kindest people I’ve ever met, Philip Baker Hall, died peacefully last night. The world has an empty space in it.” In the Season 4 episode “Mel’s Offer,” David sees his physician about a cut on his head. Farmer announced Hall’s death on Twitter, writing, “My neighbor, friend, and one of the wisest, most talented and kindest people I’ve ever met, Philip Baker Hall, died peacefully last night. When Seinfeld seems to have had enough and asks Bookman what his problem is, Hall replied, in his best Joe Friday delivery: “What’s my problem?

Actor Philip Baker Hall, whose career ranged from a scene-stealing stint on 'Seinfeld' to collaborations with director Paul Thomas Anderson, has died.

“He was a fan of my work, so how could I not like him?” Hall said of Anderson in a 2017 interview with the Washington Post. “We would talk and have cigarettes and coffee.” “By the standards of a struggling stage actor, I’ve been doing well.” “It has nothing to do with it, once you’re given the keys to the kingdom.” In the early 1990s, Hall made a pair of memorable appearances as a hard-boiled detective pursuing a 20-years-overdue library book on “Seinfeld,” drawing new fans to his work. “Although Hall never resorts to a cliched impersonation, his suggestion of Nixon’s physiognomy is frequently uncanny, especially in profile.” After building a career on the New York stage, he relocated to Los Angeles and made his big-screen debut with an uncredited role in Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1970 film “Zabriskie Point.”

The acclaimed character actor reportedly died peacefully 'surrounded by loved ones'

Defined as a storied character actor, Hall started out on stage in New York before embarking on a Hollywood career in the 1970s with small roles in Coma and on TV shows such as M*A*S*H and Good Times. “When I first came out here, I was totally naive. Anderson then gave him roles in Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, which led to even more work for Hall in the following decades. I really loved that Bookman. Now, I know you’ve done a lot of other things, but I loved that Bookman character.’ When they say, ‘I know you’ve done a lot of other things,’ it’s like, ‘You don’t know the half of it!’ But Bookman? Bookman hits a response button. “His voice at the end was still just as powerful,” she said. “People will say forever, at the supermarket or wherever, it doesn’t matter where, ‘Oh, you’re Bookman, right? “He was surrounded by loved ones.

Philip Baker Hall, an actor known for his extensive list of credits including roles in Magnolia, Boogie Nights and Modern Family, has passed away at the age ...

The world has an empty space in it." The Ohio native's big acting break came when he starred in the 1970 film, Cowards, with the actor landing a notable guest role in the television series, Good Times, six years later. On June 13, journalist Sam Farmer also confirmed the news in a touching tribute shared to social media, noting that he lived near the actor.

He was a regular in the early films of Paul Thomas Anderson and a familiar face in dozens of film and television shows from the early 1970s to the late ...

"Then things just started exploding all over the place for me." "I remember that Jerry [Seinfeld] had a hard time keeping a straight face during the reading. Usually, when you read for things, no one lets on too much, even if they like you," he added. "He was just a walking encyclopedia of film; he knew it all," Hall told the theater publication Playbill in 2000. "Hall looks a little like the real Nixon; he could be a cousin, and he sounds a little like him. Instantly recognizable for his hangdog expressions and leathery voice, he conveyed equal parts wisdom and melancholy with seeming ease

Philip Baker Hall, the prolific character actor of film and theatre who starred in Paul Thomas Anderson's first movies and who memorably hunted down a ...

Anderson would cast him again in Boogie Nights and Magnolia. Philip Baker Hall, the prolific character actor of film and theatre who starred in Paul Thomas Anderson's first movies and who memorably hunted down a long-overdue library book in Seinfeld, has died. The prolific character actor of film and theatre starred in Paul Thomas Anderson's early movies

Hall's many roles included parts in Midnight Run, Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and he was known for one of the most powerfully funny guest ...

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Known for his roles on film and television, Hall has more than 180 screen credits to his name.

Appearing in a short film by aspiring filmmaker named Paul Thomas Anderson, Hall played the character Sydney in Anderson’s 1993 project Cigarettes & Coffee. Anderson loved Hall in Robert Altman’s Secret Honor and met the actor on the set of a PBS movie. Hall’s 1991 appearance is a sterling example of the comedic world Seinfeld and David created as inhabited by an actor so committed to the role that he creates an unflappable logic for something completely ludicrous. Hall’s stern voice and weathered appearance made him a welcome presence throughout his career as he imbued even the most ridiculous situation with a world-weary sincerity. Instead, it opened him up to roles on film and TV, appearing on Modern Family, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and BoJack Horseman, and in movies like Bruce Almighty, Rush Hour, The Insider, and Zodiac. “He seemed about sixteen,” Hall told Esquire. Still, the young director and the seasoned performer struck up a friendship. Bookman became one of the first canonized Seinfeld side characters, proven by his appearance in the show’s final episode, testifying against the main cast. Legendary character actor Philip Baker Hall, known for his regular appearances in the early work of director Paul Thomas Anderson and as the dogged library cop Lt. Joe Bookman on Seinfeld, has died. Soundcore offers a selection of Sound Frames—glasses with built-in speakers that deliver clear, immersive sound to the space around your ears. But it was Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that gave Hall his big break. Hall’s neighbor, Los Angeles Times reporter Sam Farmer, reported the death on Twitter. Farmer wrote, “My neighbor, friend, and one of the wisest, most talented and kindest people I’ve ever met, Philip Baker Hall, died peacefully last night. The world has an empty space in it.” They’re all starving.” Thankfully, Hall stuck it out, landing roles on hit TV shows like M*A*S*H*, Good Times, and The Waltons. He’d also appear on stage in more than 100 roles—always off-Broadway. It was the Great White Way’s loss.