Photo: Michael Tran/FilmMagic
Philip Baker Hall, an actor whose career spanned more than 50 years, has died. He was 90.
Hall is known for movie roles in director Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 filmMagnoliaand his 1997 filmBoogie Nights, both of which earned Hall SAG Award nominations as part of the cast ensembles. On television, Hall had brief yet memorable parts onSeinfeld(he was Lt. Bookman in “The Library” episode) andModern Family, as the Dunphy family’s neighbor Walt Kleezak.
The actor also appeared in theRush Hourmovies,50/50,Zodiac,Bruce Almightyand the 1998Psychoremake. Additionally, he played Richard Nixon in Robert Altman’s 1984 movieSecret Honor.
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One of his final red carpet appearances was in March 2017 at the Hollywood premiere ofThe Last Word, posing for photos alongside Anne Heche, Thomas Sadoski, Shirley MacLaine, Ann’Jewel Lee and Amanda Seyfried.
In his 2012 A.V. Club interview, Hall spoke about being a frequent collaborator with writer/director Anderson, saying “somehow we were drawn together” when they met.
“We had coffee and cigarettes between the takes and got to know each other a little bit, and it was obvious to an experienced actor that he was unusual,” he said at the time. “… There was something of the golden child about Paul, even when I had not seen one line of his writing. Just talking to him and listening to him talk and getting to know him a little bit on the set, it seemed like this was not your everyday person.”
Philip Baker Hall in Paul Thomas Anderson’sHard Eight(1996).Mark Tillie/Rysher/Kobal/Shutterstock
Hall also recalled becoming a west coast working actor after building a “sizable” résumé in New York City.
“I don’t know why I left New York. Looking back, I almost wish I hadn’t left New York,” he said, adding of his difficulty getting an agent in Los Angeles versus N.Y.C.: “But this is not quite true in L.A. Unless you look likeTom Cruisedid at 23 or something. If you’re just coming out there, and you’re not in your early 20s and look like a Greek god, and you’re out there without some representation or at least some central film in your bag, I would have to say that you almost don’t have a chance. Or at least when I came out in the ’70s you didn’t.”
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“In those first jobs, I was lacking in confidence, and I did feel there are things to be learned here, and I haven’t learned them. And I wasn’t even sure how to learn them. It was the kind of things that, especially at my age, after so many years of working in the theater, you can’t study in the book or memorize or even ask somebody, ‘How do you appear relaxed and casual and yet get the job done in front of the camera with a hundred crew people looking on?’ " he recalled of moving into film and television. “Not to mention the other actors, many of whom when I first started were probably prominent or even stars. You’ve got to deliver the goods, but you’re scared to death. Which I certainly was, at least in the beginning.”
source: people.com
