Philip Baker Hall (September 10, 1931 – June 12, 2022) was an American actor.

A character actor known for his collaborations with Robert Altman and Paul Thomas Anderson, he starred in leading roles in films, such as Secret Honor (1984), Hard Eight (1996) and Duck (2005).

He had supporting roles in many films including Say Anything... (1989), Boogie Nights (1997), The Truman Show (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Insider (1999), The Contender (2000), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), Zodiac (2007), 50/50 (2011), and Argo (2012). He received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Male Lead for his performance in Hard Eight and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Outstanding Performance by a Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture for Boogie Nights and Magnolia.

He is also known for his prolific work on television. His early television work includes, M*A*S*H, Murder, She Wrote, and Cheers. One of his most memorable television roles was as Lt. Joe Bookman on Seinfeld. He had recurring roles on The Practice, The West Wing, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Modern Family and BoJack Horseman.

Personal life

Hall was born in Toledo, Ohio. 

His mother was Alice Birdene (née McDonald), and his father, William Alexander Hall, was a factory worker from Montgomery, Alabama. He attended the University of Toledo. He served in Germany as a United States Army translator and as a high school teacher. He worked for Off Broadway and Broadway productions in New York City.

Hall had two daughters, Patricia and Darcy, with his first wife, Mary-Ella Holst. He married Holly Wolfle, and had two daughters, Adella and Anna. Hall died from emphysema at his home in Glendale, California, on June 12, 2022, at the age of 90.

Career

After his film debut Cowards, he joined the Los Angeles Theatre Center. His first television role came for an episode of Good Times. Hall guest starred in episodes of M*A*S*H and Man from Atlantis. He had over 200 guest roles since 1977. He played Richard Nixon in the one-character film Secret Honor and reprised his role he had created during the play's original Off-Broadway run. 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."

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." During the 1980s, Hall co-starred in various films in supporting roles, including Nothing in Common, Midnight Run, Say Anything..., and Ghostbusters II. He played "Lt. Joe Bookman", a detective pursuing a long-overdue library book in the Seinfeld episodes, "The Library" and "The Finale". His first Seinfeld appearance was widely lauded as one of the best guest stars on the series, and led to many other jobs.

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." 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.

Hall had turns in a variety of films in the 1990s, including The Rock, The Truman Show, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and The Insider. He co-starred in other films in the 2000s, including Dogville, Zodiac, and Argo. 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). Hall had prominent roles in Bruce Almighty, In Good Company, The Amityville Horror, The Matador, You Kill Me, All Good Things, and 50/50.  He co-starred in The Sum of All Fears,

He starred in the sitcom The Loop. He guest starred in the animated series The Life & Times of Tim. He played a physician in Curb Your Enthusiasm and an equally crotchety neighbor in Modern Family. He appeared in an episode for The Newsroom and for the Holiday Inn commercial. For the short film Dear Chickens he won best actor at Los Angeles Short Festival and Filmets Badalona Film Festival in Barcela.