BH
Basil Hoffman
Actor
Born January 18, 1938Died September 17, 2021 (83 years)
Basil Harry Hoffman (January 18, 1938 — September 17, 2021) was an American actor with a film and television career spanning five decades, mostly in supporting roles. He starred in films with many award-winning directors, including Alan Pakula and Robert Redford. He has also authored two books about acting, including Acting and How to Be Good at It.
Hoffman was born in Houston, Texas in January 1938, the son of Beulah (née Novoselsky) and David Hoffman, an antique dealer. He graduated from Tulane University; and he spent two years at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, receiving a scholarship for the second, graduating year.
His thirteen years of work in New York included many plays, some roles in episodic television, a recurring character on One Life to Live on ABC, hundreds of commercials and a film role in Lady Liberty with Sophia Loren, directed by Mario Monicelli.
He made his first trip to Los Angeles in 1974. In that season, he filmed a theatrical feature, At Long Last Love, for Peter Bogdanovich. In the years that followed he appeared in two television movies, television episodes of Kung Fu, The Rockford Files, Sanford and Son (2 roles), Police Woman, Columbo, Kojak, M*A*S*H (2 roles), Barney Miller and several TV commercials. He had recurring roles as the fingerprint technician on Ellery Queen and as Principal Dingleman on Square Pegs.
Although most of his work was in film and television, he made a few stage appearances, most notably in Sand Mountain, by Romulus Linney, for which he won a Drama-Logue Award, the first staged reading of Martin E. Brooks’ Joe and Flo at the Actors Studio, and the world premiere of William Blinn's Walking Peoria.
He was best known for his work with distinguished film directors, including Peter Bogdanovich, Mario Monicelli, Richard Benjamin, Carl Reiner (twice), Peter Medak (six times) and Alan J. Pakula (twice); Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen, Paolo Sorrentino, Michel Hazanavicius, Steven Spielberg, Delbert Mann, Blake Edwards, Stanley Donen, Sydney Pollack, Ron Howard and Robert Redford (twice as director); and others. His films include: All the President's Men, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, My Favorite Year, The Box, The Electric Horseman, Night Shift, Lucky Lady, Switch, The Milagro Beanfield War, Rio, I Love You, The Pineville Heist, and the Academy Award-winning Best Pictures Ordinary People and The Artist, among many others.
A long-time private acting teacher and coach, he was also a frequent guest lecturer and teacher at prestigious professional and academic institutions, including the American Film Institute, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Emerson College, the University of Southern California, Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, and the Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts in Beirut, Lebanon.
In 2008, he returned to Beirut as a U.S. State Department Cultural Envoy to Lebanon to teach acting and directing at the University of Balamand's Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts, Lebanese University, Notre Dame University and St. Joseph University's Institut D'Etude Sceniques Audiovisuelles et Cinematographiques. ...
Source: Article "Basil Hoffman" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Hoffman was born in Houston, Texas in January 1938, the son of Beulah (née Novoselsky) and David Hoffman, an antique dealer. He graduated from Tulane University; and he spent two years at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, receiving a scholarship for the second, graduating year.
His thirteen years of work in New York included many plays, some roles in episodic television, a recurring character on One Life to Live on ABC, hundreds of commercials and a film role in Lady Liberty with Sophia Loren, directed by Mario Monicelli.
He made his first trip to Los Angeles in 1974. In that season, he filmed a theatrical feature, At Long Last Love, for Peter Bogdanovich. In the years that followed he appeared in two television movies, television episodes of Kung Fu, The Rockford Files, Sanford and Son (2 roles), Police Woman, Columbo, Kojak, M*A*S*H (2 roles), Barney Miller and several TV commercials. He had recurring roles as the fingerprint technician on Ellery Queen and as Principal Dingleman on Square Pegs.
Although most of his work was in film and television, he made a few stage appearances, most notably in Sand Mountain, by Romulus Linney, for which he won a Drama-Logue Award, the first staged reading of Martin E. Brooks’ Joe and Flo at the Actors Studio, and the world premiere of William Blinn's Walking Peoria.
He was best known for his work with distinguished film directors, including Peter Bogdanovich, Mario Monicelli, Richard Benjamin, Carl Reiner (twice), Peter Medak (six times) and Alan J. Pakula (twice); Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen, Paolo Sorrentino, Michel Hazanavicius, Steven Spielberg, Delbert Mann, Blake Edwards, Stanley Donen, Sydney Pollack, Ron Howard and Robert Redford (twice as director); and others. His films include: All the President's Men, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, My Favorite Year, The Box, The Electric Horseman, Night Shift, Lucky Lady, Switch, The Milagro Beanfield War, Rio, I Love You, The Pineville Heist, and the Academy Award-winning Best Pictures Ordinary People and The Artist, among many others.
A long-time private acting teacher and coach, he was also a frequent guest lecturer and teacher at prestigious professional and academic institutions, including the American Film Institute, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Emerson College, the University of Southern California, Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, and the Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts in Beirut, Lebanon.
In 2008, he returned to Beirut as a U.S. State Department Cultural Envoy to Lebanon to teach acting and directing at the University of Balamand's Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts, Lebanese University, Notre Dame University and St. Joseph University's Institut D'Etude Sceniques Audiovisuelles et Cinematographiques. ...
Source: Article "Basil Hoffman" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Movies & Shows on Plex
Filmography
| 2023 | Lucky Louie · as Wilbert Moser |
| 2019 | Project: Puppies for Christmas · as Fred |
| 2017 | The Last Word · as Christopher Georrge |
| 2017 | Mommy, I Didn't Do It · as Otis Pell |
| 2016 | The Pineville Heist · as Principal Parker |
| 2016 | Hail, Caesar! · as Stu Schwartz (accounting) |
| 2014 | Throwdown · as Judge Eller |
| 2014 | Rio, I Love You · as James (segment "la Fortuna") |
| 2014 | Dead Drop · as Kole |
| 2013 | 3 Geezers! · as Victor |
| 2011 | The Artist · as Auctioneer |
| 2010 | One Wish · as Headmaster Ludwig |
| 2010 | When Life Gives You Lemons · as Calvin Adams |
| 2009 | The Box · as Don Poates |
| 2009 | Old Dogs · as Zeke |
| 2006 | You Did What? · as Pastor |
| 2003 | Down with Love · as C. W. (uncredited) |
| 2002 | For the People (TV Series) · as Judge Olsen |
| 2000 | Citizen Baines (TV Series) · as James Mcclintock |
| 1999 | Hefner: Unauthorized · as Lawyer |
| 1999 | The West Wing (TV Series) · as Congressman |
| 1998 | Cousin Skeeter (TV Series) · as Principal Ezemins |
| 1997 | Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction (TV Series) · as Gerald Stanley (segment "the Dresser") |
| 1997 | The Practice (TV Series) · as Tucker's Atty. Art Hardiman (uncredited) |
| 1996 | Kindred: The Embraced (TV Series) · as Charon The Coroner |
| 1994 | Pontiac Moon · as Car Buyer |
| 1993 | The Elvira Show · as Dr. Marvin Zislis |
| 1992 | The Double 0 Kid · as Trout |
| 1992 | The Ice Runner · as J.c. Kruck |
| 1991 | Eerie, Indiana (TV Series) · as Bert |
| 1991 | Switch · as Higgins |
| 1990 | Babes (TV Series) · as Neighbor Bob |
| 1990 | Equal Justice (TV Series) · as Curtis Cardwell |
| 1990 | Lambada · as Superintendent Leland |
| 1989 | |
| 1989 | Seinfeld (TV Series) · as Wig Salesman |
| 1988 | The Milagro Beanfield War · as In The Governor's Office |
| 1987 | Beauty and the Beast (TV Series) · as Trask |
| 1986 | Outlaws (1986) (TV Series) · as Driving Instructor |
| 1986 | Sledge Hammer! (TV Series) · as Sam Steinway |
| 1986 | L.A. Law (TV Series) · as Baldred Townsend |
| 1986 | Matlock (TV Series) · as Gary Springer |
| 1986 | The Hogan Family (TV Series) · as Howard Morgan |
| 1986 | You Again? (TV Series) · as Dean |
| 1985 | The Twilight Zone (1985) (TV Series) · as Mr. Steward |
| 1985 | 227 (TV Series) · as J. Boswell Premington |
| 1985 | Small Wonder (TV Series) · as Mr. Beck |
| 1985 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985) (TV Series) · as Dr. Michaels |
| 1984 | The Ratings Game · as Frank Friedlander |
| 1984 | Spencer (TV Series) · as Cast |
| 1984 | Murder, She Wrote (TV Series) · as Milton Overguard |
| 1984 | |
| 1984 | Santa Barbara (TV Series) · as Joshua Friendly |
| 1984 | Kidco · as Sid Fein |
| 1984 | CBS Schoolbreak Special (TV Series) · as Mr. Rasmussen |
| 1984 | Night Court (TV Series) · as Duane Sedgwick |
| 1983 | Ace Crawford, Private Eye (TV Series) · as Gentleman Bandit |
| 1982 | My Favorite Year · as Herb Lee |
| 1982 | Square Pegs (TV Series) · as Principal Dingleman |
| 1982 | Night Shift · as Drollhauser |
| 1981 | Gimme a Break! (TV Series) · as Mr. Fuller |
| 1981 | Cagney & Lacey (TV Series) · as Lt. Palmer |
| 1981 | Falcon Crest (TV Series) · as Reverend Mustafa |
| 1981 | Hill Street Blues (TV Series) · as Ed Greenglass (archive Footage) (uncredited) |
| 1981 | Dynasty (TV Series) · as Judge Drew Mayfield |
| 1980 | Too Close for Comfort (TV Series) · as Dr. Norman Biggs |
| 1980 | Enos (TV Series) · as Dr. Bloomberg |
| 1980 | It's a Living (TV Series) · as Dr. Bickley |
| 1980 | Scout's Honor · as Alexander |
| 1980 | Ordinary People · as Sloan |
| 1980 | Here's Boomer (TV Series) · as Sloan Meadows |
| 1979 | The Electric Horseman · as Toland |
| 1979 | Being There · as Man In Commercial |
| 1979 | Out of the Blue (TV Series) · as Herman Donaldson |
| 1979 | Love at First Bite · as Hotel Manager (uncredited) |
| 1979 | Jennifer: A Woman's Story · as Neil Turner |
| 1978 | Comes a Horseman · as George Bascomb |
| 1978 | The Eddie Capra Mysteries (TV Series) · as Second Technician |
| 1978 | Love's Dark Ride · as Dr. Kanlan |
| 1977 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind · as Longly (uncredited) |
| 1977 | CHiPs (TV Series) · as Stan West |
| 1977 | Prime Time · as Presidential Advisor |
| 1976 | Arthur Hailey's The Moneychangers (TV Series) · as Stanley Inchbeck |
| 1976 | All the President's Men · as Assistant Metro Editor |
| 1976 | Good Heavens (TV Series) · as Walter Ashburn |
| 1975 | Lucky Lady · as Auctioneer's Assistant |
| 1975 | Ellery Queen (TV Series) · as Technical Print Man, Harry |
| 1975 | Cage Without a Key · as Judge |
| 1975 | At Long Last Love · as Movie Theatre Manager |
| 1975 | Barney Miller (TV Series) · as Allen Korbel |
| 1974 | The Great Ice Rip-Off · as Richards |
| 1974 | Police Woman (TV Series) · as Desk Clerk #2 |
| 1974 | The Rockford Files (TV Series) · as Desk Clerk |
| 1973 | Kojak (TV Series) · as Charlie Winston |
| 1972 | The ABC Afterschool Special (TV Series) · as Photographer |
| 1972 | M*A*S*H (TV Series) · as Major Pfiefer |
| 1972 | The Waltons (TV Series) · as Prof Ranney |
| 1972 | Kung Fu (TV Series) · as Telegrapher |
| 1972 | Sanford and Son (TV Series) · as Store Owner |
| 1971 | Lady Liberty · as Willett (uncredited) |
| 1971 | Columbo (TV Series) · as Jason Danziger |
| 1969 | Marcus Welby, M.D. (TV Series) · as Cast |
| 1968 | That's Life (1968) (TV Series) · as Commuter |
| 1968 | Blonde on a Bum Trip · as Cast |
| 1961 | The Defenders (TV Series) · as Juror |