Philip Baker Hall Of Hard Eight, Seinfeld Passes Away At 90
Philip Baker Hall, the prolific character actor of film and theater who starred in Paul Thomas Anderson's first movies and who memorably hunted down a long-overdue library book in “Seinfeld,” has died. He was 90.
Philip
Baker
Hall,
the
prolific
character
actor
of
film
and
theater
who
starred
in
Paul
Thomas
Anderson's
first
movies
and
who
memorably
hunted
down
a
long-overdue
library
book
in
“Seinfeld,”
has
died.
He
was
90.
Holly
Wolfle
Hall,
the
actor's
wife
of
nearly
40
years,
on
Monday
said
Hall
died
Sunday
surrounded
by
loved
ones
in
Glendale,
California.
She
said
Hall
had
been
well
until
a
few
weeks
earlier,
and
spent
his
final
days
in
warm
spirits,
reflecting
on
his
life.
“His
voice
at
the
end
was
still
just
as
powerful,”
said
Wolfle
Hall.
Her
husband,
she
added,
never
retired
from
acting.
In
a
career
spanning
half
a
century,
Hall
was
a
ubiquitous
hangdog
face
whose
doleful,
weary
appearance
could
shroud
a
booming
intensity
and
humble
sensitivity.
His
range
was
wide,
but
Hall,
who
had
a
natural
gravitas,
often
played
men
in
suits,
trench
coats
and
lab
coats.
"Men
who
are
highly
stressed,
older
men,
who
are
at
the
limit
of
their
tolerance
for
suffering
and
stress
and
pain,”
Hall
told
the
Washington
Post
in
2017.
“I
had
an
affinity
for
playing
those
roles.”
Born
in
Toledo,
Ohio,
Hall
initially
devoted
himself
more
to
theater
in
Los
Angeles,
after
moving
out
in
1975,
than
TV
and
movies.
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.
Critic
Pauline
Kael
wrote
that
Hall
“draws
on
his
lack
of
a
star
presence
and
on
an
actor's
fears
of
his
own
mediocrity
in
a
way
that
seems
to
parallel
Nixon's
feelings." Hall
made
an
impression
in
the
smallest
of
roles
in
other
films,
like
1988's
“Midnight
Run."
But
outside
of
theater,
Hall
was
mostly
doing
guest
roles
in
television.
That
changed
when
he
was
shooting
a
PBS
program
in
1992.
Hall
then
encountered
a
production
assistant
in
his
early
20s
named
Paul
Thomas
Anderson.
The
two
would
hang
out,
smoking
cigarettes
and
drinking
coffee
between
scenes.
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.”
“I'm
reading
this
script,
and
I
truly
had
trouble
believing
that
that
kid
wrote
this
script,”
Hall
told
the
AV
Club
in
2012.
“I
mean,
it
was
just
so
brilliant,
resonating
with
nuance
all
over
the
place,
like
a
playwright.
Certainly,
as
a
film,
I'd
never
really
seen
anything
like
it.
It
was
staggering.”
After
the
$20,000
short
made
it
into
the
Sundance
Film
Festival,
Anderson
expanded
it
into
his
feature
debut,
1997's
“Hard
Eight,”
which
catapulted
Hall's
career.
In
it,
Hall
played
a
wise
and
courteous
itinerate
gambler
named
Sydney
who
schools
a
young
drifter
(John
C.
Reilly)
on
the
craft.
In
one
indelible
scene,
Philip
Seymour
Hoffman's
first
with
Anderson,
a
hot-shot
gambler
chides
Hall
as
“old-timer.”
Anderson
would
cast
Hall
again
as
adult
film
theater
magnate
Floyd
Gondolli
who
warns
Burt
Reynolds' pornography
producer
about
the
industry's
future
in
“Boogie
Nights."
In
Anderson's
“Magnolia,”
Hall
played
Jimmy
Gator,
the
host
of
a
kids
game
show.
“I
have
a
particular
fascination
with
character
actors,
with
wanting
to
turn
them
into
lead
actors,"
Anderson
told
The
Los
Angeles
Times
in
1998.
"I
see
Philip
Baker
Hall,
he's
just
.
.
.
an
actor
that
I
love.
There's
no
one
else
with
a
face
like
that,
or
a
voice
like
that.”
To
many,
Hall
was
instantly
recognizable
for
one
of
the
most
powerfully
funny
guest
appearances
on
“Seinfeld.”
In
the
22nd
episode
of
the
sitcom
in
1991,
Hall
played
Lt.
Joe
Bookman,
the
library
investigator
who
comes
after
Seinfeld
for
a
years-overdue
copy
of
“Tropic
of
Cancer."
Hall
played
him
like
a
hardboiled
noir
detective,
telling
Seinfeld:
“Well,
I
got
a
flash
for
ya,
Joy-boy:
Party
time
is
over.”
Hall
was
brought
back
for
the
“Seinfeld”
finale
and
by
Larry
David
on
“Curb
Your
Enthusiasm.”
David
once
said
no
other
actor
ever
made
him
laugh
more
than
Hall.
Among
Hall's
many
other
credits
were
Michael
Mann's
“The
Insider,”
as
“60
Minutes”
producer
Don
Hewitt,
and
Lars
von
Trier's
“Dogville." Hall
appeared
in
“Say
Anything,”
“The
Truman
Show,”
“The
Talented
Mr.
Ripley,”
“Zodiac,”
“Argo”
and
“Rush
Hour."
Hall
played
the
neighbor
Walt
Kleezak
on
“Modern
Family.”
His
last
performance
was
in
the
2020
series
“Messiah.”
Hall,
who
was
married
to
Dianne
Lewis
for
three
years
in
the
early
1970s,
is
survived
by
his
wife,
four
daughters,
four
grandchildren
and
his
brother.