R.I.P. Philip Baker Hall, prolific character actor from Seinfeld and Boogie Nights
Known for his roles on film and television, Hall has more than 180 screen credits to his name
Aux News Philip Baker Hall
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. Hall’s wife, Holly Wolfle, confirmed the actor’s death early Monday, saying that he died on Sunday night surrounded by loved ones at his home in Glendale, California. He was 90.
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. He was surrounded by loved ones. The world has an empty space in it.”
Born in Toledo, Ohio, on September 10, 1931, during the early years of the depression, Hall grew up “in the slums of the north end of Toledo.” The son of a factory worker with a fifth-grade education, Hall developed a love for acting at the University of Toledo before serving as an Army translator in Germany and later working as a teacher.
Hall’s first screen credit came in 1970, though the actor wasn’t so desirable to Hollywood agents. When he first arrived in Los Angeles, an agent told him, “I already have too many middle-aged actors. 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. Hall’s co-star William H. Macy said that “Philip owned the stage” when the two starred in a revival of David Mamet’s American Buffalo.
The 80s would see a turn in Hall’s career, with him landing parts in hit comedies like Say Anything and Midnight Run. He’d also portray President Richard Nixon in director Robert Altman’s Secret Honor, a particularly tricky role considering Hall is the only actor in the film.
But it was Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that gave Hall his big break. As infamous New York Public Library detective Lt. Bookman in a classic 1991 episode of Seinfeld, Hall schools the comedian on proper hosting etiquette, like keeping instant coffee in the cupboard (“You buy a jar of Folger’s crystals, you put it in the cupboard, you forget about it”), and U.S. history (“Hippies burning library cards; Abbie Hoffman telling everybody to steal books”).
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. Of course, the library has detectives. How else would they hunt down stolen books? 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. He set the standard for future guest stars.
“Philip has made me laugh harder than any actor I’ve worked with,” David said.
Two years later, Hall’s career would take another fortuitous turn. 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. “He seemed about sixteen,” Hall told Esquire. Still, the young director and the seasoned performer struck up a friendship.
Coffee & Cigarettes would be the basis for Anderson’s first feature film, Sydney, later re-titled Hard Eight. While a trying experience for the director, who would essentially abandon the project after heavy edits from the studio, Hard Eight cemented a partnership between Anderson and Hall. Anderson would write Hall into the director’s breakout features Boogie Nights and Magnolia.
Roles in Anderson’s films turned Hall into a classic “that guy” celebrity, a distinguished character actor that audiences know, trust, and enjoy, but not one they can necessarily name. However, that reputation didn’t slow Hall’s career. 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.
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. On the topic of the “ostensibly humorless figures” that make up Hall’s resume, the actor told the A.V. Club:
I’ve done so many comic roles, too, over the years that I’ve balanced it out. So it’s okay. Also, those guys are often pretty interesting to play, because they often have their own odd little sides to them that can be explored and that are fun to work with. So, yeah, I’m cool with whatever comes my way. I’m just happy to still be working and to have been able to do it this long. It’s a privilege.
50 Comments
GOAT ‘Hey it’s that guy’ actor. Elevated everything he was ever in. He’ll be greatly missed.
Fametracker.
Thanks to this man’s sage advice, I always have instant coffee in my cupboard, just waiting to be opened.RIP
I always loved how Seinfeld very clearly could barely keep it together throughout the scene.
From a Washington Post article:
“Larry David recalled that Hall was so effective playing the library cop inspired by “Dragnet,” a Detective Joe Friday of the stacks, that “Jerry had problems getting through the scene.”
I always thought that it added to it. Jerry couldn’t take him seriously, because of course no one could.
I don’t judge a man by the length of his hair, or the kind of music he listens to. “Rock” was never my bag – but you put on a pair of shoes when you walk into the New York Public Library, fella.
Or maybe that’s how you get your kicks? You and your good-time buddies.
My favorite Seinfeld episode thanks to his pair of insane rants. The thing that always gets me is the series of hard left turns he makes as his logic winds down his rabbit hole. “Bad year for libraries” to “you think you’re above the law?” to “it’s about this kid’s right to read a book without getting his mind warped” to “maybe that’s how you get your kicks?”. Also, his delivery of “joy boy” never fails to crack me up.
All his monologues are so funny. Definitely one of the best one-off Seinfeld characters.
Also gold: “I remember when the librarian was a much older woman. We didn’t know anything about her private life. We didn’t want to know anything about her private life.”
For me it’s “good time buddies”, I don’t know why, but that part gets me.
“You better not screw up again Seinfeld, because if you do, I’ll be on you like a pitbull on a poodle.”
The part that never fails to make me laugh:“Sure, we’re too old to changethe world, but what about that kid, sitting down, opening a book, rightnow, in a branch at the local library and finding drawings of pee-peesand wee-wees on the Cat in the Hat and the Five Chinese Brothers?Doesn’t HE deserve better?”
That’s my favorite part of the rant because it’s where things really go off the rails. Up to that point he’s an absurdly dedicated library cop, but that starts the reveal of his overall worldview.
He was enjoyable to watch. First thing I think of whenever I see him:
IIRC from the Boogie Nights commentary track, Anderson had to convince Hall to do multiple takes of his character’s entrance, so he could fade from one take to another to another, but Hall thought it was a stupid idea and that the first few takes were fine.
It’s just so casual. That’s what always kills me about it. He says it like he’s talking about preferring cream in his coffee and apple fritters instead of bear claws.
Exactly. He is, in so many words, saying, “I’m a pedofile. I like girls around 15 to 16.” The way someone would say, “I’ll have the steak, medium rare, please.” And that’s what makes it work. That’s how you know the guy is a complete sociopath in an instant. Well, that and the fact that he’s working in the porn industry in the 70s.
Is it? I never took it that way. I think he’s just describing his weird kinks. Are you sure you’re not confusing him with the financier who gets busted for child porn? They are both older white-haired actors of a relatively similar type. I don’t think they would both be into that because Burt Reynolds has such a repulsed reaction to the pedo in jail, but doesn’t even blink at this. That actual jail-visitation confession scene is totally haunting, though. The way the financier just mumbles incoherently about small things has always creeped me all the way out.
Oh shit, yer right. Totally mixed the 2 up.
Easy mistake, since the Colonel likes full-on children and apparently had several in his house when he was arrested. Shiver.Teenagers would have been small potatoes to that guy.
Gotta respect a man that knows what he wants and ain’t afraid to ask for it.
Rock we never his bag.
Always love when this guy pops up. But honestly, everytime he did pop up I was surprised he was still alive. I guess he was just one of those people who look perpetually old.
I have to admit the first thing I thought when I saw the obit was, “I thought he died years ago.” But then it seems he worked pretty much right to the end.And yes, he was the consumate “hey, it’s that guy,” actor—Great in everything he was in but I couldn’t remember his name if my life depended on it.
I remember watching Hard Eight and being blown away by his performance. Took me a while to connect it up with his Seinfeld character. What a great actor.
I know people say Hard Right is lesser Anderson, but it’s still Crackerjack entertainment. Hall is so good in it
If Anderson’s edit of “Hard Eight” is better than the sharp, intelligent, intentionally spare film that the studio released, I’d love to see it. Knowing (and loving) most of his later works, something tells me Anderson’s version of the film was excellent but also forty minutes longer. Those forty theoretical minutes were probably great, but one of the things I enjoy about “Hard Eight” is how trimmed down it is. The cast is small, the setting is almost claustrophobic, the dialogue isn’t flowery, etc. To open up that world would risk diminishing that intimate feeling of being alone with those four central characters.
I also liked Hard Eight more than the more indulgent films PTA released later.
Brilliant actor who had such an amazing career.One of the small latter day roles of his I quite liked was his one-scene appearance as Stansfield Turner in Argo with Bob Gunton. Great stuff for just a small but effective scene. His late 90s run of Hard Eight, The Rock, Air Force One, Boogie Nights, The Truman Show, Enemy of the State and Magnolia, among others, is just incredible.
Stansfield TurnerYou’re referring to Admiral Stansfield Turner…?(Sorry, not to take away from Hall’s passing – RIP – but I had to post this scene.)
the character Sydney in Anderson’s 1993 project Cigarettes & Coffee……Coffee & Cigarettes would be the basis for Anderson’s first feature film,Er…
90 years, 180 credits, pretty good innings.
RIP.
As Bookman on Seinfeld, he was very memorable. But his merits were in movies… A LOT OF THEM. Don’t diminish him with such a headline.
Oh, fuck off. People can love him from Seinfeld just as much as you loved him from Hard Eight.
Don’t diminish his work by being a fucking cunt.
I don’t think it’s diminishing. It’s probably what he’s best recognized for, and he laid down a single performance that created one of the most enduring characters on a show with 180 episodes (not counting the finale).
Yeah, that’s a fair point.
If you’ve never seen Secret Honor, get on it. I never thought anyone could make me feel compassion for a creep like Richard Nixon.
one of those interesting weird Altman projects that barely anybody ever mentions. Low budget but effective.
Secret Honor is the greatest political movie ever made. He’s the only person in that whole movie, and he holds it together completely. What a talent.
Farewell Agent Bookman, one of the best Seinfeld one off characters.
A girl I was dating at university strongly recommended I watch Hard Eight as I couldn’t “study film and video and not watch [that] film.” Our relationship didn’t last but I was thankful to her for introducing me to Paul Thomas Anderson and, of course, Philip Baker Hall. He was so good in Hard Eight!
He’s great. In that scene above you can see Jerry trying hard not to laugh when Hall is delivering his rapid fire lines.
“Hall’s wife, Holly Wolfle”
Holly Wolfle Hall. Howzabout you give the widow the most basic respect of getting her fucking name right?
His linked name in the intro leads to his very good Random Roles interview with Legend Will Harris.
Ah, when the AV club had original interviews instead of publicist steered talking head pieces.
Thanks for pointing that out, because now I’m going to re-read it. Geez I miss those Will Harris interviews. Dude knew how to do his homework and even surprise his interviewee a lot of times.
“While you’re thinking about that, think about this…” I also love his appearance in Curb Your Enthusiasm as the doctor who won’t let Larry use the phone.