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Philip Baker Hall, 'Boogie Nights,' 'The Truman Show' character actor, dies at 90

He was a regular in the early films of Paul Thomas Anderson and a familiar face in dozens of film and television shows from the early 1970s to the late 2010s.
Philip Baker Hall and Melinda Dillon in "Magnolia," one of three features he made with Paul Thomas Anderson.
Philip Baker Hall and Melinda Dillon in "Magnolia," one of three features he made with Paul Thomas Anderson.New Line Cinema / Courtesy Everett Collection

Philip Baker Hall, a prolific character actor best known for his world-weary performances in "Boogie Nights," "The Truman Show," and dozens of other films and television shows stretching across five decades, died Sunday.

He was 90.

Holly Wolfle Hall, the actor's wife, confirmed his death to The Associated Press on Monday, saying her husband of nearly 40 years died surrounded by loved ones in Glendale, California.

Hall was a regular in the early films of Paul Thomas Anderson, starring as a craggy, sad-eyed gambler in the director's feature debut "Hard Eight" (1996) and later playing key roles in the ensemble dramas "Boogie Nights" (1997) and "Magnolia" (1999).

Hall met Anderson on the set of a PBS special in the early 1990s, when the precocious younger man was a production assistant and aspiring filmmaker.

"He was just a walking encyclopedia of film; he knew it all," Hall told the theater publication Playbill in 2000. "I asked him about his aspirations, and he said, 'I'd like to be a writer-director, and by the way, I'm doing a short film, 'Cigarettes and Coffee,' which has a terrific role for you.'"

Anderson made "Cigarettes and Coffee" on a shoestring budget and later used it as the basis for "Hard Eight," featuring Hall alongside John C. Reilly and Gwyneth Paltrow.

In one of the most notable leading parts of his career, Hall portrayed a paranoid, vengeful version of Richard Nixon in Robert Altman's "Secret Honor" (1984), a claustrophobic drama adapted from a one-person stage play of the same name.

In a glowing review of the film, Roger Ebert wrote: "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," Ebert added. "This is not an impersonation, it's a performance."

Hall established himself as one of the most reliable character actors of the 1980s and '90s with appearances in "Midnight Run" (1988), "Say Anything" (1989), "The Rock" (1996), "The Truman Show" (1998), "The Insider" (1999) and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999).

Hall could be trusted to add raspy gravitas and low-key authority to virtually any film or television project. Instantly recognizable for his hangdog expressions and leathery voice, he conveyed equal parts wisdom and melancholy with seeming ease

“Magnolia” offered Hall an especially rich role as an alcoholic game show host overcome with regret over the sins of his past as he tries (and fails) to reconcile with his daughter, played by Melora Walters.

"My neighbor, friend, and one of the wisest, most talented and kindest people I’ve ever met, Philip Baker Hall, died peacefully last night," The Los Angeles Times reporter Sam Farmer said in a tweet announcing the news.

"He was surrounded by loved ones. The world has an empty space in it," Farmer added.

Hall was born Sept. 10, 1931, in Toledo, Ohio. He got his start as a performer in theatrical productions before moving into film and television, guest-starring on "M*A*S*H," "Good Times" and other popular series.

But out of all of Hall's television guest spots, he will probably be best remembered for his turn on "Seinfeld" as Lt. Joe Bookman, a hard-boiled investigator hellbent on tracking down an overdue library copy of "Tropic of Cancer."

"It's funny, Lt. Bookman was one of the last roles I ever auditioned for, simply because so many doors opened up after I did the show," Hall told Rolling Stone in 2014.

"I remember that Jerry [Seinfeld] had a hard time keeping a straight face during the reading. Usually, when you read for things, no one lets on too much, even if they like you," he added. "But people were fighting to control their laughter."

Hall endeared himself to a new generation of TV viewers with his performance as a Dunphy family neighbor on the ABC sitcom "Modern Family." He continued to appear in acclaimed films such as David Fincher's "Zodiac" (2007) and Ben Affleck's "Argo" (2012).

In an interview with Playbill in 2000, Hall offered advice to aspiring performers, saying: "Keep working and keep doing what you want to do.

"Though the acknowledgment I struggled for as a professional did not come 'til much later in life, I loved what I was doing, and I never stopped," Hall added. "Then things just started exploding all over the place for me."