Philip Baker Hall Biography

Fast Facts

• Early TV credits include bit parts on M*A*S*H, Good Times and Man From Atlantis
• Breakthrough role was Richard Nixon in 1984's Secret Honor at the University of Michigan, where director Robert Altman was a visiting professor
• The production was crewed by UM students
• Met director and frequent collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson in 1992 on the set of a PBS special, where Anderson was a production assistant
• Nominated for 1997 IFP Best Actor Spirit Award for Hard Eight
• Memorably appeared in an episode of Seinfeld as library investigation officer Mr
• Bookman, with whom Jerry haggles about an overdue book
• Appeared as two different judges on ABC's The Practice