Basil Hoffman

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 awardwinning 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 MASH 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 DramaLogue Award the first staged reading of Martin E Brooks Joe and Flo at the Actors Studio and the world premiere of William Blinns 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 Presidents 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 Awardwinning Best Pictures Ordinary People and The Artist among many others A longtime 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 US State Department Cultural Envoy to Lebanon to teach acting and directing at the University of Balamands Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts Lebanese University Notre Dame University and St Joseph Universitys Institut DEtude Sceniques Audiovisuelles et Cinematographiques Source Article Basil Hoffman from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30