Actor Philip Baker Hall, best known for films such as Magnolia and Boogie Nights, has died in his 90s.
The news was first shared on Twitter by his neighbor and Los Angeles Times writer Sam Farmer. “My neighbor and friend, Philip Baker Hall, one of the smartest, most talented and kindest people I’ve ever met, died peacefully last night.” He wrote. “He was surrounded by loved ones. There is an empty place in the world.
His wife Holly Wolfle Hall later confirmed the news Associated Press. He said he was fine until relatively recently and that his last days reflected on his life. “In the end his voice was even more powerful,” he said.
Defined as a one-story character actor, Hall played small roles in stage shows in New York such as Coma and M * A * S * H and Good Times on stage in New York before beginning his Hollywood career in the 1970s. “When I first got here, I was completely innocent. I did not know where to start,” Hall said. Washington Post. “Television really made no sense to me. We never had television. I never watched a movie being made. Never. It never seemed possible or possible.
But Hall continued to look for work throughout the 80s on Ghostbusters II, Midnight Run and Say Anything and in the 90s on Air Force One, The Rock and the Truman Show.
He befriended young director Paul Thomas Anderson while working as a production assistant on a PPS film. Anderson gave him roles in Heart Aid, Boogie Knights and Magnolia, which led to more work for Hall over the next few decades.
Larry David used him in both Seanfield and Curb Your Enthusiasm. “Philip makes me laugh harder than any actor I’ve ever worked with,” David once said.
In 2012, Hall said his Seanfield character, Librarian Joe Bookman, was very popular with most people. “Everyone remembers Bookman” he said. “People always, in the supermarket or anywhere, it’s okay, ‘Oh, you’re a bookman, didn’t you? I loved that bookman so much. Now, I know you’re done a lot of things, but I really liked that bookman character.’ I know you’ve done a lot of things’ If you say, ‘You don’t know half of that!’ But Bookman? Bookman presses the answer button, and I’m not thankful for that. “
Hall’s big screen credits include Dogville, The Insider, Zodiac, Argo, Bruce Almighty and The Amityville Horror, while on the small screen he appeared on The Newsroom and Modern Family, and his voice was heard on Bojak Horseman.
