Philip Baker Hall, of 'Hard Eight,' 'Seinfeld,' dies at 90
Source: AP
By JAKE COYLE
NEW YORK (AP) — Philip Baker Hall, the prolific character actor of film and theater who starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s first movies and who memorably hunted down a long-overdue library book in “Seinfeld,” has died. He was 90.
Holly Wolfle Hall, the actor’s wife of nearly 40 years, on Monday said Hall died Sunday surrounded by loved ones in Glendale, California. She said Hall had been well until a few weeks earlier, and spent his final days in warm spirits, reflecting on his life.
“His voice at the end was still just as powerful,” said Wolfle Hall.
Born in Toledo, Ohio, Hall had been a well-traveled stage actor and bit-part presence in films and TV before a then-little-known Paul Thomas Anderson sought him out to star in his 1993 short film “Cigarettes & Coffee.” After the short, with Hall playing an itinerate gambler, made it into the Sundance Film Festival, Anderson expanded it into his feature debut, 1997?s “Hard Eight,” which catapulted Hall’s career. Anderson would cast him again in “Boogie Nights” and “Magnolia.”
FILE - Philip Baker Hall arrives at the premiere of "Clear History" at the Cinerama Dome on Wednesday, July 31, 2013 in Los Angeles. Hall, the prolific character actor of film and theater who starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s early movies and who memorably hunted down a long-overdue library book in “Seinfeld,” has died. He was 90. Holly Wolfle Hall, the actor’s wife of nearly 40 years, says Hall died Sunday surrounded by loved ones in Glendale, California. (Photo by Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP, File)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-theater-movies-obituaries-6d880589f6c644cf529a308756ce7be6
Loved him as the retired fireman in "Modern Family".
= new reply since forum marked as read
What a resume!!!!
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001311/
For me, “Magnolia” really put him on my radar — marvelous performance
was with Bookman the library cop. R-I-P Philip Baker Hall
