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| Bob Balaban | |||||||||||
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| Born | Robert Elmer Balaban August 16, 1945 Chicago, Illinois |
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| Occupation | Film, television actor | ||||||||||
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Robert Elmer "Bob" Balaban (born August 16, 1945) is an American actor, author and director, best known for his collaborations with Christopher Guest.
Biography
Personal life
Balaban was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Eleanor (née Pottasch) and Elmer Balaban, a local hat salesman.[1] His family was a dominant force in the theatre business; his uncles founded the Balaban and Katz Theatre circuit in Chicago, a chain which included the Chicago and Uptown theatres (a 2006 documentary, Uptown: Portrait of a Palace, features one of these theatres). Balaban and Katz operated some of the most beautiful movie palaces in the United States beginning the 1920s. Bob Balaban's father and his uncle Harry founded the H & E Balaban Corporation in Chicago. H & E Balaban Corporation operated their own movie palaces including the Esquire Theatre in Chicago. They later owned a powerful group of television stations and cable television franchises. His uncle Barney Balaban was president of Paramount Pictures[2] for nearly 30 years from 1936 to 1964. His grandmother's second husband, Sam Katz, was a vice president at MGM beginning in 1936. Sam had early partnered with Bob's uncles Abe, Barney, John and Max to form Balaban and Katz. Sam also served as President of the Publix theatre division of Paramount Pictures.
Balaban is an alumnus of Colgate University and New York University and lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his family. He is a member of the Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity. He is Jewish,[3] with his paternal grandparents having immigrated from Russia to Chicago.[4]
Career
One of his earliest appearances in film was in 1969's Midnight Cowboy. Prior to that, he created the role of "Linus" in the original New York off broadway production of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" in 1967.[5] Among his early roles in the 1970s were those of Orr in Catch-22, and the interpreter David Laughlin in the 1977 Steven Spielberg science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In 1979 he received a Tony Award nomination for his role in The Inspector General. During the 1980s he appeared in films such as 2010, and directed the Randy Quaid picture Parents.
Balaban had a recurring role during the fourth season of Seinfeld when he played NBC president Russell Dalrymple.
Balaban has had supporting roles in films such as Absence of Malice, Bob Roberts, Deconstructing Harry, The Majestic, Lady in the Water and all of Christopher Guest's films: Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and recently For Your Consideration.
Balaban appeared in Miami Vice as reporter Ira Stone, a nemesis of G. Gordon Liddy's character. In the 1990s, Balaban had a recurring role as Russell Dalrymple, the fictional president of NBC and eventually Elaine's love interest on Seinfeld. He also played Warren Littlefield, another NBC executive, in The Late Shift, about the battle between Jay Leno and David Letterman for NBC's The Tonight Show. In 1999 Balaban made a guest appearance in the sitcom Friends as Phoebe's Dad Frank Buffay in "The One With Joey's Bag".
In 2001 Balaban produced the Robert Altman picture Gosford Park, for which he received a nomination for Best Picture. He recently appeared in an episode of Entourage as a doctor known for writing prescriptions for medical marijuana.
Balaban currently owns the rights for any future movie adaptations of the BBC sitcom "Red Dwarf"
Balaban is the author of a series of six children's novels featuring a bionic dog named "McGrowl".
Further reading
- Balaban, David. "The Chicago Movie Palaces of Balaban and Katz", Arcadia Publishing, 2006
References
- ^ Bob Balaban Biography (1945-)
- ^ Bob Balaban Gets "Exonerated"
- ^ Pine, Dan (2004-09-24). "Hooked on ‘Addicted’", The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California. Retrieved on 13 December 2006.
- ^ IGN: An Interview with Bob Balaban
- ^ http://www.bestcareanywhere.net/garyburghoff/CharlieBrown.htm
External links
- Balaban and Katz Foundation
- Bob Balaban at the Internet Movie Database
- Bob Balaban at Allmovie
- Bob Balaban interview on AMC-TV's Sci-Fi Department webshow
- Histories and Photos of Balaban and Katz Theatres.
- Recount Movie
Related links