Early life

Hall was born in Toledo, Ohio, the son of Alice Birdene (née McDonald) and William Alexander Hall, a factory worker who was from Montgomery, Alabama. He attended the University of Toledo. As a young man, Hall served in the military, had two children, and became a high school English teacher. In 1960, he decided to become an actor. He moved to New York, enjoying success in Off Broadway and Broadway productions. He now resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife, Holly and two daughters, Adella and Anna.

Career

In 1975, Hall moved to Los Angeles to make a career in television. Since then, he has had over 200 guest roles on television shows. He starred in many films, including Robert Altman's Secret Honor, a one-man show in which he played the film's only role, Richard Nixon. Hall got his first high-profile film role when Paul Thomas Anderson wrote a role in his film Hard Eight, specifically for Hall. Hall went on to have roles in two of Anderson's subsequent films, Boogie Nights and Magnolia. He also had a minor role as Captain Diel in the Rush Hour trilogy (though his scenes were cut from the theatrical release of Rush Hour 2 and he was uncredited for his scenes in Rush Hour 3).

Additionally, Hall has had roles in Midnight Run, Say Anything..., The Rock, The Truman Show, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Bruce Almighty, You Kill Me, In Good Company, Dogville, The Amityville Horror, The Matador, The Sum of All Fears, The Zodiac and Zodiac. More recently, he had a starring role in the 2006-07 Fox sitcom The Loop and had a guest starring role in The West Wing. Hall also appeared as a guest star in the HBO animated series The Life & Times of Tim. He appeared in the 2010 film, All Good Things.

Hall acted in Seinfeld as Lt. Joe Bookman, the 'library cop' who tracks down Jerry for a long-overdue library book in "The Library". He reprised the role in the May 1998 finale where his character is one of many to testify against Jerry. More recently he has appeared as the crotchety Dr. Morrison, Larry David's physician, on Curb Your Enthusiasm and an equally crotchety neighbor of the Dunphy family on Modern Family. In 2012, he appeared in an episode of Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom.

Hall also appeared in a series of humorous Holiday Inn commercials.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	Cowards	Father Reis
	Zabriskie Point	Diner Owner	Uncredited
1971	Love-In 72	Father Reis
1974	Throw Out the Anchor!	Ryan	Credited as "Phillip Hall"
1980	The Last Reunion	Mike Sills
	The Man with Bogart's Face	Dr. Inman
1981	Dream On!
1984	Secret Honor	Richard Nixon
1986	Nothing in Common	Colonial Airlines Executive	Uncredited
1987	Three O'Clock High	Detective Mulvahill
1988	Midnight Run	Sidney
1989	Say Anything...	IRS Boss
	How I Got Into College	Dean Patterson
	Ghostbusters II	Police Commissioner
	An Innocent Man	Judge Kenneth Lavet
1991	Silent Victim
1992	Live Wire	Senator Thyme
1993	Cigarettes & Coffee	Old man	Short film
1994	The Last Laugh	William T.	Short film
1995	Kiss of Death	Big Junior Brown
1996	Eye for an Eye	Sidney Hughes
	Hard Eight	Sydney
	The Little Death	Detective Snyder
	The Rock	Chief Justice	Uncredited
	Hit Me	Lenny Ish
1997	Buddy	Minister
	Air Force One	U.S. Attorney General Andrew Ward
	Boogie Nights	Floyd Gondolli	Nominated-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1998	Sour Grapes	Mr. Bell
	The Truman Show	Network Executive
	Judas Kiss	Pobby Malavero
	Rush Hour	Captain William Diel
	Enemy of the State	Attorney Mark Silverberg	Uncredited
	Psycho	Sheriff Chambers
1999	Let the Devil Wear Black	Sol Hirsch
	Implicated	John Swayer
	Cradle Will Rock	Gray Mathers
	The Insider	Don Hewitt
	Magnolia	Jimmy Gator	Nominated-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
	The Talented Mr. Ripley	Alvin MacCarron
2000	Rules of Engagement	General H. Lawrence Hodges
	The Contender	Oscar Billings
	Lost Souls	Father James
2001	Rush Hour 2	Captain William Diel	Scenes deleted
2002	The Sum of All Fears	Defense Secretary David Becker
	A Gentleman's Game	Charlie Logan
2003	Die, Mommie, Die!	Sol Sussman
	Dogville	Tom Edison Sr.
	Bruce Almighty	Jack Baylor
	A House on a Hill	Harry Mayfield
2004	In Good Company	Eugene Kalb
2005	The Matador	Mr. Randy
	A Buck's Worth		Voice
	Duck	Arthur Pratt
	The Amityville Horror	Father Callaway
	The Zodiac	Chief Frank Perkins
2006	The Shaggy Dog	Lance Strictland
	The TV Set	Vernon Maxwell
	Islander	Popper
2007	Zodiac	Sherwood Morrill
	You Kill Me	Roman Krzeminski
	Rush Hour 3	Captain William Diel	Uncredited
2009	The Lodger	Captain Smith
	Fired Up	Coach Byrnes
	Wonderful World	The Man
2010	All Good Things	Malvern Bump
2011	The Chicago 8	Judge Julius Hoffman
	Mr. Popper's Penguins	Franklin
	50/50	Alan
2012	Bending the Rules	Herb Gold
	Departure Date	Old Jake
	People Like Us	Ike Rafferty
	Dog Eat Dog		Short film
	Argo	CIA Director Stansfield Turner	Uncredited Hollywood Film Festival Award for Ensemble of the Year
2013	Bad Words	Dr. William Bowman
2014	Playing It Cool	Granddad
2016	Human People		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	The Last Survivors		TV film
1976	Good Times	Motel owner	Episode 3.18: "J.J.'s Fiancee: Part 2"
	Mayday at 40,000 Feet!	Reporter	TV film
1976 1977	Visions	Severson Boyle	Episode 1.4: "Gold Watch" Episode 2.7: "You Can Run, But You Can't Hide"
1977	Man from Atlantis	George	Episode 1.1: "Man from Atlantis"
	The Hostage Heart	Dr. Harvey Fess	TV film
	Kill Me If You Can	Phillips	TV film
	M*A*S*H	Sgt. Hacker	Episode 6.6: "The Light That Failed"
1978	The Fitzpatricks	Bertram	Episode 1.10: "A Living Wage"
	Emergency!	Oliver Warren	Episode 7.1: "The Steel Inferno"
	The Bastard	Shopkeeper	TV film
	Terror Out of the Sky	Starrett	TV film
1979	Samurai	Prof. Owens	TV film
1980	Riding for the Pony Express	Mr. Durfee	TV film
	The Waltons	Major Gordon	Episode 8.22: "The Furlough"
1981	This House Possessed	Clerk	TV film; credited as "Phillip Baker Hall"
1982	Quincy, M.E.	Captain Rasmussen Dep. DA Marty Shell	Episode 7.12 "Smoke Screen" Episode 8.6: "Sleeping Dogs"
	Cagney & Lacey	Lt. Sweeny	Episode 2.5: "Hot Line"
	T. J. Hooker	Judge Wallace	Episode 2.9: "A Cry for Help"
	Games Mother Never Taught You	Lester Greene	TV film
	Seven Brides for Seven Brothers	Prosecutor Wilcox	Episode 1.2: "The Man in the White Hat" Episode 1.13: "Christmas Song"
1983	The Night the Bridge Fell Down	Warren Meech	TV film
	Lottery!		Episode 1.10: "Houston: Duffy's Choice"
1985	Hardcastle and McCormick	Jack Marsh	Episode 2.13: "Too Rich and Too Thin"
1986	Who Is Julia?	Dean May	TV film
1987	Mariah	James Malone	Seven episodes
	The Spirit	Sevrin	TV film
	Miami Vice	Judge Delaporte	Episode 4.1: "Contempt of Court"
1988	Goddess of Love	Detective Charles	TV film
	Family Ties	Dr. Harrison	Three episodes
1989	A Cry for Help: The Tracey Thurman Story	Judge Blumenfeld	TV film
	Incident at Dark River	Dr. Leo Manus	TV film
1989-1990	Falcon Crest	Ed Meyers	13 episodes
1990	Matlock	Judge	Episode 5.1: "The Mother"
	Bagdad Cafe	Herb	Episode 2.1: "This Bird Has Flown"
1991	Murder, She Wrote	Len Costner	Episode 7.13: "Moving Violation"
	L.A. Law	Tom Baker	Episode 5.12: "He's a Crowd"
	Equal Justice	Judge S.E. Cleveland	Episode 2.9: "Do the Wrong Thing"
	Dark Justice	Winchester Keller	Episode 1.17: "The Neutralizing Factor"; credited as "Phillip Baker Hall"
1991-1992	Civil Wars		Three episodes
1991-1998	Seinfeld	Lt. Bookman	Two episodes
1992	Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232	Sam Gochenour	TV film
	Stormy Weathers	Dr. Comden	TV film
	Nurses	Mr. Todd	Episode 2.7: "Playing Doctor"
1993	Cheers	City Councilman Kevin Fogerty	Episode 11.21: "Woody Gets an Election"
1994	M.A.N.T.I.S.	Smitty	TV film
	Empty Nest	Jerod	Episode 6.17: "Brotherly Shove"
	The Good Life	Mr. Humphreys	Episode 1.11: "Melissa the Thief"
	Roswell	Roswell General	TV film
	Madman of the People	Kent	Episode 1.3: "All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Mad Boy"
	Chicago Hope	Mr. Wellington	Episode 1.4: "You Gotta Have Heart"
	Hardball	Beanball McGee	Episode 1.6: "Lee's Bad, Bad Day"
	Without Warning	Dr. Kurt Lowden	TV film
1996	Life's Work	Judge Conklin	Episode 1.3: "Contempt"
	The John Larroquette Show	Mr. Frank	Episode 4.7: "Napping to Success"
1997	3rd Rock from the Sun	President Dewey	Episode 2.13: "Proud Dick"
	The Practice	Judge Joseph Vinocour Judge Canker	Four episodes
1997-1998	Millennium	Group Elder	Two episodes
	Michael Hayes	William Vaughn	20 episodes
1998	Tempting Fate	Dr. Bardwell	TV film
	Witness to the Mob	Salvatore "Toddo" Aurello	TV film
	L.A. Doctors	Vincent Cattano	Episode 1.4: "Fear of Flying"
1999	Partners	Scarpatti	TV film
2000	Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis	Aristotle Onassis	TV film
	The Fugitive	Stuart Kimble	Episode 1.7: "St. Christopher's Prayer"
2000-2002	Baby Blues	Mr. Thompson Mr. Saunders	Episode 1.8: "Ugly Zoe" Episode 1.9: "Wanda Proof"
2001	Loomis		Episode 1.1: "Pilot"
2001-2002	Pasadena	George Reese Greeley	Seven episodes
2002	Path to War	Everett Dirksen	TV film
	Night Visions	Dennis Brascom	Episode 1.23: "Cargo"
	Without a Trace	Noah Ridder	Episode 1.6: "Silent Partner"
2003-2004	Everwood	Dr. Donald Douglas	Three episodes
2004	Monk	Salvatore Lucarelli	Episode 3.5: "Mr. Monk Meets the Godfather"; credited as "Phillip Baker Hall"
	Boston Legal	Ernie Dell	Episode 1.1: "Head Cases"
	The West Wing	Senator Matt Hunt	Two episodes
2004-2009	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Doctor Morrison	Two episodes
2005	Mrs. Harris	Arthur Schulte	TV film
2006-2007	The Loop	Russ McDonald	17 episodes Nominated-Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2007	Wildlife		TV film
	Big Love	Ned Johanssen	Episode 2.11: "Take Me as I Am"
2008	Psych	Irving Parker	Episode 2.14: "Dis-Lodged"
	Worst Week	Reverend Lowell	Two episodes
2010	The Life & Times of Tim	Norman Walker	Episode 2.10: "London Calling/Novelist"; voice
	Warren the Ape	Dr. Ralph Schwartz	Episode 1.12: "Rock Opera"
2011-2012	Modern Family	Walt Kleezak	Episodes: "Boys' Night", "Lifetime Supply" & "Election Day"
2012	The Newsroom	Bryce Delancy	Episode 1.3: "The 112th Congress"
	Childrens Hospital	Dr. Joseph Mengele	Episode 4.10: "A Year in the Life"
	Ruth & Erica	Harry	Eight episodes
2013	Clear History	McKenzie	TV film
2015	BoJack Horseman	Hank Hippopopalous (voice)	Two episodes
2015	Madam Secretary	Ezra Helsinger	Episode 1.20: "The Necessary Art"
2016	Second Chance	Old Man Jimmy Pritchard	Four episodes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]