Biography
Playing a succession of bespectacled, soft-spoken, yet vaguely superior characters, Bob Balaban carved himself a niche as a reliable character actor in the last quarter of the 20th century, while also getting the occasional opportunity to write and direct for the screen.
The nephew and cousin of industry personages, Balaban got the acting bug at Colgate University and N.Y.U., inspiring him to study with
Uta Hagen and Viola Spolin. After some exposure on and off-Broadway in the late 1960s, Balaban made his film debut in
Midnight Cowboy (1969), playing the high school student who meets
Jon Voight in the movie theater for a tryst. Working sporadically through the '70s, more in theater and TV than film, Balaban developed a more familiar face with such roles as the cartographer and French translator from
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978) and the attorney hired to help
Richard Dreyfuss' quadriplegic choose to die in Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981).
Balaban's major contribution to the industry in the 1980s was as a director, first of the disappointing Showtime movie
The Brass Ring (1983) and then of the macabre weekly TV series Tales of the Darkside (1984) and
Amazing Stories (1985). His big-screen directorial debut, the cannibal-themed black comedy
Parents (1989), was considered either an objectionable failure by some or a devious cult classic by others; two later forays into directing (
My Boyfriend's Back in 1993,
The Last Good Time in 1994) were better received.
In the 1990s, Balaban returned his focus to acting, especially as he caught on with more regular parts in the latter half of the decade. His most widely seen role was the NBC executive who accepts, then declines, then accepts again the pilot written by George and Jerry on the popular sitcom
Seinfeld. His Russell Dalrymple appeared in only six episodes in the 1992-1993 season but was featured prominently in the season finale, lost at sea and presumed dead in his all-consuming quest to win Elaine's affections. It was this
Seinfeld gig that netted Balaban the most regular and prominent work of his career in the years that followed. Although often still appearing in serious roles, Balaban indulged his talent for subtle comedy by linking up with actor/director
Christopher Guest and appearing in two of his acclaimed faux documentaries,
Waiting for Guffman (1996) and
Best in Show (2000).
Balaban scored a major art-house and critical successes producing and playing one of the main characters in
Robert Altman's murder-mystery
Gosford Park, and appearing as an ineffective father in
Ghost World. That same year he appeared in important supporting roles in such big-budget fare as
The Mexican and
The Majestic. He maintained his carer in the independent world hooking up again with
Christopher Guest for
A Mighty Wind, and making a cameo appearance in the Oscar nominated
Capote. Balaban appeared in and helped produce the animated Hollywood satire
Hopeless Pictures, which ran on IFC in 2005. 2006 proved to be a very busy year for the multi-talented Balaban. In addition to another ollaboration with Guest,
For Your Consideration, he played a film critic in M. Nght Shyamalan's The Lady in the Water. He also directed Ralph Finnes and
Susan Sarandon in Doris and Bernard. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide