Gerrit Graham

Gerrit Graham (born November 27, 1949) is an American stage, television, and film actor as well as a scriptwriter and songwriter.^[1] He is best known for his appearances in multiple films by Brian De Palma as well as appearances in two Star Trek series. He starred in Used Cars with Kurt Russell and voiced Franklin Sherman on The Critic.

Gerrit Graham
Born	(1949-11-27) November 27, 1949 (age 74) New York City, New York, U.S.
Education	Columbia University
Occupation(s)	Actor, songwriter
Years active	1968–2012

Education

Graham attended but did not graduate from Columbia University. At Columbia, he was the head of Columbia Players, the college theater company.^[2][3][4] His future co-worker, Brian De Palma, was also a former manager of the student group during his undergraduate years.^[5]

Career

Actor

Film

He has appeared in movies such as Used Cars, TerrorVision, National Lampoon's Class Reunion, Child's Play 2 and Greetings,^[1] where he worked with Brian De Palma for the first time. He would again work with De Palma on Hi, Mom and Home Movies, as well as Phantom of the Paradise, where he played flamboyant glam-rocker Beef. Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times remarked that Graham and Jon Lovitz were the only actors in Last Resort who were "exempt from the bad-accent stigma."^[6]

Television

Graham was the voice of Franklin Sherman in the animated series The Critic as well as a recurring role as Dr. Norman Pankow on the sitcom Parker Lewis Can't Lose.

He has appeared in two different roles on the Star Trek television series: as the alien hunter of Tosk on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and as a member of the Q Continuum (adopting the name Quinn) in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Death Wish". He had been short listed to play the character of Odo, which went to René Auberjonois.^[7]

Stage

Graham is a stage performer whose performances in the 1986 improvisational show Sills & Company^[8][9] and the 1987 play Bouncers by John Godber^[10][11] were positively reviewed by the New York Times. Julio Martinez of Variety.com called Graham "eerily evocative" of Allard Lowenstein in Dreams Die Hard in 1995.^[12] Frank Rizzo of Variety.com wrote that Graham had "some of the best lines" in his performance as Father Charles Dunbar in The God Committee in 2004.^[13] He also played Julian in Communicating Doors in 1998.^[14]

Writer

Graham wrote the teleplays for the episodes "Still Life" and "Opening Day" of the 1980s version of The Twilight Zone.^[15] He did not write "Welcome to Winfield", the only episode in which he appeared as a member of the cast.

Musician

Graham has written songs with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead.^[16]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Greetings	Lloyd Clay
1970	Hi, Mom	Gerrit Wood
1972	Beware! The Blob	Joe, Ape-Suited Party Guest
1974	Phantom of the Paradise	Beef
1975	Strange New World	Daniel	TV movie
1976	Tunnel Vision	Freddie
	Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw	Ray "Magic Ray"
	Special Delivery	Swivot
	Cannonball!	Perman Waters
1977	Demon Seed	Walter Gabler
1978	Pretty Baby	"Highpockets"
1979	Old Boyfriends	Sam, The Fisherman
	Home Movies	James Byrd
1980	Used Cars	Jeff
1982	Soup for One	Brian
	National Lampoon's Class Reunion	Bob Spinnaker
1983	The Creature Wasn't Nice	Rodzinski
1985	The Annihilators	Ray Track
	The Man With One Red Shoe	Carson
1986	TerrorVision	Stan
	Chopping Mall	Nessler, The Technician
	Last Resort	Curt
	Ratboy	Billy Morrison
1987	It's Alive III: Island of the Alive	Ralston
	Walker	Norvell Walker
	The Search for Animal Chin	Skateboard Manufacturer
1989	Big Man on Campus	Stanley Hoyle
	Police Academy 6: City Under Siege	"Ace"
	C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D.	Bud Oliver / Bud the C.H.U.D.
	Martians Go Home	Stan Garrett
	The Little Mermaid	voice	Uncredited
1990	Night of the Cyclone	Lieutenant John France
	Child's Play 2	Phil Simpson
1992	Frozen Assets	Lewis Crandall
	Sidekicks	Mr. Mapes
1993	This Boy's Life	Mr. Howard
	Love Matters	Phillips	TV movie
	Philadelphia Experiment II	Dr. William Mailer / Friedrich Mahler
1994	My Girl 2	Dr. Sam Helburn
1995	National Lampoon's Favorite Deadly Sins	The Devil	TV movie
	The Wasp Woman	Arthur	TV movie
	Stuart Saves His Family	Male Diner	uncredited
	The Break	Bill Cowens
1996	Magic in the Mirror: Fowl Play	Bloom
1998	One True Thing	Oliver Most
2005	Building Girl	Mr. Minard
2007	Caótica Ana	Mr. Halcón
2008	Stick It in Detroit	Captain John Willoughby
2012	Cove Road	The Hitchhiker

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Starsky & Hutch	Nick Manning
1983	The Dukes of Hazzard	Baldwin	Uncredited
1986	The Twilight Zone	Griffin St. George	Segment "Welcome to Winfield"
1988	Miami Vice	Calvin Teal
1988	My Two Dads	Carlton Crow	Episode: "The Family in Question"
1989	Tales from the Crypt	Theodore Carne	Episode: "The Man Who Was Death"
1990–1992	Parker Lewis Can't Lose	Dr. Norman Pankow	Recurring role
1992	Seinfeld	Clown	Episode: "The Opera" (uncredited)
	Fievel's American Tails	Cat R. Waul	Voice, Recurring role; 10 Episodes
	Family Matters	Landlord	Episode: "The Oddest Couple"
1993	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	The Hunter	Episode: "Captive Pursuit"
	The Pink Panther		Voice, Episode: "Pilgrim Panther/That Old Pink Magic"
1994	Babylon 5	Lord Kiro	Episode: "Signs and Portents"
1994–1995	The Critic	Franklin Sherman	Voice, Recurring role; 23 Episodes
1995	The Tick	Milo	Voice, Episode: "Armless But Not Harmless"
	The Larry Sanders Show	Kevin
1995–1996	Gargoyles	Guardian	Voice, 4 Episodes
1996	Star Trek: Voyager	Quinn	Episode: "Death Wish"
1998–2000	Law & Order	Mr. Hutchins / Alan Bruder	2 Episodes
1999–2000	Now and Again	Roger Bender	Recurring role; 22 Episodes
2005	Third Watch	Charles Benjamin

References

1. The New York Times
2. Hunter, Robert (13 October 2015). The complete annotated Grateful Dead lyrics: the collected lyrics of Robert Hunter and John Barlow, lyrics to all original songs, with selected traditional and cover songs. ISBN 978-1-5011-2332-0. OCLC 966502215. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
3. "The Crime, and Its Victims". artsites.ucsc.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
4. Gencarelli, Mike (2014-10-29). "Gerrit Graham talks about roles in "Phantom of the Paradise" and "Used Cars"". MediaMikes. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
5. "Columbia Daily Spectator 28 April 1969 — Columbia Spectator". spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
6. Benson, Sheila (1986-05-09). "Family Vacation Goes Awry In 'Last Resort'". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
7. StarTrek.com: Catching Up with 2X Trek Guest Gerrit Graham
8. Mel Gussow (1986-07-20). "Stage View; Actors And Audiences Brew Fun From Improvisation". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
9. Bennetts, Leslie (1986-06-08). "If It Works, It's Theater. If It Doesn't..." The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
10. Rich, Frank (1987-09-18). "The Stage: 'Bouncers,' Drama". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
11. Drake, Sylvie (1993-07-08). "Stage Review : 'Bouncers' Rebounds From A Lack Of Substance At Tiffany". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
12. Martinez, Julio (8 March 1995). "Dreams Die Hard – Variety". Variety.com. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
13. Rizzo, Frank (27 July 2004). "The God Committee". Variety.com. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
14. Isherwood, Charles (24 August 1998). "Communicating Doors". Variety.com. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
15. Jean-Marc Lofficier; Randy Lofficier (April 2003). Into the Twilight Zone: The Rod Serling Programme Guide. iUniverse. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-595-27612-7.
16. The Crime, and Its Victims by Gerrit Graham

External links

• Gerrit Graham at IMDb
• Gerrit Graham at AllMovie
• Gerrit Graham at the Internet Off-Broadway Database