Bob Balaban
Actor-director BOB BALABAN
portrays high school music teacher Lloyd Miller, who is silently steaming about the town's choice of Corky St. Clair as the director of "Red, White and Blaine."
It is only fitting that today Balaban finds himself as a filmmaker. His interest in the medium began at an early age and was complimented by the fact that he came from a family of showmen. His father was the youngest of the seven brothers who owned the Balaban & Katz chain of 175 theaters. His uncle, Barney Balaban [Red's father], was a longtime president of Paramount Pictures, and his grandfather, Sam Katz, who was head of production at MGM for many years.
Following a year and a half at Colgate University, Balaban transferred to NYU Film School. Encouraged by a friend, he auditioned for an off-Broadway musical and won the original role of Linus in the hit, "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." He later appeared in Neil Simon's "Plaza Suite" and David Mamet's "Speed the Plow" and won a Tony Award nomination for his portrayal of the 95 year-old servant in "The Inspector General."
Balaban made his motion picture debut in "Midnight Cowboy" as the young man who propositions Jon Voight in a 42nd St. movie theater. He left NYU as a senior to take a role in Mike Nichols' 1970 film "Catch-22."
Among his numerous film credits are "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (as Francois Truffaut's interpreter), "Altered States," "Prince of the City" "Absence of Malice," "Whose Life is it, Anyway?," "2010," while he has had unbilled roles in such films as "Little Man Tate," "Alice" and "City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold." He is currently before the cameras for the independent film "Clockwatchers," and in September he begins production in Woody Allen’s "Fall 96."
Television audiences came to know Balaban as the NBC executive who was relentlessly pitched by Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander on "Seinfeld." He recently starred in the Emmy-nominated HBO film "The Late Shift" as NBC Chief Warren Littlefield.
Balaban transitioned to directing with a witty short called "SPFX 1140," which was in the New Director Series at Lincoln Center/Museum of Modern Art. He followed this with the pilot episode for the long-running television series "Tales from the Darkside." He has since directed the black comedy, "Parents" and the acclaimed "The Last Good Time" starring Armin Mueller-Stahl and Olivia d’Abo, which won best film and best director at the Hamptons Film Festival two years ago. [source/ guffman.warnerbros.com/ cast.htm]