Gerrit Graham (born November 27, 1949) is an American stage, television, and film actor as well as a scriptwriter and songwriter.The New York Times
/ref> He is best known for his appearances in multiple films by

Brian De Palma Brian Russell De Palma (; born September 11, 1940) is an Americans, American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for work in the suspense, Crime film, crime, and psychological thriller genres. ...

as well as appearances in two ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' series. He starred in '' Used Cars'' with

Kurt Russell Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor before transitioning to leading roles as an adult in various genres such as action adventures, science-fiction, westerns, romance films, co ...

and voiced Franklin Sherman on ''

The Critic ''The Critic'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated sitcom revolving around the life of New York film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by Jon Lovitz. It was created by writing partners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had previously worked as w ...

''.

Education

Graham attended but did not graduate from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. At Columbia, he was the head of Columbia Players, the college theater company. His future co-worker,

, was also a former manager of the student group during his undergraduate years.

Career

Actor

Film

He has appeared in movies such as '' Used Cars'', ''

TerrorVision Terrorvision are an English rock band. They were formed in 1987 (as The Spoilt Bratz) in Keighley, West Yorkshire, and initially disbanded in 2001. The band used Bradford as a base after the name change to Terrorvision in 1991, by which time ...

'', '' National Lampoon's Class Reunion'', '' Child's Play 2'' and '' Greetings'', where he worked with

for the first time. He would again work with De Palma on '' Hi, Mom'' and ''

Home Movies A home movie is a short amateur film or video typically made just to preserve a visual record of family activities, a vacation, or a special event, and intended for viewing at home by family and friends. Originally, home movies were made on ph ...

'', as well as '' Phantom of the Paradise'', where he played flamboyant glam-rocker Beef. Sheila Benson of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' remarked that Graham and Jon Lovitz were the only actors in '' Last Resort'' who were "exempt from the bad-accent stigma."

Television

Graham was the voice of Franklin Sherman in the animated series ''

'' 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 ''

'' 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.

Stage

Graham is a stage performer whose performances in the 1986 improvisational show ''Sills & Company'' and the 1987 play ''Bouncers'' by

John Godber John Harry Godber (born 18 May 1956) is an English playwright, known mainly for observational comedy, observational comedies. The ''Plays and Players Yearbook'' of 1993 rated him the third most performed playwright in the UK after William Shak ...

were positively reviewed by the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

. Julio Martinez of Variety.com called Graham "eerily evocative" of Allard Lowenstein in ''Dreams Die Hard'' in 1995. 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. He also played Julian in ''Communicating Doors'' in 1998.

Writer

Graham wrote the teleplays for the episodes "Still Life" and "Opening Day" of the 1980s version of ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

''. 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 Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with the Other Ones, later known as the Dead ...

the Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, and world music with psyc ...

.The Crime, and Its Victims by Gerrit Graham
/ref>

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Gerrit 1948 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors Columbia College (New York) alumni Living people Male actors from New York City Songwriters from New York (state)