Timothy Clifton Stack (born November 21, 1954) is an American actor, producer and screenwriter.
Life and career
Education
Timothy was born in
Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Doylestown is a borough and the county seat of Bucks County in Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northwest of Trenton,
north of Center City, Philadelphia,
southeast of Allentown, and southwest of New York City.
As of the 2020 ...
, the son of Joan and Tom Stack.
He graduated from the Philadelphia-area
prep school Germantown Academy
Germantown Academy, informally known as GA and originally known as the Union School, is the oldest nonsectarian day school in the United States. The school was founded on December 6, 1759, by a group of prominent Germantown citizens in the Gr ...
in 1973 and graduated from
Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifi ...
in 1978. After graduating, Tim moved to Los Angeles and quickly joined the
improvisational comedy
Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, a ...
group
The Groundlings
The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniq ...
in 1979.
On television
The 1980s
In 1986, he appeared in a five-episode arc of ''
Punky Brewster
''Punky Brewster'' is an American sitcom television series about a young girl (Soleil Moon Frye) being raised by a foster parent (George Gaynes). The show ran on NBC from September 16, 1984, to March 9, 1986, and again in syndication from Octo ...
,'' as rule-obsessed but unfeeling DCFS social worker Simon Chillings, originally charged with Henry's petition to adopt Punky, but who instead removes her from Henry's care, concerned Henry could not adequately support her after his business burns down and he is hospitalized with an ulcer. Convinced Punky would be permanently better off with another foster family, he places her with a wealthy couple, Jules and Tiffany Buckworth. Ultimately, Jules Buckworth leaves Tiffany and returns Punky to Henry, who completes the adoption. When Simon calls Henry's new studio to congratulate him on the adoption, he reaches Mike, who laughs, reminding him he was the one trying to keep them apart. Simon states that he has quit his job with DCFS and has become romantically involved with Tiffany Buckworth.
The 1990s and early 2000s
In the early 1990s, Stack appeared as the father of the main character on ''
Parker Lewis Can't Lose
''Parker Lewis Can't Lose'' is an American teen sitcom that originally aired on Fox from September 1990 to June 1993. It was produced by Clyde Phillips Productions in association with Columbia Pictures Television. During the last season, the ...
''. He later starred as Dick Dietrick on the raunchy talk show
send-up
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
/
satire
Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
''
Night Stand with Dick Dietrick
''Night Stand with Dick Dietrick'' is an American television comedy show that satirized American tabloid talk shows. The series was originally broadcast in first-run syndication from 1995 to 1997, as well as on the E! Entertainment Television ne ...
''.
Stack then played Notch Johnson on ''
Son of the Beach
''Son of the Beach'' is an American sitcom that aired from March 14, 2000, to October 1, 2002, on FX. The series is a spoof of ''Baywatch'', with much of the comedy based on sexual double entendres, puns, innuendo and the like. A major running ...
,'' a
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...
-produced ''
Baywatch
''Baywatch'' is an American Drama (film and television), action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Sch ...
'' send-up which aired on the
FX cable channel from 2000 to 2002.
Other work
Stack continues to get regular
voiceover
Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentation ...
work, e.g. ''
The Brave Little Toaster
''The Brave Little Toaster'' is a 1987 American animated musical film directed by Jerry Rees. It is based on the 1980 novella of the same name by Thomas M. Disch. The film stars Deanna Oliver, Timothy E. Day, Jon Lovitz, Tim Stack, and Thu ...
'' film series, as Lampy the orange desktop lamp. Beginning in 2005, Stack started appearing in a recurring sketch on ''
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014.
The fourth incarnation of the ' ...
'' called ''Pumpcast News.'' In the sketch, Stack plays a fictional cable news reporter who interacts with customers at gas pumps-–sometimes completely taking people off guard. Stack also acted out a
fictional version of himself on the
television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising ...
''
My Name Is Earl
''My Name Is Earl'' is an American television sitcom created by Greg Garcia that aired on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, in the United States. It was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and starred J ...
'', in which he was depicted as an arrogant, depressed, alcoholic resident of Camden County who frequently hosted beauty pageants and parades.
He also wrote several episodes of ''Son of the Beach''. He also starred as the principal in ''
Idle Hands
''Idle Hands'' is a 1999 American teen black comedy horror film directed by Rodman Flender, written by Terri Hughes and Ron Milbauer, and starring Devon Sawa, Seth Green, Elden Henson, Jessica Alba, and Vivica A. Fox. The main plot follows the ...
''.
Stack has guest starred in several popular sitcoms over the years, including ''
Benson'', ''
Laverne & Shirley
''Laverne & Shirley'' (originally ''Laverne DeFazio & Shirley Feeney'') is an American sitcom television series that played for eight seasons on ABC from January 27, 1976, to May 10, 1983. A spin-off of '' Happy Days'', ''Laverne & Shirley'' st ...
'', ''
Night Court
''Night Court'' is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984 to May 31, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan municipal court presided over by a young, unorthodox judge, Harold "Harry" T. Stone (portra ...
'', ''
The Wonder Years
''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age comedy/drama television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol Black. It ran on ABC from January 31, 1988, until May 12, 1993. The series premiered immediately after ABC's coverage of Supe ...
'', ''
Seinfeld
''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...
'', ''
Wings
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is exp ...
'', ''
Malcolm in the Middle
''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American family television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for Fox. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes.
The series follows a dysfunctiona ...
'', ''
Curb Your Enthusiasm
''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televis ...
'', and ''
The Golden Girls
''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Bea Arthur, Betty W ...
''. He lives with his wife Jan Stack and their children Murphy and Doyle.
He hosts the computer DVD game ''
Outburst''.
Filmography
Films
TV series
Producer/executive producer
Writer
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stack, Timothy
1954 births
Living people
American male film actors
American male television actors
American television writers
American male television writers
American male voice actors
Boston College alumni
People from Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Germantown Academy alumni
Screenwriters from Pennsylvania