Actors You Recognize, But Don't Know Their Names: Paul Dooley

 

You may know him best as Molly Ringwald’s father in SIXTEEN CANDLES, or maybe as Wimpy in Robert Altman’s POPEYE, or as Max Von Sydow’s doofus assistant in STRANGE BREW, or maybe…dammit, you’ve got to know him from something!

POPEYE was one of a bunch of Altman films that he appeared in like A WEDDING, A PERFECT COUPLE, HEALTH, O.C. AND STIGGS, and THE PLAYER. Other films include DEATH WISH, BREAKING AWAY, SLAP SHOT, SHAKES THE CLOWN, all three CARS movies, and three of Christopher Guest’s ensemble improv movies - WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, A MIGHTY WIND, and FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION. 

A couple of things I didn’t know before - Dooley was a comedian in the ‘60s, who performed frequently on The Tonight Show, and was part of the Second City players. He released a stand-up album entitled Booked Solid (the picture above is from the record’s cover). But most surprisingly (at least to me) is that he created the PBS program, The Electric Company. How about that?

Dooley’s other TV credits just go on and on but I’ll highlight apperances on Get Smart, Bewitched, The Golden Girls, Thirtysomething, Dream On, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Shameless - this seriously only scratches the surface as this is another one of those mad prolific actors that make you wonder if they ever sleep.

More later...