Robert Elmer Balaban (born August 16, 1945) is an American actor, director, producer and writer. Aside from his acting career, Balaban has directed three feature films, in addition to numerous television episodes and films, and was one of the producers nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for Gosford Park (2001), in which he also appeared. He is also an author of children's novels. Balaban is most known for his appearances in the Christopher Guest comedies Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006) and in the Wes Anderson films Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Isle of Dogs (2018) and The French Dispatch (2021). Balaban's other film roles include the drama Midnight Cowboy (1969); the science fiction films Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Altered States (1980), 2010 (1984), the comedy Deconstructing Harry (1997), and the historical drama Capote (2005).

Early life and education

Balaban was born to a Jewish family on August 16, 1945, in Chicago, the son of Eleanor (née Pottasch) and Elmer Balaban, who owned several movie theatres and later was a pioneer in cable television. His mother acted under the name Eleanor Barry. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Moldova and Ukraine to Chicago, while his mother's family was from Germany, Russia, and Romania. His uncles were dominant forces in the theatre business; they founded the Balaban and Katz Theatre circuit in Chicago, a chain which included the Chicago and Uptown Theatres. Balaban's father, Elmer, and uncle, Harry, founded the H & E Balaban Corporation in Chicago, which operated its own movie palaces, including the Esquire Theatre in Chicago. They later owned a powerful group of television stations and cable television franchises. His uncle Barney Balaban was president of Paramount Pictures for nearly 30 years from 1936 to 1964. His maternal grandmother's second husband, Sam Katz, was a vice president at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer beginning in 1936. Sam had been an early partner of Bob's uncles Abe, Barney, John, and Max in forming Balaban and Katz. Sam served as president of the Publix theatre division of Paramount Pictures. Balaban began his college career at Colgate University where he joined Phi Kappa Tau fraternity and then transferred to New York University. He studied acting at HB Studio under Uta Hagen.

Career

Balaban's first notable role was on stage; he created the role of Linus in the original off-Broadway production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown in 1967. One of his earliest appearances in film was in Midnight Cowboy (1969). In the 1970s, he appeared as Grady Garrett on an episode of Room 222, Orr in Catch-22, Elliot the Organizer in The Strawberry Statement, and the interpreter David Laughlin in the 1977 Steven Spielberg science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In 1979, he received a Tony Award nomination for his role in The Inspector General. During the 1980s he appeared in films including Ken Russell's Altered States (1980) and the 1984 2001: A Space Odyssey sequel 2010 (as Dr. Chandra, the creator of HAL 9000). He also directed the Randy Quaid horror comedy film Parents, and the Armin Mueller-Stahl drama film The Last Good Time (1994). Balaban had supporting roles in films such as Absence of Malice, Bob Roberts, Deconstructing Harry, Ghost World, The Majestic, Lady in the Water, and Christopher Guest's Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration. Balaban appeared on television in Miami Vice as reporter Ira Stone. In the 1990s, he had a recurring role on the fourth season of Seinfeld as Russell Dalrymple, the fictional president of NBC. He played Warren Littlefield, a real-world NBC executive, in The Late Shift, a 1996 television movie about the battle between Jay Leno and David Letterman for NBC's The Tonight Show. In 1999, Balaban made a guest appearance in the sitcom Friends as Phoebe Buffay's father Frank in "The One with Joey's Bag". Balaban co-produced Gosford Park (2001), for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. He also appeared in the movie as Morris Weissman, a Hollywood producer. In 2006, he directed the film Bernard and Doris, starring Susan Sarandon. The following year, he made a guest appearance in an episode of Entourage as a doctor known for writing prescriptions for medical marijuana. Balaban directed the 2009 biopic Georgia O'Keeffe, starring Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons. In 2010, he appeared as Judge Clayton Horn, the real-life judge who presided over the obscenity trial of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights Bookstore in the movie Howl. Alongside Morgan Freeman and John Lithgow, Balaban appeared onstage in September 2011 as Judge Vaughn Walker in the Broadway debut of the play 8, which depicts the federal trial that overturned California's Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage. The production was held at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights. In 2012, Balaban directed four episodes of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie, and voiced the audiobook version of Warren Littlefield's autobiography, Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV. Balaban performed in the short radio play Milton Bradley by Peter Sagal in January 2016, for Playing on Air, a non-profit organization that "records short plays [for public radio and podcast] written by top playwrights and performed by outstanding actors." In early 2021, Balaban provided the voice of the narrator in The Simpsons episode "The Dad-Feelings Limited".

Writing

Balaban wrote a series of six children's novels featuring a bionic dog named McGrowl. He also co-authored Spielberg, Truffaut & Me: An Actor's Diary with Steven Spielberg and The Creature from the Seventh Grade: Sink or Swim (Creature from the Seventh Grade, #2) which Andy Rash illustrated. He also wrote the book, Close Encounters of the Third Kind Diary.

Personal life

Balaban is married to Lynn Grossman; they have two daughters. He resides on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He is a member of the board of the Exoneration Initiative, a charity dedicated to exonerating wrongfully-convicted people in New York.

Filmography

Film

Television

Director

Theatre

Podcasts

Awards and nominations