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Basil Hoffman

Basil Hoffman (1938–2021) built the kind of wide-ranging acting career that could move from major films to episodic television, stage work and commercials without treating any of them as lesser assignments. Born in Houston on January 18, 1938, he spent thirteen years working in New York, appearing in numerous plays, television episodes and hundreds of commercials. He also played a recurring character on ABC’s One Life to Live and appeared alongside Sophia Loren in Mario Monicelli’s Lady Liberty. Hoffman first travelled to Los Angeles in 1974, filming Peter Bogdanovich’s At Long Last Love that season. More television followed, with appearances on Kung Fu, The Rockford Files, Police Woman, Columbo, Kojak, M*A*S*H and Barney Miller, as well as two different roles on Sanford and Son. He had recurring parts as a fingerprint technician on Ellery Queen and Principal Dingleman on Square Pegs, and delivered “The Button” in the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone. His film work placed him in productions directed by an unusually broad group of filmmakers. His credits included All the President’s Men, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Electric Horseman, My Favorite Year, Night Shift, The Milagro Beanfield War and Switch. He also appeared in the Best Picture winners Ordinary People and The Artist, working across a career with directors including Alan J. Pakula, Steven Spielberg, Sydney Pollack, Robert Redford, Joel and Ethan Coen, Paolo Sorrentino and Michel Hazanavicius. Although film and television accounted for most of his work, Hoffman continued to appear onstage. His performance in Romulus Linney’s Sand Mountain earned him a Drama-Logue Award, and he took part in the world premiere of William Blinn’s Walking Peoria. Hoffman also devoted considerable time to teaching. A longtime private acting coach, he lectured at institutions including the American Film Institute, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Emerson College and the University of Southern California. In 2008, he travelled to Lebanon as a U.S. State Department Cultural Envoy to teach acting and directing. His books included Cold Reading And How to Be Good At It and Acting and How To Be Good At It.