David Strathairn
- Highest Rated: Temple Grandin (2010)
- Lowest Rated: November Criminals (2017)
- Birthday: Jan 26, 1949
- Birthplace: San Francisco, California
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One of the more underrated actors in Hollywood, tall, soft-spoken David Straithairn has earned almost consistent critical appreciation for his work in a number of films, most notably his many collaborations with director John Sayles. Born in San Francisco on January 26, 1949, Straithairn gained an entrance into acting via his days at Williams College. It was there that he met fellow student Sayles, and the two had their first collaboration with Return of the Seacaucus Seven. The 1980 film, which told the story of a group of friends reuniting after college, inspired a number of similar efforts, including The Big Chill. Following his debut, the actor -- whose additional performing experience came from his training at the Ringling Brothers Clown College -- appeared in supporting roles in a number of films, including Silkwood (1983) and Dominick and Eugene (1988). He continued to collaborate with Sayles, acting in The Brother From Another Planet (1984), Matewan, (1987), and Eight Men Out (1988). Straithairn was also introduced to television audiences with his role as bookstore owner Moss Goodman on the popular dramedy series Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.In the 1990s, Straithairn had prominent roles in a number of critically acclaimed films and television miniseries. In addition to his continuing work with Sayles, in 1991's City of Hope and Passion Fish (1992), the actor lent his talents to such films as Bob Roberts (1992), Sneakers (also 1992), The River Wild (a 1994 film which reunited him with Silkwood co-star Meryl Streep), and Losing Isaiah (1995). He also appeared in miniseries such as the 1991 O Pioneers! and In the Gloaming (1997), in which he played the father of an AIDS-stricken Robert Sean Leonard. In 1997, Straithairn had a memorable turn as a high-class pimp with a dodgy mustache in the wildly lauded L.A. Confidential and after a supporting role in Simon Birch (1998), once again collaborated with Sayles, this time playing a fisherman with a past in the 1999 Limbo. He remained one of the most respected character actors of his generation appearing as the father in the remake of The Miracle Worker, and starring in the drama Blue Car as a manipulative teacher. In 2005 he garnered an Oscar nomination and the biggest high-profile success of his career playing Edward R. Murrow in George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck. He followed up that success with appearances in such films as We Are Marshall, The Bourne Ultimatum, Howl, and Temple Grandin. In 2012 he was cast in Steven Spielberg's long-planned biopic Lincoln as William Seward.
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
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Temple Grandin
100% -
Passion Fish
100% -
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Bob Roberts
97%
Filmography
Movies
Rating |
Title |
Credit |
Box
|
Year |
---|---|---|---|---|
41% | Godzilla: King of the Monsters | Admiral William Stenz | — | 2019 |
82% | Fast Color | Ellis | — | 2019 |
Nomadland | Actor | — | 2019 | |
Una entrevista con Dios | The Man | — | 2018 | |
83% | My Dinner with Hervé | Marty Rothstein | — | 2018 |
UFO | Franklin Ahls | — | 2018 | |
0% | November Criminals | Theo Schacht | — | 2017 |
22% | American Pastoral | Nathan Zuckerman | $0.6M | 2016 |
73% | Louder Than Bombs | Richard | — | 2016 |
65% | The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | Ty Burley | $39M | 2015 |
75% | Godzilla | Admiral William Stenz | $173M | 2014 |
73% | No God, No Master | William Flynn | — | 2014 |
5% | Maladies | Delmar | — | 2014 |
Lincoln@Gettysburg | Actor | — | 2013 | |
Root | Actor | — | 2013 | |
89% | Lincoln | William Seward | $129.5M | 2012 |
56% | The Bourne Legacy | Noah Vosen | $113.2M | 2012 |
50% | Hemingway & Gellhorn | John Dos Passo | — | 2012 |
75% | The Whistleblower | Peter Ward | $1M | 2011 |
30% | The Tempest | King Alonso | $0.3M | 2010 |
63% | Howl | Ralph McIntosh | $0.7M | 2010 |
100% | Temple Grandin | Dr. Carlock | — | 2010 |
75% | Cold Souls | Dr. Flintstein | $0.8M | 2009 |
31% | The Uninvited | Steven | $28.6M | 2009 |
The People Speak | Actor | — | 2009 | |
50% | The Sensation of Sight | Finn Producer | — | 2008 |
80% | The Spiderwick Chronicles | Arthur Spiderwick | $71.2M | 2008 |
83% | Trumbo | Actor | $28.6K | 2007 |
92% | The Bourne Ultimatum | Noah Vosen | $227.5M | 2007 |
Racing Daylight | Henry | — | 2007 | |
Steel Toes | Danny Dunckelman | — | 2007 | |
46% | My Blueberry Nights | Arnie | $0.8M | 2007 |
71% | Fracture | Joe Lobruto | $39.1M | 2007 |
49% | We Are Marshall | President Dedmon | $43.6M | 2006 |
Heavens Fall | Judge James Horton | — | 2006 | |
57% | The Notorious Bettie Page | Estes Kefauver | $1.4M | 2006 |
93% | Good Night, And Good Luck | Edward R. Murrow | $31.6M | 2005 |
Missing in America | Henry R. Hocknell Jr. | — | 2005 | |
Willa Cather: The Road is All | Narrator | — | 2005 | |
Paradise | Bobby Paradise | — | 2004 | |
1% | Twisted | Dr. Melvin Frank | $25.1M | 2004 |
80% | Blue Car | Auster | — | 2003 |
Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story | Jack Hoschouer | — | 2002 | |
Master Spy: The Life Of Robert P. Hanssen | Actor | — | 2002 | |
Lathe of Heaven | Mannie | — | 2002 | |
49% | Harrison's Flowers | Harrison Lloyd | $1.7M | 2002 |
Lathe of Heaven | Actor | — | 2002 | |
Ball in the House (Relative Evil) | Dr. Charlie | — | 2001 | |
Speakeasy | Bruce Hickman | — | 2001 | |
The Miracle Worker | Arthur Keller | — | 2000 | |
Freedom Song | Peter Crowley | — | 2000 | |
The Giraffe (Meschugge) | Actor | — | 2000 | |
65% | A Map of the World | Howard Goodwin | — | 1999 |
A Good Baby | Truman | — | 1999 | |
72% | Limbo | Joe Gastineau | — | 1999 |
67% | William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' | Theseus | — | 1999 |
A Hero's Climb | Earl Himes | — | 1999 | |
85% | Bad Manners | Wes | — | 1998 |
44% | Simon Birch | Rev. Russell | — | 1998 |
50% | With Friends Like These | Armand Minetti | — | 1998 |
Evidence of Blood | Jackson Kinley | — | 1998 | |
99% | L.A. Confidential | Pierce Patchett | — | 1997 |
In the Gloaming | Martin | — | 1997 | |
Song of Hiawatha | Marcel | — | 1997 | |
63% | Mother Night | Bernard B. O'Hare | — | 1996 |
Beyond the Call | Russell Cates | — | 1996 | |
63% | Home for the Holidays | Russell Terziak | — | 1995 |
84% | Dolores Claiborne | Joe St. George | — | 1995 |
45% | Losing Isaiah | Charles Lewin | — | 1995 |
56% | The River Wild | Tom | — | 1994 |
55% | A Dangerous Woman | Getso | — | 1993 |
75% | The Firm | Ray McDeere | — | 1993 |
71% | Lost in Yonkers | Johnny | — | 1993 |
Benny Goodman: Adventures in the Kingdom of Swing | Narrator | — | 1993 | |
The American Clock | Young Arthur Huntington | — | 1993 | |
100% | Passion Fish | Rennie | — | 1992 |
78% | Sneakers | Whistler | — | 1992 |
97% | Bob Roberts | Bug's Attorney Mack Laflin | — | 1992 |
78% | A League of Their Own | Ira Lowenstein | — | 1992 |
Big Girls Don't Cry...They Get Even | Keith | — | 1992 | |
50% | Shadows and Fog | Actor | — | 1992 |
94% | City of Hope | Asteroid | — | 1991 |
Without Warning: The James Brady Story | Dr. Arthur Korine | — | 1991 | |
O Pioneers | Carl Linstrum | — | 1991 | |
Son of the Morning Star | Actor | — | 1991 | |
Judgment | Father Frank Aubert | — | 1990 | |
67% | Memphis Belle | Commanding Officer | — | 1990 |
Heat Wave | Bill | — | 1990 | |
Day One | J. Robert Oppenheimer | — | 1989 | |
The Feud | The Stranger | — | 1989 | |
86% | Eight Men Out | Eddie Cicotte | — | 1988 |
Call Me | Sam | — | 1988 | |
80% | Dominick and Eugene | Martin Chernak | — | 1988 |
Stars and Bars | Charlie | — | 1988 | |
94% | Matewan: A Luta Final | Sid Hatfield | — | 1987 |
Broken Vows | Stuart Chase | — | 1986 | |
87% | At Close Range | Tony Pine | — | 1986 |
When Nature Calls (The Outdoorsters) | Weejun | — | 1985 | |
88% | The Brother from Another Planet | Man In Black | — | 1984 |
Iceman | Dr. Singe | — | 1984 | |
77% | Silkwood | Wesley | — | 1983 |
40% | Lovesick | Marvin Zuckerman | — | 1983 |
Enormous Changes at the Last Minute | Jerry | — | 1983 | |
81% | Return of the Secaucus Seven | Ron | — | 1980 |
TV
Rating |
Title |
Credit |
Year |
---|---|---|---|
70% |
McMafia
2018
|
Semiyon Kleiman |
|
69% |
Z: The Beginning of Everything
2015-2017
|
Judge Anthony Dickerson Sayre |
|
91% |
The Blacklist
2013
|
The Director |
|
81% |
Alphas
2011-2012
|
Dr. Lee Rosen Dr. Leigh Rosen |
|
91% |
House
2004-2012
|
Nash |
|
American Experience
1988
|
J. Robert Oppenheimer |
|
|
90% |
Monk
2002-2009
|
Patrick Kloster |
|
American Masters
2001
|
Narrator |
|
|
92% |
The Sopranos
1999-2007
|
Robert Wegler |
|
Wiseguy
1987-1990
|
Matthew Stemkowsky Stem |
|
QUOTES FROM David Strathairn CHARACTERS
- Edward R. Murrow
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We're gonna go with the story, because the terror is in this room.
- Admiral William Stenz
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This alpha predator of yours doctor, do you really think he has a chance?
- Dr. Ishiro Seriwaza
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The arrogance of man is thinking nature is in our control, and not the other way around. Let them fight.
- Edward R. Murrow
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You always were yellea.
- Fred Friendly
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Yeah well it's better than being red.
- Noah Vosen
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Perhaps we can arrange a meet.
- Jason Bourne
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Where are you know?
- Jason Bourne
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Where are you now?
- Noah Vosen
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I'm sitting in my office.
- Jason Bourne
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I doubt that.
- Noah Vosen
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Why would you doubt that?
- Jason Bourne
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If you were in your office right now we'd be having this conversation face to face.
- William Seward
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It's ither the amendment or this confederate peace, you can not have both.
- William Seward
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It's either the amendment or this confederate peace, you can not have both.
- Henry
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Now, I'm content to watch Sadie racing daylight, trying to reach my arms before the light fads behind the trees.
- Henry
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You know when people hang around like this, you have to think that their waiting for something.
- Henry
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It's like a game of chess. But that's a game that should only be played on a board, not with people, don't you think?
- Henry
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There was this lady from West Virginia, her name was Brown. Had twenty three children and sixteen of them were boys. All joined the Union Army and all gone.
- Jason Bourne
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Get some rest Pam. You look tired.
- Noah Vosen
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He's looking right at her!
- Jason Bourne
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Where are you now?
- Noah Vosen
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I'm sitting in my office.
- Jason Bourne
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I doubt that.
- Noah Vosen
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Why would you doubt that?
- Jason Bourne
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If you were in your office right now we'd be having this conversation face-to-face.
- Jason Bourne
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You didn't really think I was coming to Tudor City, did you?
- Noah Vosen
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No. I guess not.
- Edward R. Murrow
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Good night, and good luck.
- Ira Lowenstein
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Great game, Jimmy. I especially liked that move in the seventh inning when you scratched your balls for an hour.
- Jimmy Dugan
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Well, anything worth doing is worth doing right. [spits]
- Judge James Horton
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let justice be done, though heavens fall
- Judge James Horton
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Let justice be done though the heavens fall.
- Edward R. Murrow
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Good night, and good luck.
- Edward R. Murrow
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We will not walk in fear, one of another.