Frank Doubleday

Frank Doubleday was an American actor born in Norwich, Connecticut on January 28, 1945. Doubleday's family moved to Los Angeles when he was six, and when he saw a performance of "Waiting for Godot" at Los Angeles Junior College as a grown United States Postal Service worker, Doubleday was inspired to try acting. He made his television debut in an episode of the short-lived drama "Lucas Tanner" (NBC, 1974-75), and his film debut a year later in "The First Nudie Musical" (1976). Doubleday's role as a menacing thug in the film would foreshadow the kind of work he would do for most of his career. That same year, he played a merciless villain in a John Carpenter film for the first time with "Assault on Precinct 13" (1976). For the next few years, Doubleday primarily made episodic appearances on popular television shows like "Starsky and Hutch" (ABC, 1975-79) and "The Incredible Hulk" (CBS, 1977-1982). He also began his relationship with wife Christina Hart, herself an actress best known for the film "Charley Varrick" (1973), in 1978. In 1981, Doubleday would play his most well-known and celebrated role in his second and final collaboration with John Carpenter. He played villain Romero in "Escape from New York" (1981) opposite Kurt Russell, who credited the Doubleday-crafted character with giving the film its tone. Throughout the 1980s, Doubleday would continue to make appearances on TV, including a couple episodes of "CHiPs" (NBC, 1977-1983) in 1981. His first daughter, Kaitlin Doubleday, was born in 1984. Kaitlin would also go on to be actor, best known for regular roles on the music-centric shows "Empire" (Fox, 2015- ) and "Nashville" (ABC/CMT, 2012-18). He continued his bad guy streak when he played a mercenary in "Broadcast News" (1987), but by the end of the decade, Doubleday would start to reduce his time on screen. Second daughter Portia Doubleday was born in 1988, and she also became an actor, best known for a starring role on the critically acclaimed TV series "Mr. Robot" (USA, 2015- ). Frank took his final film role for "Shakespeare's Plan 12 from Outer Space" (1991), and made his last TV appearance in a first season episode of "Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction" (Fox, 1997-2002). By that time, however, Doubleday and Hart had begun focusing on stage acting and directing in addition to teaching acting. Doubleday died on March 3, 2018 at age 73 from complications caused by esophageal cancer.