Paul Dooley

Highest Rated: 98% The Player (1992)

Lowest Rated: 11% Employee of the Month (2004)

Birthday: Feb 22, 1928

Birthplace: Parkersburg, West Virginia, USA

Paul Dooley is fondly remembered by fans of '80s cinema as the forgetful but well-intending father of a disgruntled Molly Ringwald in the John Hughes teen classic Sixteen Candles (1984). The longtime character actor's droopy, distinctive features and endearing onscreen warmth have kept him a familiar figure in both film and television. A Parkersurg, WV, native who originally aspired to become a cartoonist, Dooley drew comic strips for a local newspaper before entering the navy. Upon discharge, the future actor entered college, where he discovered his passion for the stage. A move to New York found the aspiring actor landing frequent stage work, and after discovering a previously untapped ability for comedy, Dooley tried his hand at standup for about five years. Always looking to expand his skills, he made his film debut in the 1970 comedy The Out-of-Towners. From 1971 to 1972, Dooley was also head writer for the popular children's television series The Electric Company. After showing promise in such late-'70s efforts as Slap Shot (1977) and A Wedding (1978), Dooley made a big impression with his supporting role as the lead character's worrisome father in Breaking Away (1979). Though he was overlooked at Oscar time, he was nominated for a New York Film Critics Circle award and won the National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actor. He kicked off the most successful decade of his film career with a performance as Wimpy in the much-maligned Robert Altman musical comedy Popeye (1980). Besides his memorable turn in Sixteen Candles, Dooley also delivered hilarious performances in the 1980s films Strange Brew (1983) and John Cassavetes' Big Trouble (1985). Fans of the extraterrestrial comedy series ALF will also remember him as the curiously named Whizzer Deaver.Though his feature roles through the 1990s largely consisted of such B-grade fare as My Boyfriend's Back (1993) and Error in Judgment (1998), Dooley managed to stay on top thanks to parts in such popular television series as Mad About You, Dream On, Grace Under Fire, and The Practice. He also took on occasional roles in more notable films, including Waiting for Guffman (1996), Clockwatchers (1997), Happy, Texas (1999), and Runaway Bride (also 1999), which served to remind movie buffs just how funny the talented comic actor could be when given the opportunity. Dooley's performances in such later efforts as Insomnia (2002) hinted at a darker side rarely explored by the usually jovial actor. In 2003, after re-teaming with Waiting for Guffman cohort Christopher Guest to blow A Mighty Wind, he took a supporting role in former MTV beauty queen Jenny McCarthy's comedy Dirty Love.

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

Movies

		Credit
70%	Cars 3	Sarge	$152.7M	2017
85%	Other People	Ronnie	$63.1K	2016
No Score Yet	My Santa	Martin	—	2013
39%	Cars 2	Sarge	$191.5M	2011
74%	Sunshine Cleaning	Actor	$12.1M	2009
26%	Bedtime Stories	Hot Dog Vendor	$110M	2008
No Score Yet	Chronic Town	Eleanor's Father	—	2008
91%	Hairspray	Mr. Spritzer	$118.9M	2007
52%	For Your Consideration	`Paper Badge' Sergeant	$5.5M	2006
75%	Cars	Sarge	$244.1M	2006
No Score Yet	Come Away Home	Grandpa Donald	—	2005
28%	Madison	Mayor Don Vaughn	$0.5M	2005
11%	Employee of the Month	Rev. Ben Goodwin	—	2004
87%	A Mighty Wind	George Menschell	$17.5M	2003
No Score Yet	Stealing Time	Hank	—	2003
No Score Yet	Comfort and Joy	George Berry	—	2003
92%	Insomnia	Chief Charles Nyback	$67.4M	2002
No Score Yet	Crazy Little Thing (The Perfect You)	Dad	—	2002
No Score Yet	A Woman's a Helluva Thing	Hank	—	2001
81%	Happy, Texas	Judge	—	1999
86%	Guinevere	Walter	—	1999
46%	Runaway Bride	Walter Carpenter	—	1999
No Score Yet	I'll Remember April	Earl Schimmel	—	1999
83%	Clockwatchers	Dad	—	1998
No Score Yet	Angels in the Endzone	Coach Buck	—	1997
65%	Telling Lies in America	Father Norton	—	1997
No Score Yet	Loved	Leo	—	1997
91%	Waiting for Guffman	UFO Abductee	—	1996
No Score Yet	God's Lonely Man	Polo	—	1996
59%	The Underneath	Ed Dutton	—	1995
No Score Yet	The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes	Sen. Thatch	—	1995
No Score Yet	Out There	Emmett Davis	—	1995
No Score Yet	Evolver	Jerry Briggs	—	1994
No Score Yet	State of Emergency	Jim Anderson	—	1994
55%	A Dangerous Woman	Tupperware Salesman	—	1993
14%	My Boyfriend's Back	Big Chuck	—	1993
No Score Yet	Mother of the Bride	Richard	—	1993
No Score Yet	Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride	Actor	—	1992
98%	The Player	Himself	—	1992
38%	Shakes the Clown	Owen Cheese	—	1992
No Score Yet	Frogs!	Twittenham	—	1992
No Score Yet	White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd	Hal Roach	—	1991
No Score Yet	The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson	Actor	—	1990
43%	Flashback	Stark	—	1990
No Score Yet	Last Rites	Father Freddie	—	1988
No Score Yet	Lip Service	Actor	—	1988
No Score Yet	O.C. and Stiggs	Randall Schwab	—	1987
No Score Yet	Monster in the Closet	Roy Crane	—	1987
90%	Little Shop of Horrors	Actor	—	1986
No Score Yet	Dot and the Whale	Actor	—	1986
17%	Big Trouble	Noozel	—	1986
85%	Sixteen Candles	Jim	—	1984
No Score Yet	Going Berserk	Dr. Ted	—	1983
74%	Strange Brew	Claude Elsinore	—	1983
No Score Yet	Kiss Me Goodbye	Kendall	—	1982
No Score Yet	Endangered Species	Joe Hiatt	—	1982
No Score Yet	Paternity	Kurt	—	1981
61%	Popeye	Wimpy	—	1980
No Score Yet	Health	Dr. Gil Gainey Screenwriter	—	1980
94%	Breaking Away	Mr. Stohler	—	1979
No Score Yet	A Perfect Couple	Alex Theodopoulos	—	1979
No Score Yet	Rich Kids	Simon Peterfreund	—	1979
73%	A Wedding	Snooks Brenner	—	1978
No Score Yet	Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure	Gazooks	—	1977
85%	Slap Shot	Hyannisport Announcer	—	1977
60%	Up the Sandbox	Statue of Liberty Guard	—	1972
60%	The Out-of-Towners	Day Hotel Clerk	—	1970

TV

		Credit
86%	Modern Family 2009	Murray	2020
No Score Yet	Life in Pieces 2015	Mort Grandpa Mort	2019
85%	Shameless 2011	Ralph	2019
82%	The Kids Are Alright 2018	Father Dunne	2019
No Score Yet	Criminal Minds 2005	Chip Gordon	2013
32%	Super Fun Night 2013-2014	Old Man	2013
No Score Yet	Major Crimes 2012-2018		2013 2012
68%	The Client List 2012-2013		2012
No Score Yet	Hot in Cleveland 2010-2015		2012 2011
51%	Private Practice 2007-2013	Abe Nussbaum	2011
90%	Huge 2010	Salty	2010
No Score Yet	Tracey Ullman's State of the Union 2008-2010	Performer	2010 2009
83%	Scrubs 2001-2010	Paul	2009
81%	Grey's Anatomy 2005	Dr. Walter Tapley	2008
86%	Boston Legal 2004-2008	Judge Wendel Donahue	2007
72%	Desperate Housewives 2004-2012	Addison Prudy	2005 2004
92%	Curb Your Enthusiasm 2000	Cheryl's Dad Cheryl's father Cheryl's Father	2005 2004 2002 2001 2000
No Score Yet	Lass es, Larry! 2000-2017	Cheryl's father Cheryl's Father	2005 2002 2001 2000
No Score Yet	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 2000-2015	Buddy	2004
No Score Yet	ER 1994-2009	Henry Lewis Henry	2004 1996 1995
No Score Yet	Becker 1998-2004	Mr. Lerner	2003
No Score Yet	Law & Order: Criminal Intent 2001-2011	Stan Coffman	2003
No Score Yet	Once and Again 1999-2002	Les Cresswell	2002 2001
No Score Yet	The Practice 1997-2004	Judge Philip Swackheim Judge Swackheim	2002 1999
61%	Ally McBeal 1997-2002	Nicholas Engbloom	2001
No Score Yet	Providence 1999-2002	Bill Ridley	2001
11%	The Geena Davis Show 2000-2001	Bill Ryan	2001
No Score Yet	Dharma & Greg 1997-2002		1999
90%	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 1993-1999	Enabran Tain Tain	1999 1998 1997 1995 1994
No Score Yet	Grace Under Fire 1993-1998	John Shirley	1997 1996 1995 1994
No Score Yet	Ellen 1994-1998	Thomas Kelsey	1996
No Score Yet	Dream On 1990-1996		1993
No Score Yet	Mad About You 1992-1999	Jamie's dad	1992
No Score Yet	Coach 1989-1997		1991
No Score Yet	The Wonder Years 1988-1993	Coach	1991
No Score Yet	ALF 1986-1990	Whizzer Whizzer Deaver	1989 1987
No Score Yet	The Golden Girls 1985-1992	Guest Isaac	1987 1986
No Score Yet	Bewitched 1964-1972	TV Man	1966
No Score Yet	Get Smart 1965-1970	Hanlon	1966
75%	More Tales Of The City 1998	Herbert L. Tolliver
100%	Tales of the City 1993	Herbert L. Tolliver

QUOTES FROM Paul Dooley CHARACTERS

Jim Baker says: That's why they call them crushes. If they were easy, they'd call 'em something else.

Mr. Stohler says: I don't care if the second coming's coming!

Mr. Stohler says: He's never tired. He's never miserable.

Mrs. Stohler says: He's young.

Mr. Stohler says: When I was young I was tired and miserable.

Mr. Stohler says: When I was young, I was tired and miserable.

Sarge says: Will you turn that disrespectful junk off?!

Sarge says: Will you turn that disrespectful junk off?

Fillmore says: Respect the classics man it's Hendricks!

Fillmore says: Respect the classics man, it's Hendricks!

Fillmore says: I tell you man,... every third blink is slower.

Fillmore says: I tell you man... every third blink is slower.

Sarge says: the 60s weren't good to you did they?

Sarge says: The 60s weren't good to you did they?

Mr. Spritzer says: That big little girl [shows Velma the records] is sending my sales through the roof. More people are breathing aerosol, than oxygen!

Mr. Spritzer says: I want that chubby communist girl off the show!

Mr. Spritzer says: I want that chubby communist girl off the show.

Velma Von Tussle says: Well, let me be the first to toss the harpoon.

Mr. Stohler says: REFUND?!

Mr. Stohler says: Refund?!