Donald Moffat

About Donald Moffat

He made his feature debut in Paul Newman's "Rachel, Rachel" (1968), and since the early 80s has become a Hollywood staple, playing older gentlemen in both films and TV. Some of Moffat's craggy parts include "The Right Stuff" (1983), as Lyndon B. Johnson; "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (1988), as the chief surgeon; and "Bonfire of the Vanities" (1990), as Tom Hanks' dad. He was especially touching as a middle-aged businessman who finds he only has a short time to live in the TV miniseries adaptation of Armistead Maupin's San Francisco chronicle, "Tales from the City" (PBS, 1994).

Partners

Wife

Anne Murray Ellsperman. married in May 1954; divorced in August 1968

Wife

Gwen Arner. married in May 1969

Education

King Edward VI School

Dartington Hall, Totnes , Devon

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London , England

Career Milestones

1999

Reteamed with Altman for "Cookie's Fortune"

1994

Cast as the US President in "Clear and Present Danger"

1994

Portrayed Edgar Halcyon in "Armistad Maupin's 'Tales of the City'" (PBS)

1990

Played Tom Hanks' father in "The Bonfire of the Vanities"

1983

Cast as Lyndon Johnson in "The Right Stuff"

1980

Played the Taxman in Altman's "Popeye"

1980

Appeared in the series "The Chisholms"

1980

First collaboration with director Robert Altman, "Health"

Co-starred as Rem the android on the series "Logan's Run"

1977

Portrayed Harry Hopkins in the ABC miniseries "Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years"

1974

Co-starred in the short-lived series, The New Land"

1968

Appeared as Dr. Marcus Polk in the daytime soap "One Life to Live"

1968

Feature acting debut, "Rachel, Rachel"

1957

Broadway debut, "Under Milkwood"

1954

London stage debut, "Macbeth"