Michael Murphy

He made the first of several appearances in Altman films in "Countdown" (1968). Among his other Altman credits are "M*A*S*H" and "Brewster McCloud" (both 1970), "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" (1971), "Nashville" (1975) and "Kansas City" (1996). In addition, Murphy portrayed a presidential candidate in Altman's satire of politics "Tanner '88" (HBO, 1988) and was the chief judge in Altman's "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" (CBS, 1988).

Murphy specializes in playing angst-ridden urban types, typified by his roles as cheating husbands in Paul Mazursky's "An Unmarried Woman" (1978) and Woody Allen's "Manhattan" (1979). His other film roles include a journalist in Peter Weir's "The Year of Living Dangerously" (1982), an ambassador in Oliver Stone's "Salvador" (1986), a cop tracking a serial killer in Wes Craven's "Shocker" (1989) and the mayor of Gotham City in Tim Burton's "Batman Returns" (1992).