RIP: Philip Baker Hall, Magnolia Star, Dies at 90.
Prolific character actor Philip Baker Hall, star of films like Say Anything… and Magnolia, has died at age 90. Truly a defining performer of his generation, Hall starred in a number of well-known projects over the years, with his roles, no matter the amount of screen time, always leaving an impact on audiences. Hall’s on-screen credits span decades, earning appearances in other notable projects like Secret Honor, Hard Eight, The Truman Show, Argo, and Zodiac. Los Angeles Times journalist Sam Farmer confirmed the news on Twitter, sharing a brief tribute to Hall, noting that the actor passed away peacefully.
“My neighbor, friend, and one of the wisest, most talented and kindest people I’ve ever met, Philip Baker Hall, died peacefully last night,” Farmer shared on Twitter. “He was surrounded by loved ones. The world has an empty space in it.”
Hall also did a brilliant Jack Webb impersonation as the library cop on Seinfeld:
Earlier: Trapped in a Corner: Robert Altman, Richard Nixon and Secret Honor.
Finally unburdening himself of the truth, Hall’s Nixon is confronted with a vision of his Quaker mother again, like Hamlet and his father’s ghost. This time she beckons him with instructions; he makes his way to his desk, points to the revolver and then picks it up, the muzzle touching his temple. At the last minute, though, he tosses the gun down, saying that they won’t make him do it, even though that was the plan.
“F–K ‘EM!!” he shouts, pumping his fist in the air, the moment captured on all four CCTV screens, turning into a loop while in the background a chant of “Four more years!” is brought up in the mix until the screen glitches and goes black. For a few moments, you really need to process just what kind of craziness the film has just laid out for us.
It’s a hell of an ending, and I remember being breathless as I watched it as a college student, at a screening at the Toronto film festival. There have been a lot of Nixons on film – Anthony Hopkins’ underplayed take in Oliver Stone’s Nixon, Dan Hedaya’s twitchy cartoon in Dick, Frank Langella’s sinister Nixon in Frost/Nixon – but Hall’s Nixon, desperate, contrite, spouting a nearly Tourettes-like stream of obscenities, remains my favorite.
It should have been a career-making performance for Philip Baker Hall, and ultimately it was – but only after word of mouth slowly built in the years following the film’s subdued release into film festivals and art houses. Paul Thomas Anderson, a young director and Altman acolyte who says Secret Honor is one of his favorite movies of all time, cast Hall in many of his films, beginning with Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and Magnolia.
Robert Altman would ultimately make his triumphant return to Hollywood, beginning with Vincent & Theo in 1990. But it would be The Player in 1992 that made him, well, a player; there’s nothing Hollywood loves more than a movie that portrays it as a moral charnel house, especially when it’s a hit. He was a hot property for the critics again, making a big-budget film featuring major stars – Short Cuts, Pret-a-Porter, Kansas City, Dr. T & the Women, Gosford Park – nearly every year until his death in 2006.
Pour yourself a Nixonian-sized glass of Chivas Regal and read the whole thing.