Del Close

Actor

March 9, 1934 (64 years)

† March 4, 1999

Manhattan, Kansas, USA

Biography

Del Close (March 9, 1934 – March 4, 1999) was an American actor, writer, and teacher who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century. In addition to an acting career in television and film, he was one of the influences on modern improvisational theater. Close is co-founder of the ImprovOlympic (iO). From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Filmography

7.9

Get Smart

Minelli

Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show stars Don Adams, Barbara Feldon, and Edward Platt. Henry said they created the show by request of Daniel Melnick, who was a partner, along with Leonard Stern and David Susskind, of the show's production company, Talent Associates, to capitalize on "the two biggest things in the entertainment world today"—James Bond and Inspector Clouseau. Brooks said: "It's an insane combination of James Bond and Mel Brooks comedy." This is the only Mel Brooks production to feature a laugh track. The success of the show eventually spawned the follow-up films The Nude Bomb and Get Smart, Again!, as well as a 1995 revival series and a 2008 film remake. In 2010, TV Guide ranked Get Smart's opening title sequence at No. 2 on its list of TV's Top 10 Credits Sequences, as selected by readers.

7.8

The Untouchables

Alderman

Elliot Ness, an ambitious prohibition agent, is determined to take down Al Capone. In order to achieve this goal, he forms a group given the nickname “The Untouchables”.

7.6

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

English Teacher

After high school slacker Ferris Bueller successfully fakes an illness in order to skip school for the day, he goes on a series of adventures throughout Chicago with his girlfriend Sloane and best friend Cameron, all the while trying to outwit his wily school principal and fed-up sister.

6.9

The Blob

Reverend Meeker

In Arborville, California, three high school students try to protect their hometown from a gelatinous alien life form that engulfs everything it touches.

4.8

My Mother the Car

The story of the relationship between a man and his mother, the latter having been reincarnated as a 1928 Porter automobile.

7.5

The Untouchables

The Untouchables is an American crime drama series that aired for two seasons in syndication, from January 1993 to May 1994. The series portrayed work of the real life Untouchables federal investigative squad in Prohibition-era Chicago and its efforts against Al Capone's attempts to profit from the market in bootleg liquor. The series features Tom Amandes as Eliot Ness and William Forsythe as Al Capone, and was based on the 1959 series and 1987 film of the same name.

7.2

A League of Their Own

Baseball Owner (uncredited)

As America's stock of athletic young men is depleted during World War II, a professional all-female baseball league springs up in the Midwest, funded by publicity-hungry candy maker Walter Harvey. Competitive sisters Dottie Hinson and Kit Keller spar with each other, scout Ernie Capadino and grumpy has-been coach Jimmy Dugan on their way to fame.

7.2

Thief

Mechanic #1

Frank is an expert professional safecracker, specialized in high-profile diamond heists. He plans to use his ill-gotten income to retire from crime and build a nice life for himself complete with a home, wife and kids. To accelerate the process, he signs on with a top gangster for a big score.

7.0

American Graffiti

Man at Bar (Guy)

A couple of high school graduates spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.

5.9

Next of Kin

Frank

Truman Gates, a Chicago cop, sets out to find his brother's killer. Meanwhile, another of his brothers, Briar (a hillbilly) decides to find the killer himself.

6.2

Fat Man and Little Boy

Dr. Kenneth Whiteside

Assigned to oversee the development of the atomic bomb, Gen. Leslie Groves is a stern military man determined to have the project go according to plan. He selects J. Robert Oppenheimer as the key scientist on the top-secret operation, but the two men clash fiercely on a number of issues. Despite their frequent conflicts, Groves and Oppenheimer ultimately push ahead with two bomb designs — the bigger "Fat Man" and the more streamlined "Little Boy."

5.8

Sable

Sable is a short-lived television program that aired on ABC during the 1987-1988 season, and is based on the comic book, Jon Sable: Freelance, by Mike Grell. Only seven episodes ever aired. The show was a one-hour adventure/drama about mercenary and vigilante Jon Sable, who by day was children's book author Nicholas Fleming. The program ran on Saturdays at 8:00, and aired its final episode on January 2, 1988. Rene Russo had her first television role on the series. Lara Flynn Boyle also had one of her first acting roles playing a kidnapped girl in the series pilot.

5.5

The Big Town

Deacon Daniels

It is 1957. J.C. Cullen is a young man from a small town, with a talent for winning at craps, who leaves for the big city to work as a professional gambler. While there, he breaks the bank at a private craps game at the Gem Club, owned by George Cole, and falls in love with two women, one of them Cole's wife.

5.6

Light of Day

Dr. Natterson

Cleveland siblings rise with a rock band while coping with personal problems.

6.2

The Public Eye

H.R. Rineman

A crime photographer gets involved in a conspiracy.

4.6

Beware! The Blob

Hobo Wearing eyepatch

A technician brings a frozen specimen of the original Blob back from the North Pole. When his wife accidentally defrosts the thing, it terrorizes the populace-- the local hippies, cops, drunks and bowlers must all face the Blob!

5.6

Thank You, Del: The Story of the Del Close Marathon

Self (archive footage)

Del Close was never a household name, but any comedy enthusiast is aware of his impact. From Bill Murray to Chris Farley to Amy Poehler, many of the most famous comedians consider him their mentor. Fifteen years after Del Close’s death, thousands of Improv students, comedy fans, actors, and successful comedians gather to celebrate the most important person in modern comedy that no one knows.

5.7

Opportunity Knocks

Williamson

Eddie and Lou are a couple of two-bit con men on the lam from a loan shark. They hide out in someone's house and they hear on the answering machine that (A) the owner of the house is out of the country for a month or two and (B) the housesitter supposed to watch the house for the absent owner won't be able to watch the house due to a new job in another part of the country. This provides for a pretty nifty arrangement for Eddie and Lou...until the relatives of the house owner drop by to visit. Eddie quickly adopts the guise of the person supposedly housesitting for the owner, and the shenanigans start from there.

9.0

Dream Breakers

Dr. Stone

A movie about a Chicago family -- a building contractor and his two sons who have opposing ideologies. One brother works for a power-hungry builder with underworld connections; the younger son, a priest in one of the city's poor parishes, is fighting the forces for which his brother works.

4.4

You Are What You Eat

A montage of the weird, a freak-out film that appeared when the expression was in fashion and in flower, along with the flower people. The film was one of the first exponents of the mobile camera-rock track-optical effect school of filmmaking, and it is much a document as it is a documentary. A repellent and fascinating depiction of the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, along with Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco and the East Village in New York. Tiny Tim amounts to something resembling a recurring motif and narrator.