John Getz

John Getz
Getz on the set of the soap opera Another World in 1974
Born	John William Getz (1946-10-15) October 15, 1946 (age 78) [1] Davenport, Iowa
Education	University of Iowa American Conservatory Theater
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1970–present
Spouse	Grace McKeaney ​ ​ (m. 1987;div. 1996)​
Children	1

John William Getz (born October 15, 1946) is an American character actor. After starting his acting career on stage, he has appeared in numerous television series and films, most notably Blood Simple , The Fly , and The Social Network .

Early life

Getz, one of four children, was born in Davenport, Iowa, and grew up in the Mississippi River Valley. ^[2] He began acting while attending the University of Iowa, where he helped found the Center for New Performing Arts.^{[ citation needed ]}

Career

Getz dropped out of college to attend the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. While working in a winery, he helped to found the Theater Company in Napa County, California. His location in the grape-growing Napa Valley led to Getz's television debut in a made-for-television horror film Killer Bees (1974). Killer Bees starred Gloria Swanson, Craig Stevens, Kate Jackson, and Edward Albert. Getz then moved to New York City, where he became active in local theater while doing an 18-month stint as Neil Johnson on the soap opera Another World .^{[ citation needed ]}

Getz appeared in The Happy Hooker (1975) and followed up with several other roles before starring in the Coen Brothers' neo-noir thriller Blood Simple (1984). He played the doomed lover of a married woman (Frances McDormand) who woefully misinterprets his increasingly complex circumstances.

Getz with Kathryn Harrold, MacGruder and Loud

In 1985, he co-starred in the unsuccessful police drama MacGruder and Loud . The pilot was given the post-Super Bowl time slot, contributing to its strong debut in the ratings. However, ABC rescheduled it repeatedly and finally relegated it to the "graveyard slot",^{[ citation needed ]} 10:00 pm ET, Monday night.

Getz appeared in two different shows with the name "Maggie" in the title: 1984's Maggie Briggs , where he appeared as newspaper editor Geoff Bennett, and 1998's Maggie as the title character's husband, Dr. Arthur Day.

Getz also appeared in The Fly (1986) and The Fly II (1989) as Stathis Borans, a science magazine editor who pays a heavy price for his curiosity. ^[3] Also in 1989, he played a Marine Corps Major in Born on the Fourth of July . In 1991, Getz appeared as the unpleasant boyfriend of professional women in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead and Curly Sue . In 1990, Getz appeared as a crime boss in the Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez spoof Men at Work . In 1994, he appeared in the film Playmaker , starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Rubin.

In 2007, he had a role in David Fincher's film Zodiac . Also in 2007, he appeared in Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's documentary film Nanking as George Ashmore Fitch, head of the local YMCA and administrative director of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone. Getz also had a role in Fincher's film The Social Network (2010), about the founding of Facebook. He appeared in the suspense thriller Elevator as a Wall Street executive trapped in an elevator with a group of strangers, one of whom has a bomb. Written and produced by Marc Rosenberg and directed by Stig Svendsen, Elevator was released in July 2012. He appeared in Trumbo (2015) as director Sam Wood.

Through the decades, Getz has guest-starred in many television series, including Barney Miller (in the 1977 episode "Atomic Bomb") and Three's Company (1980), where he played Lee Tripper, brother of Jack Tripper. He has guest-starred in How I Met Your Mother , Prison Break , The King of Queens and Private Practice , and had recurring roles in Homeland (2014–2017), Timeless (2016–2018), Bosch (2017–2018), and the Netflix series A Man on the Inside (2024).

Personal life

He has a daughter, Hannah, from his marriage to playwright Grace McKeaney.^{[ citation needed ]}

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	The Happy Hooker	Trout Fisherman
1981	Tattoo	Buddy
1984	Blood Simple	Ray
	Thief of Hearts	Ray Davis
1986	The Fly	Stathis Borans
1989	The Fly II	Stathis Borans
	Born on the Fourth of July	Marine Major - Vietnam
1990	Men at Work	Maxwell Potterdam III
1991	Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead	Gus
	Curly Sue	Walker McCormick
1994	Fortunes of War	Franklin Hewitt
	Playmaker	Eddie
	A Passion to Kill	Jerry
1996	Mojave Moon	Police Officer
1998	Some Girl	Claire's Father
2000	Held for Ransom	Mr. Kirkland
2004	A Day Without a Mexican	Senator Abercombie
2007	Nanking	George Fitch	Documentary
	Zodiac	Templeton Peck
2008	Superhero Movie	Lunatic Editor
2010	The Social Network	Sy
2011	Elevator	Henry Barton
2013	Jobs	Paul Jobs
2015	The Perfect Guy	Renkin
	Trumbo	Sam Wood
2016	Certain Women	Sheriff Rowles
2018	Brampton's Own	Bart
2019	Body at Brighton Rock	Sheriff
2023	The Dead Don't Hurt	Reverend Simpson

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Killer Bees	Attendant	Television film
1974–1976	Another World	Neil Johnson	Main role, 122 episodes
1977	The Andros Targets	Dan Bridger	1 episode
1977	On Our Own	Tom Ericson	1 episode
1977	Rafferty	Dr. Daniel Gentry	Main role, 13 episodes
1977	The New Adventures of Wonder Woman	Christian Harrison	1 episode
1977	Barney Miller	William McKuen	1 episode
1978	Barnaby Jones	Walter Alberts	1 episode
1978	Loose Change	John Campbell	Miniseries
1978	A Woman Called Moses	Stewart	Miniseries, 2 episodes
1978–1981	Ryan's Hope	Jim / Dr. Morgan Thomas	2 episodes
1979	The Associates	William Simmons	1 episode
1980	Three's Company	Lee Tripper	1 episode
1984	Maggie Briggs	Geoff Bennett	5 episodes
1985	ABC Afterschool Special	Thomas Sanders	1 episode
1985	The Lucie Arnaz Show	Scott Harris	1 episode
1985	MacGruder and Loud	Malcolm MacGruder	Main role, 15 episodes
1989	Roseanne	John Hale	1 episode
1990	Murphy Brown	Bob Wiltz	1 episode
1993	Triumph Over Disaster: The Hurricane Andrew Story	Doug Hulin	Television film
1993	Crossroads	Greg	1 episode
1993	Phenom	Jack	1 episode
1995	The 5 Mrs. Buchanans	Roy Buchanan	2 episodes
1995–1996	Murder, She Wrote	Kyle Kimball / Jonas Cole	2 episodes
1995–1996	Ned and Stacey	Les MacDowall	Recurring role, 6 episodes
1996	The Late Shift	Brandon Tartikoff	Television film
1996	A Friend's Betrayal	Dennis Hewitt	Television film
1996	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Karl Hansen	1 episode
1998–1999	Maggie	Dr. Arthur Day	Main role, 20 episodes
1999	JAG	Admiral Harrison Spencer	1 episode
2000	Providence	Dr. Sullivan	1 episode
2000; 2014	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Richard Zeigler / Bill Harvey	2 episodes
2001	Zenon: The Zequel	General Hammond	Television film
2001	The Guardian	Wendell Rapke	1 episode
2003	CSI: Miami	George Risher	1 episode
2003	According to Jim	Frank	1 episode
2003	Joan of Arcadia	D.A. Gabe Fellowes	Recurring role, 6 episodes
2004	Without a Trace	Mr. Garrett	1 episode
2004–2006	The King of Queens	Mr. Dugan	3 episodes
2005	Mystery Woman	Dan	1 episode
2005	Wanted	Mr. Salinger	1 episode
2005	Medium	Councilman Stuart McCallister	1 episode
2006	Cold Case	Bill Simmons	1 episode
2006	Close to Home	Maurice Hardecker	1 episode
2006	The West Wing	Congressman Mark B. Sellner	2 episodes
2006	Las Vegas	Freddie Smith	1 episode
2006–2007	Day Break	Judge Tobias Booth	Recurring role, 5 episodes
2007	Shark	Judge Nicholas	1 episode
2007	Big Shots	Walter Storrs	1 episode
2008	How I Met Your Mother	Bob Hewitt	Episode: "Miracles"
2008	Swingtown	Steve Gilboy	1 episode
2008	Mad Men	Dr. Eric Stone	1 episode
2008	Grey's Anatomy	Michael Breyers	2 episodes
2008	Eleventh Hour	William Gregory	1 episode
2008	Prison Break	Dr. Roger Knowlton	1 episode
2009	Trust Me	Peter Derby	2 episodes
2009	Criminal Minds	Andrew Kane	1 episode
2009	Private Practice	Mr. Kent	1 episode
2010	Ghost Whisperer	Rudy Wharton	1 episode
2010	NCIS	Walter Kane	1 episode
2012	Scandal	Patrick Keating	1 episode
2012	Touch	Henry Williams	1 episode
2013	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Admiral Vincent Albers	1 episode
2013	Eagleheart	Bernard Moss	1 episode
2013	NCIS: Los Angeles	Senator Lockhart	1 episode
2013	Nikita	Senator Ed Chappell	2 episodes
2014	Bones	Steven Frank	1 episode
2014	Castle	Dr. Gustavo Bauer	1 episode
2014	Bad Teacher	Howard	1 episode
2014	Halt and Catch Fire	Joe MacMillan, Sr.	2 episodes
2014	How to Get Away with Murder	David Dolan	1 episode
2014–2017	Homeland	Joe Crocker	4 episodes
2016	Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders	Randal Cowan	1 episode
2016	NCIS: New Orleans	Army General Owen Matthews	1 episode
2016	Aquarius	James Harrison Barret	4 episodes
2016–2017	Grace and Frankie	John	3 episodes
2016–2017	Transparent	Donald	4 episodes
2016–2018	Timeless	Benjamin Cahill	Recurring role, 9 episodes
2017	Better Call Saul	Chairman	2 episodes
2017	Ghosted	Director Romsio	1 episode
2017–2018	Bosch	Bradley Walker	Recurring role, 13 episodes
2018	American Horror Story: Apocalypse	Mr. St. Pierre Vanderbilt	2 episodes
2018–2020	Dirty John	Dwight / Doug Layton	Recurring role, 5 episodes
2020–2021	Doom Patrol	Paul Trainor	4 episodes
2022–2023	Alaska Daily	Conrad Pritchard	4 episodes
2023	The Last of Us	Edelstein	2 episodes
2023	Fatal Attraction	Warren	Miniseries, 4 episodes
2023	Reservation Dogs	James Minor	1 episode
2024	A Man on the Inside	Elliot Haverhill	Recurring role, 8 episodes

References

1. "John Getz". www.csfd.cz.
2. "John Getz". IndustryCentral.net. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
3. "Top Ten Greatest Beards in Horror History". DreadCentral. July 3, 2012.

External links

• John Getz at IMDb
• TalkMoviesWorld.com
• TheaterMania.com
• Quad-City Times