Tracey Walter


Actor

About

Also Known As
Tracey Walters, Tracy Walter
Birth Place
Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
Born
November 25, 1942

Biography

Distinctive and delightful character presence, a compact and often mangy-looking but highly amiable player of whimsical and spaced-out types. With his thinning, typically mussed hair and carefully measured line delivery, Walter has also been useful on the Western trail, both as weathered, reliable types and those who have perhaps been kicked in the head by their horses once too often. A ...

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Biography

Distinctive and delightful character presence, a compact and often mangy-looking but highly amiable player of whimsical and spaced-out types. With his thinning, typically mussed hair and carefully measured line delivery, Walter has also been useful on the Western trail, both as weathered, reliable types and those who have perhaps been kicked in the head by their horses once too often. A native of Jersey City, NJ, Walter discovered acting while watching an off-Broadway play, "Scuba Duba." A stint with Jean Stapleton's Totem Pole Playhouse and acting lessons readied him for off-Broadway and spots on soap operas; he also played bits in two 1973 features, "Badge 373" and "Serpico."

Walter's feature career picked-up in 1977 with a bit in "Annie Hall" as an actor in Rob's (Tony Roberts) TV show. Westerns, road films or otherwise rural-flavored features have included "Goin' South" (1978), "Raggedy Man" (1981), "Honkytonk Man" (1982), "City Slickers" (1991), and "Something Wild" (1986). The latter film was his first for director Jonathan Demme, whose penchant for the outlandish needed Walter to play Mr. Chicken Lickin' in "Married to the Mob" (1988) and gave the actor an offbeat but incisive cameo as the librarian who hassles the HIV-positive protagonist of "Philadelphia" (1993). With his beady but bulging eyes, Walter often embodied a somewhat inscrutable but usually benign weirdness, as in "Repo Man" (1984), as the junkman who embraces the paranormal. He has played villainous as well, most notably as Bob the Goon, one of the Joker's henchmen in "Batman" (1989).

Walters has been especially prolific on TV, where the eccentricity he connotes can instantly milk laughs on any sitcom. His attempts at series (e.g. "Best of the West" 1981-82, as Frog Rothchild Jr.) have not lasted long, but Walter has been prolific in TV-movies including "Mad Bull" (1977) and "Not of This World" (1991), many guest spots, and recurring roles on "The Bronx Zoo" (1988) and "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." (1993).

Filmography

 

Cast (Feature Film)

31 (2016)
Wakefield (2016)
I Spit On Your Grave (2010)
Trailer Park of Terror (2008)
Man in the Chair (2007)
Nobel Son (2007)
Wasting Away (2007)
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
One Last Ride (2004)
Duplex (2003)
Death to Smoochy (2002)
Impostor (2002)
Jack the Dog (2001)
Mortician
How High (2001)
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Charles Embry
Drowning Mona (2000)
Man on the Moon (1999)
Mighty Joe Young (1998)
Desperate Measures (1998)
Beloved (1998)
Drive (1997)
Wild America (1997)
The Devil's Child (1997)
Ezra Hersch
Tell Me No Secrets (1997)
Playing God (1997)
The Size of Watermelons (1996)
Larger Than Life (1996)
Wee St Francis
Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story (1996)
Matilda (1996)
Fist of the North Star (1995)
Destiny Turns on the Radio (1995)
In the Line of Duty: Kidnapped (1995)
Ride With The Wind (1994)
The Companion (1994)
Leo Mirita
Mona Must Die (1994)
Amos & Andrew (1993)
Philadelphia (1993)
Librarian
Guncrazy (1992)
City Slickers (1991)
The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
Delusion (1991)
Not of This World (1991)
Henry
Liquid Dreams (1991)
Cecil
The Two Jakes (1990)
Pacific Heights (1990)
Young Guns II (1990)
Batman (1989)
Out of the Dark (1989)
Homer and Eddie (1989)
Tommy Dearly
Married To The Mob (1988)
Midnight Run (1988)
Mortuary Academy (1988)
Dickson
Under The Boardwalk (1988)
Timestalkers (1987)
Malone (1987)
Something Wild (1986)
At Close Range (1986)
Conan The Destroyer (1984)
Repo Man (1984)
Timerider (1983)
Rumble Fish (1983)
Bill on His Own (1983)
Kenny
Honkytonk Man (1982)
Pooch
Raggedy Man (1981)
The Hunter (1980)
Hardcore (1979)
Male Teller
Goin' South (1978)
Blue Collar (1978)
Mad Bull (1977)
Annie Hall (1977)

Cast (Special)

The Year Without a Santa Claus (2006)
Jazz Night (1999)
Sex, Shock and Censorship in the 90's (1993)
Public Enemy Number 2 (1991)
Camp California (1989)

Cast (TV Mini-Series)

Monster Makers (2003)
Buffalo Girls (1995)

Life Events

1973

Made feature film debut in a bit part in "Badge 373"; also played a bit that same year in "Serpico"

1977

Earliest feature film credits include a bit in the Woody Allen film, "Annie Hall"

1977

First TV-movie, "Mad Bull"

1981

Played Frog Rothchild Jr on the ABC sitcom, "Best of the West"

1986

First film for director Jonathan Demme, "Something Wild"

1988

Played recurring role of Wilshinsky on the NBC drama series, "The Bronx Zoo"

1992

Played "Blinky" Watts on the short-lived (three episodes) ABC sitcom, "On the Air"

1993

Appeared in the recurring role of Phil Swill on several episodes of the Fox comedy-adventure series, "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr."

Bibliography