Robert Elmer Balaban (born August 16, 1945) is an American actor and filmmaker. In addition to his acting career, Balaban has directed three feature films and worked on many television episodes and films. He was one of the producers nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture for the movie Gosford Park (2001), in which he also acted. Balaban has also written children’s novels.

He has appeared in several films, including the comedies Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006), all directed by Christopher Guest. He has also acted in films directed by Wes Anderson, such as Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Isle of Dogs (2018), The French Dispatch (2021), and Asteroid City (2023). Other films in which Balaban has appeared include the drama Midnight Cowboy (1969); the science fiction films Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Altered States (1980), and 2010 (1984); the comedy Deconstructing Harry (1997); and the historical drama Capote (2005).

Early life and education

Balaban was born on August 16, 1945, in Chicago, Illinois, to a Jewish family. His parents were Eleanor (née Pottasch) and Elmer Balaban. Elmer owned several movie theaters and later became an early leader in cable television. His mother performed in plays using the name Eleanor Barry. Balaban’s paternal grandparents moved from Moldova and Ukraine to Chicago, while his mother’s family came from Germany, Russia, and Romania.

Balaban’s uncles were important figures in the theater industry. They created the Balaban and Katz Theatre circuit in Chicago, which included the Chicago and Uptown Theatres. Elmer Balaban and his brother Harry started the H & E Balaban Corporation, which operated large movie theaters, such as the Esquire Theatre in Chicago. Later, they owned television stations and cable TV businesses. His uncle Barney Balaban was president of Paramount Pictures for nearly 30 years, from 1936 to 1964. Balaban’s maternal grandmother’s second husband, Sam Katz, worked as a vice president at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starting in 1936. Sam was an early partner with Balaban’s uncles Abe, Barney, John, and Max in forming Balaban and Katz. He also led the Publix theater division of Paramount Pictures.

Balaban began college at Colgate University, where he joined the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. He later transferred to New York University. He studied acting at HB Studio with Uta Hagen. By 1972, Balaban was close to finishing his degree but needed a few more credits. He completed his degree by writing a 100-page paper about the sociology of the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Career

Balaban's first important role was on stage. He first played the character Linus in the original off-Broadway production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown in 1967. One of his earliest film roles was a small part in Midnight Cowboy (1969).

In the 1970s, he acted in several movies and television shows. He played Grady Garrett in an episode of Room 222, Orr in Catch-22, Elliot the Organizer in The Strawberry Statement, and the interpreter David Laughlin in the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Steven Spielberg. In 1979, he was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in The Inspector General. During the 1980s, he appeared in films such as Altered States (1980) and 2010 (1984), where he played Dr. Chandra, the creator of HAL 9000. He also directed two films: Parents with Randy Quaid and The Last Good Time with Armin Mueller-Stahl.

Balaban had minor roles in movies like Absence of Malice, Bob Roberts, Deconstructing Harry, Ghost World, The Majestic, Lady in the Water, and several films by Christopher Guest, including Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration.

He appeared on television in Miami Vice as a reporter named Ira Stone. In 1999, he guest-starred in the sitcom Friends as Frank, the father of Phoebe Buffay. In 1992, he had a recurring role in the fourth season of Seinfeld as Russell Dalrymple, a fictional NBC executive based on real-life NBC executive Warren Littlefield. Balaban later played Littlefield himself in the 1996 TV movie The Late Shift, which was about the competition between Jay Leno and David Letterman for The Tonight Show. In 2012, he narrated the audiobook version of Warren Littlefield's autobiography, Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV.

Balaban co-produced the movie Gosford Park (2001), for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. He also played Morris Weissman, a Hollywood producer, in the film. In 2006, he directed the movie Bernard and Doris, starring Susan Sarandon. The next year, he guest-starred in an episode of Entourage as a doctor who wrote prescriptions for medical marijuana. Balaban directed the 2009 film Georgia O'Keeffe, starring Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons. In 2010, he played Judge Clayton Horn, a real-life judge who presided over the obscenity trial of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights Bookstore, in the movie Howl.

In 2011, Balaban joined Morgan Freeman and John Lithgow in a Broadway play called 8. The play showed the federal trial that overturned California's Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage. The production was held at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights.

In 2012, Balaban directed four episodes of the Showtime series Nurse Jackie.

In 2016, Balaban performed in a short radio play called Milton Bradley by Peter Sagal for Playing on Air, a non-profit group that records plays for public radio and podcasts.

In early 2021, Balaban provided the voice of the narrator in the Simpsons episode The Dad-Feelings Limited.

Balaban also wrote six children's books about a bionic dog named McGrowl. He co-authored a book with Steven Spielberg called Spielberg, Truffaut & Me: An Actor's Diary, which was originally published as Close Encounters of the Third Kind Diary and The Creature from the Seventh Grade: Sink or Swim. The second book in the series, Sink or Swim, was illustrated by Andy Rash.

Personal life

Balaban is married to Lynn Grossman, and they have two daughters. He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He is on the board of the Exoneration Initiative, a charity that works to prove the innocence of people who were wrongly convicted in New York.

Books

• Balaban, Bob (1978). Close Encounters of the Third Kind Diary (first edition). Paradise Press. ISBN 0931550009. OCLC 4027590.
• Balaban, Bob (2002). Spielberg, Truffaut & Me: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, an Actor's Diary (new edition). London: Titan Books. ISBN 9781840234305. OCLC 48932708.