Josef Sommer

Josef Sommer
Born	Maximilian Josef Sommer (1934-06-26) June 26, 1934 Greifswald, Germany
Education	Carnegie Mellon University (Bachelor of Fine Arts)
Years active	1971—present

Maximilian Josef Sommer (born June 26, 1934) is a German-American stage, television, and film actor.

Early life

He was born in Greifswald, Germany, and raised in North Carolina, the son of Elisabeth and Clemens Sommer, a professor of Art History at the University of North Carolina. He studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He has a daughter, Maria.

Career

Sommer made his acting debut at the age of nine in a North Carolina production of Watch on the Rhine. He made his film debut in Dirty Harry (1971) and appeared in films such as The Stepford Wives (1975), Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977), Still of the Night (1982), Silkwood (1983), Peter Weir's thriller Witness (1985) opposite Harrison Ford (where he played a dirty cop), Target (1985), Malice (1993), Patch Adams (1998), and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). He appeared as President Gerald Ford opposite Gena Rowlands in the TV movie The Betty Ford Story (1987). In 1974, he appeared in the role of Roy Mills on The Guiding Light, and played George Barton in the 1983 TV version of Agatha Christie's Sparkling Cyanide. He had starring roles in two short-lived series: Hothouse (1988) and Under Cover (1991). As of 2007, he has appeared in almost 100 films. Some of his more famous roles have been as a crooked businessman or a corrupt politician. Sommer displayed humanity without being seen on screen when he lent his talents as the poignant narrator in Sophie's Choice (1982).

He played a rare leading role—opposite the titular-titled, eponymous character played by Sylvia Kristel—as the film noir-esque detective in the quirky horror comedy Dracula's Widow (1988).

Filmography

• Dirty Harry (1971) as William T. Rothko
• Man on a Swing (1974) as Pete Russell
• The Stepford Wives (1975) as Ted Van Sant
• Valley Forge (1975, TV) as Brig. Gen. 'Dusty' Varnum
• The Adams Chronicles (1976, TV) as Charles Lee
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) as Larry Butler
• Oliver's Story (1978) as Dr. Dienhart
• Hide in Plain Sight (1980) as Jason R. Reid
• Absence of Malice (1981) as McAdam
• Reds (1981) as State Department Official
• Rollover (1981) as Roy Lefcourt
• Hanky Panky (1982) as Adrian Pruitt
• Still of the Night (1982) as George Bynum
• Sophie's Choice (1982) as Narrator (voice)
• Independence Day (1983) as Sam Taylor
• Silkwood (1983) as Max Richter
• Iceman (1984) as Whitman
• Witness (1985) as Chief Paul Schaeffer
• D.A.R.Y.L. (1985) as Dr. Jeffrey Stewart
• Target (1985) as Taber
• Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1986, TV) as Raoul Nesbitt
• The Rosary Murders (1987) as Lieutenant Koznicki
• Dracula's Widow (1988) as Lannon
• Chances Are (1989) as Judge Fenwick
• Forced March (1989) as Father
• Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989) as Waldo Winchester
• The Kennedys of Massachusetts (1990, TV) as Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Shadows and Fog (1991) as Priest
• Citizen Cohn (1992, TV) as Albert Cohn
• The Mighty Ducks (1992) as Gerald Ducksworth
• Malice (1993) as Lester Adams
• The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1993, TV) as Woodrow Wilson
• Nobody's Fool (1994) as Clive Peoples, Jr.
• Strange Days (1995) as Palmer Strickland
• Moonlight and Valentino (1995) as Thomas Trager
• The Chamber (1996) as Phelps Bowen
• Law & Order (1996-2000, TV) as Judge Hellman/Defence Attorney Patrick Rumsey
• Early Edition (1997) as John Dobbs
• The Proposition (1998) as Father Dryer
• Bulworth (1998) as Doctor (uncredited)
• Lulu on the Bridge (1998) as Peter Shine (deleted scene) (uncredited)
• Patch Adams (1998) as Dr. Eaton
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2000, TV) as Defence Attorney Patrick Rumsey
• The Next Best Thing (2000) as Richard Whittaker
• Shaft (2000) as Curt Fleming
• The Family Man (2000) as Peter Lassiter
• The Sum of All Fears (2002) as Senator Jessup
• Searching for Paradise (2002) as Carl Greenslate
• Benjamin Franklin (2002, TV) as Cotton Mather
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2003) as Spencer Durning
• The West Wing (2004) as Steve Gaines
• The Elephant King (2006) as Bill Hunt
• X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) as The President
• The Invasion (2007) as Dr. Henryk Belicec
• Stop-Loss (2008) as Senator Orton Worrell
• The Other Guys (2010) as D.A. Radford (uncredited)

External links

• Josef Sommer at IMDb
• Josef Sommer at the Internet Broadway Database
• Josef Sommer at the Internet Off-Broadway Database