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Stephen Macht

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Stephen Macht
Macht in 1981.
Born
Stephen Robert Macht

(1942-05-01) May 1, 1942 (age 82)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
OccupationActor
Years active1974-present
SpouseSuzanne Victoria Pulier (m. 1964)
Children4, including Gabriel Macht

Stephen Robert Macht[1] (born May 1, 1942) is an American television and film actor. He is also father of actor Gabriel Macht. Together with his son Gabriel, they both have acted in the US legal drama Suits, in which Stephen portrayed an Ethics Law Professor at Harvard University.

Early life

Macht was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a Jewish family.[2] He was raised in Brooklyn Heights, New York until, at age nine, his father died and he moved with his mother, Janette, and older brother, to live with his maternal grandfather, a haberdasher, in Mystic, Connecticut.[3]

Career

Spotted by a Universal Studios talent scout while starring at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada in 1975, Macht was signed to a contract and by the mid 1970s had left teaching and was making frequent appearances in TV episodes and movies.

In Raid on Entebbe (1977), he portrayed Yoni Netanyahu, the Israeli officer killed in the rescue of hostages in Uganda. In 1978, he had a lead role in The Immigrants a syndicated miniseries about the rise of the son of Italian immigrants in turn-of-the-century San Francisco.

The successful television movie American Dream (ABC, 1981) led to a critically acclaimed short-lived series which cast Macht in the role of a family man who chucks the suburban life to set up home in the inner city of Chicago. The following season, he landed the role of Joe Cooper, brother of Karen MacKenzie (Michele Lee), on Knots Landing (CBS, 1982–83). Other notable roles included playing Nancy McKeon's father in Strange Voices (NBC, 1987). He was Benedict Arnold in the miniseries George Washington (1984) and played one of the survivors of an air crash in Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac (NBC, 1984). He spent three seasons (1985–88) as David Keeler, love interest to Cagney (Sharon Gless), on Cagney & Lacey (CBS). During his run on the show, he moved behind the cameras to make his directorial debut. In 1993, Macht played Krim Aldos in "The Siege", an early Season 2 episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.[4] Macht had been Gene Roddenberry's first choice to play Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but the role eventually went to Patrick Stewart in 1986.

More recent credits have included playing an Austrian Jew who must be baptized along with his wife and daughter in order to escape the Nazis in A Friendship in Vienna (1988 The Disney Channel); a doctor helping Jane Seymour in the syndicated miniseries Sidney Sheldon's Memories of Midnight (1991), and as cult member Joan Van Ark's suffering husband in Moment of Truth: A Mother's Deception (1994 NBC). Macht appeared in the 1995 third season Babylon 5 episode "A Day in the Strife" as the character 'Na'Far'.[5] Na'Far was the new official Narn representative, replacing G'Kar, after the Centauri's invasion of the Narn homeworld.[6] In 1996 he did a six-month stint on the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live as Elliot Durban. From August 24, 2007 to February 13, 2009 he portrayed Trevor Lansing, attorney of organized crime boss Anthony Zacchara and father of attorney Ric Lansing, in the soap opera General Hospital for which Soap Opera Digest nominated him Best Villain of 2007. In 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019, Macht guest starred opposite his son, actor Gabriel Macht, in Suits.

Macht's work in feature films has been more sporadic, beginning with a turn as one of The Choirboys (1977). He also had roles in Nightwing (1979), The Mountain Men (1980), Galaxina (1980), The Last Winter (1984), The Monster Squad (1987), Stephen King's Graveyard Shift (1990), Amityville: It's About Time (1992), The Legend of Galgameth (1996), and Watchers Reborn (1998). Macht has also played Dr. Harris in three instalments of the Trancers series of films.

Personal life

Macht has been married to archivist/museum curator Suzanne Victoria Pulier since 1964.[2] He has four children: Julie, Ari Serbin, actor Gabriel Macht and musician Jesse Macht.[2] Macht is also an ordained chaplain; and his book Moral Change: a Tragedy or a Return?: How Aristotle’s Tragic Reversal Illuminates Maimonides’ Teshuva was published on Amazon.com in October 2016.[7]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1974 The Super Cops Detective Finley Uncredited
1977 The Choirboys Spencer Van Moot
1979 Nightwing Walker Chee
1980 The Mountain Men Heavy Eagle
1980 Galaxina Sgt. Thor
1984 The Last Winter Eddie
1985 Scarecrow and Mrs. King Paul Barnes Episode: "We're Off to See the Wizard"
1987 The Monster Squad Del
1989 Columbo David Kincaid Episode: "Sex and the Married Detective"
1990 Graveyard Shift Warwick
1992 Highlander:The Series Alexei Voshin Episode: "The Sea Witch"
Amityville: It's About Time Jacob Sterling
1996 Galgameth El El
1997 Touch Me Robert
1998 Watchers Reborn Lem Johnson
1999 Swallows Hank
1999 Final Voyage Captain Doyle
2000 Agent Red General Stillwell
2002 Outside the Law Dick Dawson
2008 The Legend of Bloody Mary Magistrate
2012 Atlas Shrugged: Part II Clem Weatherby

References

  1. ^ Macht, Stephen Robert (1972). "The development of acting training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art from 1861-1969". Open Library. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
  2. ^ a b c "Stephen Macht Biography (1942-)". www.filmreference.com.
  3. ^ "Macht will be speaker at Fitch graduation". The Day. New London, Connecticut. June 5, 1982.
  4. ^ DS9 Chronicles at ds9encyclopedia.com. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  5. ^ "A Day in the Strife" at IMDb Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  6. ^
  7. ^ Morris Buckley, Patricia (May 2005). "Return of the King". San Diego Jewish Journal. No. May 2005. Archived from the original on May 11, 2009.
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