William Forsythe (actor)

This article is about the actor. For the choreographer, see William Forsythe (dancer).

William Forsythe
Forsythe signing autographs at the 2007 Dingus Convention
Born	(1955-06-07) June 7, 1955 Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1978–present

William Forsythe (born June 7, 1955) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of various gangsters and tough guys in films such as Raising Arizona, Once Upon a Time in America, Stone Cold, Out For Justice, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, Dick Tracy, The Rock, American Me and The Devil's Rejects. He also played recurring characters in the series Boardwalk Empire, Justified, and John Doe.

Career

Forsythe portrayed serial killer John Wayne Gacy in Dear Mr. Gacy, a film adaptation of The Last Victim, the memoirs of Jason Moss, a college student who corresponded with Gacy his last year on death row. The film was released in 2010.

He started out in a couple of minor film roles and guest appearance's in high-rated TV shows including CHiPs (1977), Hill Street Blues (1981) and T. J. Hooker (1982). He appeared in Once Upon a Time in America (1984), co-starred with John Goodman in Raising Arizona (1987) and as a renegade soldier in Extreme Prejudice.

Forsythe also portrayed comic book villain "Flattop" in Dick Tracy (1990), co-starred with Steven Seagal in Out for Justice (1991) and appeared with Brian Bosworth in the biker action film Stone Cold (1991). He portrayed Al Capone in the short-lived '90s revival of the classic '60s crime show, The Untouchables (1993), and also starred in The Waterdance (1992), the film noir Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), as real-life mobster Sammy Gravano, aka "The Bull", in Gotti (1996) and supporting another ex-NFL player's foray into film acting, when L.A. Raider Howie Long debuted in Firestorm (1998).

Filmography

Films

• Long Shot (1978) as Bille
• King of the Mountain (1981) as Big Tom
• Smokey Bites the Dust (As 'Bill Forsythe', 1981) as Kenny
• The Man Who Wasn't There (1983) as Pug Face Crusher
• Once Upon a Time in America (1984) as Philip 'Cockeye' Stein
• Cloak & Dagger (1984) as Morris
• The Lightship (1985) as Gene
• Savage Dawn (1985) as Pigiron
• Raising Arizona (1987) as Evelle
• Extreme Prejudice (1987) as Sgt. Buck Atwater
• Weeds (1987) as Burt the Booster
• Patty Hearst (1988) as Teko
• Dead Bang (1989) as Arthur Kressler
• Torrents of Spring (1989) as Prince Ippolito Polozov
• Sons (1990) as Mikey
• Dick Tracy (1990) as Flattop
• Career Opportunities (1991) as Custodian
• Out for Justice (1991) as Richie Madano
• Stone Cold (1991) as Ice
• The Waterdance (1992) as Bloss
• American Me (1992) as JD
• The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992) as William 'Billy' Beaudeen
• Relentless 3 (1993) as Walter Hilderman
• Direct Hit (1994) as Hatch
• Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995) as Franchise
• Beyond Desire (1995) as Ray Patterson
• Virtuosity (1995) as William Cochran
• Palookaville (1995) as Sid Dunleavy
• The Immortals (1995) as Tim James
• The Substitute (1996) as Hollan
• For Which He Stands (1996) as Johnny Rochetti
• The Rock (1996) as Ernest Paxton
• Rule of Three (1997) as Mitch
• Big City Blues (1997) as Hudson
• Firestorm (1998) as Shaye
• The Pass (1998) as Charles Duprey
• Ambushed (1998) as Mike Organski
• Soundman (1998) as Frank Rosenfeld
• Hell's Kitchen (1998) as Lou
• Row Your Boat (1999) as Gil Meadows
• The Last Marshal (1999) as DeClerc
• Four Days (1999) as Milt
• Blue Streak (1999) as Detective Hardcastle
• Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999) as Detective Chuck Fowler
• 18 Shades of Dust (1999) as Tommy Cucci
• Paradise Lost (1999) as Mike Stark
• Civility (2000) as Andrew LeBretian
• Luck of the Draw (2000) as Max Fenton
• G-Men from Hell (2000) as Dean Crept
• Camouflage (2001) as Alton Owens
• Blue Hill Avenue (2001) as Det. Torrance
• Outlaw (2001) as Ted Castle
• Coastlines (2002) as Fred Vance
• Hard Cash (2002) as Bo Young
• City by the Sea (2002) as Spyder
• The Technical Writer (2003) as Joe
• The Librarians (2003) as Simon
• The Last Letter (2004) as Mr. Griffith
• The L.A. Riot Spectacular (2005) as George Holliday
• The Devil's Rejects (2005) as Sheriff John Wydell
• Freedomland (2006) as Boyle
• Jam (2006) as Ted
• 88 Minutes (2007) as Frank Parks
• Southern Gothic (2007) as Pitt
• Hack! (2007) as Willy
• Halloween (2007) as Ronnie White
• Stiletto (2008) as Alex
• iMurders (2008) as Professor Uberoth
• The Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone (2009) as Massimo
• Happy in the Valley (2009) as Stewart
• Dear Mr. Gacy (2010) as John Wayne Gacy
• The Rig (2010) as Jim Fleming
• Jesse (2011) as Vince the Godfather
• L.A., I Hate You (2011) as Uncle Rip
• Born to Ride (2011) as Jack Steele
• Slip & Fall (2011) as Jerry
• Inkubus (2011) as Ret. Detective Gil Diamante
• Loosies (2011) as Captain Tom Edwards
• Infected (2011) as Dr. Dennehey
• The Ghost Club: Spirits Never Die (2013) as Stanley
• Tom Holland's Twisted Tales (2014) as Mr. Smith (segment "To Hell With You")
• Hidden in the Woods (2014) as Uncle Costello
• Echoes of War (2015) as Randolph McCluskey
• Road to Juarez (2015) as Doug Hermann
• Laugh Killer Laugh (2015) as Frank Stone
• The Networker (2015) as Charles Mangano
• The Midnight Man (2016) as Fairbanks
• The Bronx Bull (2016) as Jake LaMotta
• The Hollow (2016) as Big John Dawson
• Check Point (2017) as The Sheriff
• The Little Mermaid (2018)
• Vault (2018) as Buddy Providence
• Hard Powder (2019)
• Roe v. Wade (2019)

Television

• The Miracle of Kathy Miller (1981) as Mark
• CHiPs (1982) as Thrasher*”
• Hill Street Blues” (1983) as Richie * “Baja Oklahoma (1988) as Tommy Earl Browner
• Blind Faith (1990) as Ferlin L'Heureux
• Cruel Doubt (1992) as Police Chief John Crone
• Willing to Kill: The Texas Cheerleader Story (1992) as Terry Harper
• The Untouchables (1993-1994) as Al Capone
• Gotti (1996) as Sammy Gravano
• First Time Felon (1997) as Sorley
• Dollar for the Dead (1998) as Dooley
• Dead Man's Gun (1999) as Harlan Riddle
• John Doe (2002) as Digger
• Larva (2005) as Jacob Long
• Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy (2005)
• Shark (2006-2008) as Harry Russo
• Final Approach (2007) as Silas Jansen
• Boardwalk Empire (2011-2013) as Manny Horvitz
• The Mentalist (2011-2012) as Steve Rigsby
• Mob Doctor (2012-2013) as Constantine Alexander
• Twisted Tales (2013) as Mr. Smith
• Justified (2014) as Michael
• Hawaii Five-0 (2015-2017) as Harry Brown
• Marvel's Daredevil (2016) as Dutton
• The Making of the Mob: Chicago (2016) as Himself
• Chicago Justice (2017) as David Zachariah
• Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (2017) as Oleg Antakov / Ripper of Riga
• The Man in the High Castle (2018) as ARBI Director J. Edgar Hoover

External links

• William Forsythe at IMDb