Basil Hoffman

Basil Hoffman is a character actor who works in film and television. He's also an acting coach and has written textbooks on the subject, including "Acting and How to Be Good at It." Hoffman's first role beyond plays and commercials came as a juror on the TV drama "The Defenders" in 1964. He began appearing in films in the 1970s, most notably "All the President's Men," with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, in 1976, and in the western "Comes a Horseman" in 1978. He appeared alongside Redford again in the 1979 western"The Electric Horseman," and in 1980 had a supporting role in the multiple-Oscar winning drama "Ordinary People" as Sloan.

On television, meanwhile, Hoffman made repeat appearances on the medical drama "Marcus Welby, M.D.," the sitcom "Sanford and Son," and the war comedy "M*A*S*H," all in the mid- to late-'70s. In the early 1980s, Hoffman made several appearances as Principal Dingleman on the high school sitcom "Square Pegs"--Sarah Jessica Parker's first big TV role--and then in the mid-80s made several more recurring appearances on the soap "Santa Barbara" and the classic cop drama "Hill Street Blues." Hoffman continued to appear on a steady series of TV shows into the early 2000s, and he even returned to the principal's chair as Headmaster Ludwig in the 2010 comedy "One Wish." Basil Hoffman died on September 17, 2021 at the age of 83.