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John Getz

John Getz

Birthday: 1946-10-15 | Place of Birth: Davenport, Iowa, U.S.

​John Getz is a stage-trained American actor. Getz dropped out of college to attend the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. While working in a winery, he helped found the Theater Company in Napa County, California. His location in the grape-growing Napa Valley led to Getz's television debut in a made-for-television horror film Killer Bees. Killer Bees starred Gloria Swanson, Craig Stevens, Kate Jackson, and Edward Albert. Getz then moved to New York City, where he became active in local theater while doing an 18-month stint as Neil Johnson on the soap opera Another World. Getz appeared in The Happy Hooker and followed up with several other roles before starring in the Coen Brothers' neo-noir thriller Blood Simple. He played the doomed lover of a married woman (Frances McDormand) who woefully misinterprets his increasingly complex circumstances. Getz also appeared in The Fly and The Fly II as Stathis Borans, a science magazine editor who pays a heavy price for his curiosity. Also in 1989, he played a Marine Corps Major in Born on the Fourth of July. In 1991, Getz appeared as the unpleasant boyfriend of professional women in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead and Curly Sue. In 1990, Getz appeared as a crime boss in the Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez spoof Men At Work. In 1994, he appeared in the film Playmaker, starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Rubin. In 2007, he had a role in David Fincher's film Zodiac. Also in 2007, he appeared in Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's documentary film Nanking as George Ashmore Fitch, head of the local YMCA and administrative director of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone. Getz also had a role in Fincher's film The Social Network, about the founding of Facebook. He appeared in the suspense thriller Elevator as a Wall Street executive trapped in an elevator with a group of strangers, one of whom has a bomb. Written and produced by Marc Rosenberg and directed by Stig Svendsen, Elevator was released in July 2012. He appeared in Trumbo (2015) as director Sam Wood. Through the decades, Getz has guest-starred in many television series, including Barney Miller and Three's Company, where he played Lee Tripper, brother of Jack Tripper. He has guest-starred in How I Met Your Mother, Prison Break, The King of Queens and Private Practice, and had recurring roles in Homeland, Timeless and Bosch. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Getz, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

2019
Body at Brighton Rock

as    Sheriff

2016
Certain Women

as    Sheriff Rowles

2015
The Perfect Guy

as    Renkin

2013
Elevator

as    Henry Barton

2010
The Social Network

as    Sy

2007
Nanking

as    George Fitch

2005
Living 'til the End

as    Mr. Hines

2001
Zenon: The Zequel

as    General Hammond

1998
Maggie

as    Dr. Arthur Day

1997
Painted Hero

as    Sheriff Acuff

1996
The Late Shift

as    Brandon Tartikoff

1996
A Friend's Betrayal

as    Dennis Hewitt

1994
Untamed Love

as    Dan

1994
Fortunes of War

as    Franklin Hewitt

1994
A Passion to Kill

as    Jerry

1991
Curly Sue

as    Walker McCormick

1990
Men at Work

as    Maxwell Potterdam III

1989
The Fly II

as    Stathis Borans

1986
The Fly

as    Stathis Borans

1985
MacGruder and Loud

as    Malcom MacGruder

1985
Blood Simple

as    Ray

1984
Thief of Hearts

as    Ray Davis

1981
Tattoo

as    Buddy