Stephen Macht

Stephen Macht

Macht in 1981.
Born Stephen Robert Macht
May 1, 1942
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Occupation Actor
Spouse(s) Suzanne Victoria Pulier (1964-present; 4 children)

Stephen Robert Macht[1] (born May 1, 1942) is an American television and film actor.

Early life

Macht was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[2] He was raised in Brooklyn Heights, NY, until his father's death. At age nine, he moved with his mother, Janette, and older brother, to live with his maternal grandfather, a haberdasher, in Mystic, Connecticut.[3]

After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1963 (where he roomed with future actor Michael Moriarty), Macht attended Tufts University, receiving an M.A. in Drama in 1967. He later enrolled at Indiana University and obtained a Ph.D. in Dramatic Literature and Theatre History in 1970. Macht studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the history of acting training there. He has also trained with Milton Katselas at the Beverly Hills Playhouse.

While teaching at Queens College, Macht received approval by his department chair to appear in plays in New York City in lieu of publishing scholarly articles as part of the tenure track.

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 (NBC, 1977), he portrayed Yonni 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 following year he portrayed a Hopi in Nightwing and Quincy M.E..

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 as a survivors of 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 an early Season 2 episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "The Siege".[4]

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). 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.

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 The Mountain Men (1980), The Monster Squad (1987), Stephen King's Graveyard Shift (1990), and Watchers Reborn (1998). Macht has also played Dr. Harris in three entries in the Trancers series. In 2014 and 2015, Macht guest starred opposite his son, actor Gabriel Macht, in Suits.

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.[5]

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. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Stephen Macht Biography (1942-)
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ DS9 Chronicles at ds9encyclopedia.com; accessed April 24, 2015.
  5. ↑ Jewish News :: San Diego Jewish Journal :: RETURN OF THE KING, May 2005

External links