Frank Langella

Frank A. Langella Jr.; born January 1, 1938 is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan’s Frost/Nixon and as André in Florian Zeller’s The Father, and two for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performances in Edward Albee’s Seascape and Ivan Turgenev’s Fortune’s Fool. His reprisal of the Nixon role in the film production of Frost/Nixon earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

Langella has starred in films such as Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970), Mel Brooks’ The Twelve Chairs (1970), Dracula (1979), Masters of the Universe (1987), Dave (1993), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Starting Out in the Evening (2007), Robot & Frank (2012), Captain Fantastic (2016), and The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020). He is also known for his performances in the HBO television films Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight (2013), and All the Way (2016). He had a recurring role as Gabriel, the KGB handler for the lead characters, in the FX series The Americans (2013-2017), and has played Sebastian Piccirillo in the Showtime series Kidding (2018-2020).

Early life

Langella, an Italian American, was born January 1, 1938, in Bayonne, New Jersey, the son of Angelina and Frank A. Langella Sr. (d. 1991), a business executive who was president of the Bayonne Barrel and Drum Company. Langella attended Washington Elementary School and Bayonne High School in Bayonne. After the family moved to South Orange, New Jersey, he graduated from Columbia High School, in the South Orange-Maplewood School District, in 1955, and graduated from Syracuse University in 1959 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama.

Career

1960s

Langella appeared off-Broadway (e.g. in The Immoralist at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre in 1963, and Robert Lowell’s The Old Glory in 1965) before he made his first foray on a Broadway stage in New York in Federico García Lorca’s Yerma at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center, on December 8, 1966. He followed this role by appearing in William Gibson’s A Cry of Players, playing a young, highly fictionalized William Shakespeare, opposite Anne Bancroft at the same venue in 1968.

1970s

He won film fame in two 1970 films: Mel Brooks’ The Twelve Chairs and Frank Perry’s Diary of a Mad Housewife, being nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for the latter. Langella won his first Tony Award for his performance in Edward Albee’s Seascape in 1975 and was nominated again for what may have been the performance for which he was best known in the early part of his career: the title role of the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula. Despite his initial misgivings about continuing to play the role, he was persuaded to star opposite Laurence Olivier in the subsequent film version directed by John Badham. He eschewed the career of a traditional film star by always making the stage the focal point of his career, appearing on Broadway in such plays as Strindberg’s The Father (winning a Drama Desk Award), Match (Tony Awardnomination), and Fortune’s Fool, for which he won a second Tony Award.

1980s

But Langella would continue to juggle film and television with his stage work, playing Sherlock Holmes in a 1981 adaptation of William Gillette’s play Sherlock Holmes. He repeated the role on Broadway in 1987 in Charles Marowitz’s play Sherlock’s Last Case. That same year, Langella would also portray the villain Skeletor in Masters of the Universe, which he has described as one of his favorite roles. In 1988, Langella co-starred in the film And God Created Woman.

1990s

In 1993, he made a three-episode appearance on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the devious Jaro Essa. That same year he also starred in the political comedy Dave starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. He also played a supporting role the Ivan Reitman comedy Junior alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, and Emma Thompson. In 1994 he narrated the American Masters documentary on Tennessee Williams. In 1996 Langella starred in the comedy film Eddie starring Whoopi Goldberg who he entered into a romantic relationship with until 2001. He also played Clare Quilty in the 1997 film adaptation of Lolita starring Jeremy Irons and Melanie Griffith. In 1999 he starred opposite Johnny Depp in the Roman Polanski directed film The Ninth Gate.

2000s

In 2000, he played the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in a musical version of A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden. He has also appeared in notable off-Broadway productions, including in the title role of Robert Kalfin’s Chelsea Theater Center production of The Prince of Homburg, which was filmed by PBS for the Theatre in America series. He starred as Sir Thomas More in the 2008 Broadway revival of A Man for All Seasons.

He also appeared as Al Baker in “Dominance”, a 2003 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and had a recurring role as Pino in the 2005 short-lived sitcom Kitchen Confidential.

He was cast as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan’s play Frost/Nixon alongside Michael Sheen, which received enthusiastic reviews during a run at the Donmar Warehouse and Gielgud Theatre in London before moving to Broadway in New York’s Bernard B. Jacobs Theater in April 2007, culminating in Langella’s third Tony Award. He reprised the role of Nixon in the 2008 Oscar nominated Best Picture film Frost/Nixon, directed by Ron Howard. He received Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and BAFTA nominations for Best Actor for his performance. He was also nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actor category for the role, losing to Sean Penn’s performance in Milk.

His film work also includes roles in George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) as former CBS chief executive William S. Paley for which he was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Ensemble Cast. He also appeared in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns (2006) as Daily Planet editor Perry White. Langella received critical acclaim as well as the Boston Society of Film Critics Award in 2007 for his sensitive portrayal of an elderly novelist in Starting Out in the Evening.In late 2009, he starred in the Richard Kelly film The Box alongside Cameron Diaz and James Marsden.

2010s

In 2010 he played Louis Zabel in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps alongside Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, and Carey Mulligan. That same year he played a supporting role in All Good Things alongside Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst. In 2011, Langella starred in the drama thriller Unknown alongside Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger.In 2012, he earned critical praise for his role in the independent film Robot & Frank with Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine calling his performance “a masterclass in acting”.

In 2013 he starred in the Stephen Frears’ HBO made-for-television film Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight as Chief Justice Warren E. Burger alongside Christopher Plummer playing Justice John Marshall Harlan. In October and November 2013, Langella played King Lear at the Minerva, Chichester Festival Theatre in Chichester, UK. It travelled to the Harvey Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York in 2014. Frank also played Anthony Molina, the owner of the Cleveland Browns, in the movie Draft Day, which also starred Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, and Dennis Leary.

In 2015, Langella joined the cast of FX’s critically praised drama The Americans with Keri Russell, and Matthew Rhys. He appeared in seasons 3 through 5.

In 2016, he played the title role in Doug Hughes’ production of the US premiere of Florian Zeller’s play The Father at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway. He won his career fourth Tony Award for his performance. That same year he appeared in Captain Fantastic alongside Viggo Mortensen and was again nominated with the ensemble cast for the Screen Actors Guild Award. He also starred in the HBO television movie All the Way (2016) as Senator Richard Russell Jr. alongside Bryan Cranston’s Lyndon B. Johnson. Langella received a Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries nomination for his performance.

From 2018 to 2020 Langella appeared as Sebestian in Showtime’s Kidding starring Jim Carrey. The show was executive produced by Michel Gondry. The series received positive reviews.

2020s

In 2020, he played Judge Julius Hoffman in Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7. The film follows the Chicago Seven, a group of anti-Vietnam War protesters charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intention of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It was released in September, by Netflix.

Personal life

Langella was married to Ruth Weil from June 14, 1977 to their divorce in 1996. They have two children. He also lived with actress/comedian Whoopi Goldberg, whom he had met on the set of Eddie, from 1996 until they separated in March 2001. Langella published a memoir in 2012 called Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them. In a review in the New York Times Book Review, Ada Calhoun wrote that “Langella’s book celebrated sluttiness as a worthy—even noble—way of life. There was so much happy sexuality in this book that reading it was like being flirted with for a whole party by the hottest person in the room. It was no wonder Langella was invited everywhere.”

Work

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Theatre(s)
1963–1964	The Immoralist	Michael	Bouwerie Lane Theatre
1964	The Old Glory	Don Benito Cereno	Theater at St. Clement’s Church
1965	Good Day	The Young Men	Cherry Lane Theatre
1965–1966	The White Devil	Flamineo	Circle in the Square Theatre
1966–1967	Yerma		Vivian Beaumont Theatre
1968–1969	A Cry of Players	Will	Vivian Beaumont Theatre
1975	Seascape	Leslie	Shubert Theatre
1976	The Prince of Homburg	Prince Friedrich Arthur of Homburg	Westside Theatre
1977–1978	Dracula	Count Dracula	Martin Beck Theatre
1982	Amadeus	Antonio Salieri	Broadhurst Theatre
1983	Passion	Jim	Longacre Theatre
1984	Design for Living	Otto	Circle in the Square Theatre
1984	After the Fall	Quentin	Playhouse 91
1985	Hurlyburly	Eddie	Ethel Barrymore Theatre
1987	Sherlock’s Last Case	Sherlock Holmes	Nederlander Theatre
1989	The Tempest	Prospero	Union Square Theatre
1994	Booth	Junius	York Theatre
1996	The Father (Strindberg)	The Cavalry Captain	Criterion Center Stage Right
1996–1997	Present Laughter	Garry Essendine	Walter Kerr Theatre
1997–1998	Cyrano De Bergerac	Cyrano de Bergerac	Also director Laura Pels Theatre
2000	A Christmas Carol	Ebenezer Scrooge	Madison Square Garden
2002	Fortune’s Fool	Flegont Alexandrovitch Tropatcho	Music Box Theatre
2004	Match	Tobi	Plymouth Theatre
2006–2007	Frost/Nixon	Richard Nixon	Donmar Warehouse Gielgud Theatre Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
2008	A Man for All Seasons	Sir Thomas More	American Airlines Theatre
2011	Man and Boy	Gregor Antonescu	American Airlines Theatre
2013–2014	King Lear	Lear	Chichester Festival Theatre Harvey Theatre
2016	The Father (Zeller)	André	Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	Diary of a Mad Housewife	George Prager
	The Twelve Chairs	Ostap Bender
1971	The Deadly Trap	Philippe
1972	The Wrath of God	De La Plata
1979	Dracula	Count Dracula
1980	Those Lips, Those Eyes	Harry Crystal
1981	Sphinx	Akmed Khazzan
1986	The Men’s Club	Harold Canterbury
1987	Masters of the Universe	Skeletor
1988	And God Created Woman	James Tiernan
1991	True Identity	Leland Carver
1992	1492: Conquest of Paradise	Santangel
1993	Body of Evidence	Jeffrey Roston
	Dave	White House Chief of Staff Bob Alexander
1994	Brainscan	Detective Hayden
	Junior	Noah Banes
1995	Bad Company	Vic Grimes
	Cutthroat Island	Dawg Brown
1996	Eddie	Wild Bill Burgess
1997	Lolita	Clare Quilty
1998	Small Soldiers	Archer	Voice
	I’m Losing You	Perry Needham Krohn
	Alegría	Giulietta’s father/Fleur
1999	The Ninth Gate	Boris Balkan
2000	Stardom	Blaine De Castillon
2001	Sweet November	Edgar Price
2004	House of D	Reverend Duncan
	The Novice	Father Tew
2005	Back in the Day	Lt. Bill Hudson
	How You Look to Me	Professor Driskoll
	Good Night, and Good Luck	William S. Paley
2006	Superman Returns	Perry White
2007	Starting Out in the Evening	Leonard Schiller
2008	The Caller	Jimmy Stevens
	Frost/Nixon	Richard Nixon
	The Tale of Despereaux	The Mayor	Voice
2009	The Box	Arlington Steward
2010	Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps	Louis Zabel
	All Good Things	Sanford Marks
2011	Unknown	Rodney Cole
2012	Robot & Frank	Frank
	The Time Being	Warner Dax
2013	Parts per Billion	Andy
2014	Muppets Most Wanted	Beefeater Vicar	Cameo
	Noah	Og	Voice
	Draft Day	Anthony Molina
	5 to 7	Sam
	Grace of Monaco	Father Francis Tucker
	Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet	Pasha	Voice
2015	The Driftless Area	Tim Geer
2016	Captain Fantastic	Jack Bertrang
	Youth in Oregon	Raymond Engersol
2020	The Trial of the Chicago 7	Julius Hoffman

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1965	The Trials of O’Brien	Michael Romani	Episode: “How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?”
1967	NBC Experiment in Television	The Young Man	Episode: “Good Day”
	NET Playhouse		Episode: “Benito Cereno”
1973	Marcus Welby, M.D.	Carey Robins	Episode: “Friends in High Places”
	Mannix	Harry Tass	Episode: “Silent Target”
	Love Story	Jimmy Lewin	Episode: “When the Girls Came Out to Play”
1974	The Mark of Zorro	Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro	Television film
1976	Swiss Family Robinson	Jean Lafitte	2 episodes
1981	Sherlock Holmes	Sherlock Holmes	Television recording of live stage production
1988	CBS Summer Playhouse	Dr. Paradise	Episode: “Dr. Paradise”
1993	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Minister Jaro Essa	3 episodes
1994	Doomsday Gun	Gerald Bull	Television film
1995	Moses	Merneptah	Television film
1996	The Greatest Pharaohs	Narrator	Voice Documentary
2000	Jason and the Argonauts	King Aeëtes	2 episodes
	Cry Baby Lane	Mr. Bennett	Television film
2001	The Beast	Jackson Burns	6 episodes
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Al Baker	Episode: “Dominance”
2005	Now You See It…	Max	Television film
	Unscripted	Goddard Fulton	10 episodes
2005–2006	Kitchen Confidential	Pino	6 episodes
2006	10.5: Apocalypse	Dr. Earl Hill	2 episodes
2013	Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight	Warren Burger	Television film
2015–2017	The Americans	Gabriel	31 episodes
2016	All the Way	Richard Russell Jr.	Television film
2018	American Dad!	Commodore Francis Stoat	Voice Episode: “Shell Game”
2018–2020	Kidding	Sebastian Piccirillo	17 episodes

Video game

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2017	Destiny 2	The Consul	Voice

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated Work	Result
2008	Academy Award	Best Actor	Frost/Nixon	Nominated
1975	Tony Award	Best Featured Actor in a Play	Seascape	Won
1978		Best Actor in a Play	Dracula	Nominated
2002		Best Featured Actor in a Play	Fortune’s Fool	Won
2004		Best Actor in a Play	Match	Nominated
2007			Frost/Nixon	Won
2012			Man and Boy	Nominated
2016			The Father	Won
1983	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Informational Programming	I, Leonardo: A Journey of the Mind	Nominated
1971	Golden Globe Award	Most Promising Newcomer -Male	Diary of a Mad Housewife	Nominated
2008		Best Actor in a Drama Film	Frost/Nixon	Nominated
2008	British Academy Film Awards	Best Leading Actor		Nominated
2005	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture	Good Night, and Good Luck	Nominated
2008		Best Actor in a Motion Picture	Frost/Nixon	Nominated
		Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture		Nominated
2016			Captain Fantastic	Nominated
2020			The Trial of the Chicago 7	Won
2008	Independent Spirit Award	Best Male Lead	Starting Out in the Evening	Nominated
2016	Drama Desk Award	Actor in a Play	The Father	Won
1965	Obie Awards	Distinguished Performance	Good Day	Won
1966		Distinguished Performance	The White Devil	Won