Biografia

To prepare for the role of Max Taber in Qualcuno volò sul nido del cuculo (1975), he resided in a mental institution for several weeks and studied the patients. He modeled his character after one of the patients and remained in character through the filming, even when not on screen.

A devoted bicyclist, he once rode through Italy, pedaling from Milan to Venice, over the Dolomites, along the Amalfi coast and to Naples.

For his brief 1985 scenes in Ritorno al futuro (1985), he wore prosthetic make-up to appear 30 years older than in his 1955 scenes, which dominate the film. In the sequels, the 1985 Doc Brown has more scenes. To avoid having to put him through extensive make-up every morning, writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale came up with the idea of Doc Brown visiting a rejuvenation clinic in the future, which results in his face looking much younger.

In Man on the Moon (1999), he appears as himself reprising his old role of Rev. Jim Ignatowski in many scenes from Taxi (1978), 20 years after the sitcom had aired.

Has appeared in over 200 plays, including many on Broadway, in regional and summer-stock productions.

[2012, on Chi ha incastrato Roger Rabbit (1988)] Here was another guy who, okay, he was a toon, but he was also just so evil. So evil. I mean, dipping the little shoes and other little toons into the dip? He was just nasty. And, of course, I loved the makeup. That outfit I wore, the glasses, the whole look of it. It was a lot of fun to play. Yeah, that was great. And working with Bob Hoskins and, again, Bob Zemeckis. I've been lucky.

[2012, on landing Ritorno al futuro (1985)] I was shooting a film in Mexico City that I'm not sure ever came out. But it was shooting in Mexico City, and I was kind of implanted there, focusing on that, when my agent sent me the script for Back to the Future. I scanned it, but I wasn't terribly impressed, mostly because I'd been offered the chance to go back East and do a play at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven. I'd be playing Hans Christian Andersen - I grew up with Danny Kaye. And Colleen Dewhurst, an amazing, wonderful actress, was going to be my mother in it, and I just thought, "I need to go back to my roots." So I just dismissed the Back to the Future script. And then a friend who was with me at the time said, "My mantra has always been to never leave any stone unturned." In other words, whenever someone has an interest in you, whatever it is, at least check it out. So based on that, I flew back to Los Angeles, met Bob Zemeckis, and the rest is history.

[2012, on working with John Belushi in Verso il sud (1978)] I remember him well. John Belushi was doing Il Saturday Night Live (1975) at the time, which he had to be in New York to do, and we were shooting Goin' South in Durango, Mexico, which meant that for three or four weeks he had to do Saturday Night Live, fly to Durango - which was fairly complicated, because you had to go to Mexico City and then up to Durango - shoot for a couple of days, and then fly back to New York to do Saturday Night Live again. But he was wonderful to work with. I mean, he was absolutely right for the part. He had a lot of energy, of course. He was great. We had a good routine together. It was cool.

[2012, on Verso il sud (1978)] Well, that happened in a rather interesting way. I was doing a Broadway musical called "Happy End", a Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill collaboration, and Nicholson was looking for a leading lady, a new actress, to be in Goin' South, which he was directing. So he came to see "Happy End" not knowing I was in it but, rather, to see Meryl Streep, who was my co-star. And I remember after the play, the stage manager said that Jack Nicholson was going to be coming back to my dressing room to say hello. And Meryl Streep was there, and he said that there was a script that he'd like for me to see, that he'd like for me to do a part in it. And the film was Goin' South, and I did it. And ultimately, he found Mary Steenburgen to play the role that he was trying to cast. But it was just fortuitous that he came by that night.

[2012, on filming Dennis la minaccia (1993)] I had a scene in that when I'm walking along an alley and I see a boy eating an apple. I reach over the fence with a big knife and snare the apple, and I eat the apple. And the boy playing that role must have been about six or seven years old - he was horrified of me. Even when I was out of makeup. He'd hide behind his mother when he saw me just walking as myself. Just absolutely terrified.