Biography

Gerrit Graham was born on November 27, 1949 in New York City. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, Chicago, Illinois, and Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Gerrit made his acting debut at age eight in a Detroit Art Institute stage production of "Winnie the Pooh". Graham was the president of the dramatic association as a high school student at Groton and general manager of the Columbia Players while studying at Columbia University. He began his cinematic career acting in movies for director Brian De Palma: he's excellent in his film debut as paranoid conspiracy nut Lloyd Clay in Greetings (1968) and gave a hilarious performance as preening flamboyant rock star Beef in Phantom of the Paradise (1974). Graham's other memorable comic roles include no-talent aspiring country singer Perman Waters in Paul Bartel's Cannonball (1976), hippie commune leader Magic Ray in Bobbie Jo (1976) sleazy used car salesman Jeff in the uproarious La Grosse Magouille (1980), the snobby Bob Spinnaker in American Class (1982), and the leering Rodzinski in The Creature Wasn't Nice (1981). Moreover, Gerrit has demonstrated his considerable range and versatility in such occasional serious parts as computer nerd Walter Gabler in Génération Proteus (1977), Susan Sarandon's abusive boyfriend Highpockets in La petite (1978), tough Vietnam veteran Ray Stark in Les insoumis (1985), and Alex Vincent's jerky foster father Phil Simpson in Chucky, la poupée de sang (1990). Among the many TV shows Graham has done guest spots on are Baretta (1975), Starsky et Hutch (1975), Laverne et Shirley (1976), L'agence tous risques (1983), Fame (1982), Hôpital St. Elsewhere (1982), Deux flics à Miami (1984), Dallas (1978), Les années coup de coeur (1988), Seinfeld (1989), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), Babylon 5 (1993), The Larry Sanders Show (1992), Star Trek: Voyager (1995), New York - Police judiciaire (1990), and New York 911 (1999). Gerrit had a recurring role on Profession: critique (1994). He wrote three episodes of the 1980s La cinquième dimension (1985) revival and acted in the Welcome to Winfield/Quarantine (1986) episode of the same show. On stage, Gerrit has performed improvisational comedy sketches with Chicago's Second City troupe and worked with improvisational director Paul Sills in Chicago as a member of Sills' Story Theatre ensemble. Graham has written several songs with Bob Weir (these include the lyrics for the Grateful Dead tune "Victim or the Crime"). Graham wrote additional dialogue and provided additional voices for the hit Disney animated picture La Petite Sirène (1989) and co-wrote the screenplay for the cartoon short Le prince et le pauvre (1990). He's the father of sons Jack and Henry.

- IMDb mini biography by: woodyanders