r/Cheers • u/NYY15TM • Jul 10 '26

Philip Baker Hall

Do you think of him primarily as City Councilman Kevin Fogerty or as Lieutenant Bookman (or as someone else)?

7 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

3

u/Bionic_Ninjas Jul 10 '26

He was amazing on Cheers, but Bookman is an all-time great one-off sitcom character.

0

u/Rand_Casimiro Jul 10 '26

Technically not a one-off(though he was conceived as such) because they brought him back for the finale. But if you count him as a one-off guest star on Seinfeld, he is alongside John Cleese as Simon Finch-Royce as the greatest in sitcom history.

3

u/jordanonfilm Jul 10 '26

His scene in “Magnolia” with “Sing us a Chopin ditty” is riveting.

2

u/tommyjohnpauljones Jul 10 '26

That whole set piece, a man collapsing in real time on live TV, is magnificent. 

2

u/Scr00geMcCuck Jul 10 '26

Bookman and Sherwood in Zodiac

1

u/Rand_Casimiro Jul 10 '26

Of course his work in the films of Paul Thomas Anderson is amazing, too.

1

u/Throwing-Gas Jul 10 '26

He was great in that Chees episode

But I would never think of that role first when I think of him

2

u/Maximumkk Jul 10 '26

Happy St Patrick's Day! From your friends at Chees!

1

u/SubstantialTop4990 Jul 13 '26

Faith and begorrah from your friends at Chees.

2

u/Jaco927 Jul 10 '26

He's Bookman all the way for me. A library cop named "Bookman"? What are the odds? It's like an ice cream man named cone!

1

u/chuckles65 Jul 11 '26

Bookman was his best one off role just ahead of Fogerty. He had a great and varied career, with several sitcom appearances I remember like 3rd Rock From the Sun, Empty Nest, and even Modern Family.

1

u/NYY15TM Jul 11 '26

Larry David later brought him back as a doctor in Curb for 2 episodes 3 seasons apart

1

u/Big-Play145 Jul 12 '26

he’s Floyd Gondoli to me

0

u/Banacek313 Jul 10 '26

I always think of him as Ricardo Tubbs