Dan Butler

Daniel Eugene Butler (born December 2, 1954) is an American actor and playwright known for his role as Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe on the TV series Frasier (1993-2004), Art in Roseanne (1991–1992), and for the voice of Mr. Simmons on the Nickelodeon TV show Hey Arnold (1997–2002), and later reprised the role in Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie (2017), and films roles in Enemy of the State (1998), and Sniper 2 (2001).

Education

Butler was born in Huntington, Indiana, and raised in Fort Wayne, the son of Shirley, a housewife, and Andrew Butler, a pharmacist. While a drama student at Indiana University in 1975, he received the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship, sponsored by the Kennedy Center. From 1976 to 1978 he trained at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.

Career

Butler is best known for his role as Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe in the NBC sitcom Frasier, appearing in every season but one between 1993 and 2004. The character was a volatile, boorish, intensely macho sports presenter who hosted the show which followed Frasier's daily broadcast at the radio station KACL.

He is also one of two actors to play two different characters within the Hannibal Lecter franchise. In 1986 he played the role of Jimmy Price, a technician in the film Manhunter, then 5 years later playing the role of Roden in 1991's The Silence of The Lambs. The other actor is Frankie Faison.

In 1998, Butler played the role of NSA Director Admiral Shaffer in Enemy of the State.

In 2006, Butler produced and starred in the faux documentary Karl Rove, I Love You (which he also co-wrote and co-directed). Other film work includes roles in Prayers for Bobby and Longtime Companion.Butler is also an established stage actor. In 2018 he played Lenin in the Broadway revival of Tom Stoppard's Travesties. Other recent appearances include as Truman Capote in American Repertory Theatre's 2017 production of Rob Roth's Warhol/Capote and Jack in the 2013 Off-Broadway production of Conor McPherson's The Weir.

Personal life

Butler lives in Vermont and is married to producer Richard Waterhouse. He came out to his family when he was in his early 20s. He wrote a one-man show, The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me, which opened in Los Angeles in 1994 and also played in San Francisco and off-Broadway in New York. It was Butler's public coming out. The play had ten characters "just processing what gay means". He was nominated for the 1995 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show.

Featured film roles

1991 The Silence of the Lambs as Roden

1998 Enemy of the State as NSA Director Admiral Shaffer

2002 Sniper 2 CIA Agent James Eckles

2011 Crazy, Stupid, Love as Cal’s Boss

2014 Chu & Blossom as Mr. Kirkpatrick

2020 All My Life as Dr. Alan Mendelson

2022 Blonde as TBA

Featured television roles

1991-1992 Roseanne as Art

1993-2004 Frasier as Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe

1995-1997 Caroline in the City as Kenneth Arabian

1997-2002 Hey Arnold! as Voice of Mr. Simmons / Lila's Dad

1998 From the Earth to the Moon as NASA Flight Director Eugene Kranz

1998 More Tales of the City as Edward Bass Matheson

2017 The Mist as Father Romanov (6 episodes: season 1)

2017 Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie as Mr. Simmons (TV movie)

Guest appearances

External links

Dan Butler at IMDb

Dan Butler at AllMovie