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Paul Dooley

An agreeably rumpled, very hard-working character actor of film and television, Paul Dooley has been active in big-budget and independent features, excelling in both lead roles and bit parts. Initially an aspiring cartoonist, Dooley got his start with the Second City theater group, making his New York stage debut in the early 1950s. Here he was discovered by Mike Nichols, who cast the actor as one of the poker buddies in the original 1965 Broadway production of "The Odd Couple." When star Art Carney left the play, Dooley replaced him as Felix opposite Walter Matthau's Oscar. The actor started his film career soon thereafter with work in such features as "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?" (1968), "The Out-of-Towners" (1970), "Death Wish" (1974) and "Slap Shot" (1977). Dooley's big break finally came at the age of 50 when Robert Altman cast him as the patriarch in his all-star "A Wedding" (1978). The actor went on to work with the director several more times, starring in "A Perfect Couple" (1979), acting in and co-writing the comedy "Health" (1980), playing Wimpy in the odd "Popeye" (also 1980), taking lead in "O.C. and Stiggs" (1987) and contributing a cameo to "The Player" (1992).