Seymour Joseph Cassel (January 22, 1935 – April 7, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 films and television shows, with a career spanning over 50 years. He first came to prominence in the 1960s in the pioneering independent films of writer/director John Cassavetes. The first of these was Too Late Blues (1961), followed by Faces (1968), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and won a National Society of Film Critics Award. Cassel went on to appear in Cassavetes's Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), Opening Night (1977), and Love Streams (1984). He also appeared in other notable films, including: Coogan's Bluff (1968), The Last Tycoon (1976), Valentino (1977), Convoy (1978), Johnny Be Good (1988), Mobsters (1991), In the Soup (1992), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Indecent Proposal (1993), The Sleepy Time Gal (2001), Imaginary Crimes (1994), Beer League (2006), and Fort McCoy (2011). Like Cassavetes, Wes Anderson frequently cast Cassel – first in Rushmore (1998), then in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), and finally in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004).

Filmography

• 2014At The Maple Grove — Boyle
• 2014Fort McCoy — Father Mivkovek
• 2014Lucky Dog — The Real Spencer
• 2014The Dependables — Dominic Ackers
• 2013The Secret Lives of Dorks — Principal
• 2012Booster — Harold
• 2012Broken Kingdom — Clayton
• 2012Lost Angeles — Film Critic
• Magic City
• 2012Pass the Salt, Please — Man
• 2012Silver Case — Dealer
• 2011Faces — Chet (archive footage)
• 2011Freerunner — Grampa
• 2011L!fe Happens — Pop Pop
• 2010Back Nine — Mondo
• 2010Chasing 3000 — Poppy
• 2010Pete Smalls Is Dead — Saco
• Regular Show — Tony (voice)
• 2010Without Borders — Detective McKenneth
• 2009Not Dead Yet — Francis
• 2009Staten Island — Jasper Sabiano
• 2008Beau Jest — Abe Goldman
• 2008Big Heart City — Larry
• 2008Reach for Me — Alvin
• 2008To Love and Die — Grandfather
• To Love and Die
• 2007Cosmic Radio — Malcolm Stone
• Flight of the Conchords — Johnny Boy
• 2007Hollywood Dreams — Rupert
• 2007Postal — Paul
• 2006Beer League — Dirt
• 2006Bye Bye Benjamin — Mr. Ruby
• Heist — Pops
• 2006Ray of Sunshine
• 2006Sea of Dreams — Tomaso
• 2006The Tenants — Levenspiel
• 2005Before It Had a Name — Jeff
• 2005Bittersweet Place — Jack 'Pappy' Schaffer
• 2005Circadian Rhythm — Hoover
• 2005Lonesome Jim — Don
• 2005The Wendell Baker Story — Boyd Fullbright
• Justice League Unlimited — Chuck Sirianni (voice)
• 2004The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou — Esteban du Plantier
• 2003A Good Night to Die — Guy
• Lucky
• 2003Passionada — Daniel Vargas
• 2003Stuck on You — Morty O'Reilly
• 2002Manna from Heaven — Stanley
• 2002Sonny — Albert
• 2002Stealing Harvard — Uncle Jack
• 2002The Biz — Eugene Hinkle
• 2002The Burial Society — Sam Goldberg
• 200161* — Sam Simon
• A Nero Wolfe Mystery — Dazy Perrit, James Arthur Ferris
• 2001Bartleby — Frank Waxman
• 2001The Cure for Boredom — Eddie
• 2001The Man Who Wasn't There — Spectator at Execution (uncredited)
• 2001The Royal Tenenbaums — Dusty
• 2001The Sleepy Time Gal — Bob
• 2001Women of the Night — Sally
• 2000Animal Factory — Lt. Seeman
• Boston Public — Bernie Willis
• 2000Just One Night — Arthur Imperial
• 2000The Crew — Tony 'Mouth' Donato
• 1999Ballad of the Nightingale — Jimmy
• 1999Black & White — Sal
• 1999Kubanisch rauchen — Dragan
• 1999Me and Will — Roy
• 1998Emma's Wish — Harry Bridges (old)
• 1998Hoods — Pop Martinelli (uncredited)
• 1998Johnny 316 — Store Keeper
• 1998Relax... It's Just Sex — Emile
• 1998Rushmore — Bert Fischer
• 1998Snapped — Bob
• 1998Stingers — Dino
• 1998The Treat — Chip O'Herlihee
• 1997Motel Blue — Capistrano Minister
• 1997Obsession — Jacob Frischmuth
• The Last Don — Alfred Gronevelt
• 1997This World, Then the Fireworks — Detective Harris
• Arli$$ — Artie
• 1996Cannes Man — Sy Lerner
• 1996Chameleon — Francis
• 1996Dead Girl — Ira Golub
• 1996Dream for an Insomniac — Uncle Leo
• Good Company
• 1996Seed — First Client
• 1996Slaughter of the Cock — Ahilleas
• 1996The Last Home Run — Older Jonathan
• 1996Things I Never Told You — Frank
• Tracey Takes On... — Candy Casino
• 1996Trees Lounge — Uncle Al
• 1996Turnpike — Older man
• 1995Dead Presidents — Saul
• 1994Chasers — Master Chief Bogg
• Chicago Hope — Norman Cambridge
• 1994Dark Side of Genius — Samuel Rourke
• 1994Hand Gun — Jack McCallister
• 1994Imaginary Crimes — Eddie
• 1994It Could Happen to You — Jack Gross
• 1994Ouf!
• 1994There Goes My Baby — Pop
• 1994Tollbooth — Leon / Larry
• Under Suspicion — Lt. Mickey Schwartz
• 1993Boiling Point — Virgil Leach
• 1993Indecent Proposal — Mr. Shackleford
• 1993Partners — Janitor
• 1993Trouble Bound — Santino
• 1993When Pigs Fly — Frank
• 1992Adventures in Spying — Ray Rucker
• 1992Chain of Desire — Mel
• 1992Cold Heaven — Tom Farrelly
• 1992Honeymoon in Vegas — Tony Cataracts
• 1992In the Soup — Joe
• 1992Love Is Like That — Uncle Bud
• 1992What Happened to Pete — Bartender
• 1991Dead in the Water — Lt. Frank Vaness
• 1991Diary of a Hitman — Koenig
• 1991Face of a Stranger — Ralph
• 1991Mobsters — Father Bonotto
• 1991White Fang — Skunker
• 1990Cold Dog Soup — Jojo
• 1990Dick Tracy — Sam Catchem
• 1989Sweet Bird of Youth — Hatcher
• 1989Wicked Stepmother — Feldshine
• 1988Colors — Sullivan
• 1988Johnny Be Good — Wallace Gibson
• 1988Plain Clothes — Ed Malmburg
• 1988Track 29 — Dr. Bernard Fairmont
• 1987Best Seller — Carter
• Star Trek: The Next Generation — Lt. Cmdr. Hester Dealt
• 1987Survival Game — Dave Forrest
• 1987Tin Men — Cheese
• 1986Beverly Hills Madam — Tony
• 1986Eye of the Tiger — Sheriff
• Matlock — Dick Silvers, Honest Earl Edwards
• 1984Love Streams — Jack Lawson
• Tales from the Darkside — Howard
• 1984Young Lust: A Soap Opera — Dr. Klapper
• 1983I Want to Live — John Santo
• 1982Double Exposure — Dr. Frank Curtis
• 1981King of the Mountain — Barry Tanner
• 1980Angel on My Shoulder — Smiley Mitchell
• 1980The Jazz Singer — Unnamed
• 1980The Mountain Men — La Bont
• 1979California Dreaming — Duke Slusarski
• 1979Ravagers — Blind Lawyer
• 1979Sunburn — Dobbs
• 1978Convoy — Governor Haskins
• 1977Black Oak Conspiracy — Homer Metcalf
• 1977Death Game — George Manning
• 1977Scott Joplin — Dr. Jaelki
• 1977Valentino — George Ullman
• 1976The Killing of a Chinese Bookie — Mort Weil
• 1976The Last Tycoon — Seal Trainer
• 1975Two Tons of Turquoise to Taos Tonight — Wise Guy
• 1973Nightside — Ralph
• Emergency! — Bluebell Hunter
• 1971Minnie and Moskowitz — Seymour Moskowitz
• 1970The Revolutionary — Leonard II
• 1968Coogan's Bluff — Young Hood
• 1968Faces — Chet
• Cimarron Strip
• The Invaders — Driver
• Batman — Cancelled
• Laredo
• The F.B.I. — Irwin, P.O.W. Vanndo, Attendant
• 12 O'Clock High — Capt. Johnson, B-17 Pilot, Captain Johnson, Left Waist Gunner, Mechanic
• 1964The Hanged Man — Bellboy
• 1964The Killers — Postal Clerk
• Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea — Jensen
• Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre — Police Sgt., Somebody
• Burke's Law — Attendant
• The Fugitive — Cabbie
• 1963The Nutty Professor — Bored Man
• Combat! — Doctor
• The Lloyd Bridges Show — Lawyer #2, Richard
• 1962The Webster Boy — Vic
• Alcoa Premiere — The Wounded Man
• 1961Too Late Blues — Red
• 1960Juke Box Racket — Seymour
• 1960Man on a String
• 1960Murder, Inc. — Teenager
• My Three Sons — Coach Gregson
• 1960Shadows — Al (uncredited), Associate Producer
• The Twilight Zone — Jerry (uncredited)
• Naked City — Student (uncredited)
• Wagon Train — Ed

Appearances as themselves (14)

• 2018Every Night's a Saturday Night — Self
• 2012Kingdom Come — Self
• 2006Edge of Outside — Self
• 2005This Is an Adventure — Self
• 2004Making 'Faces' — Self
• 2000A Constant Forge — Self
• 2000The Making of 'Rushmore' — Self
• 1999Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage — Self
• 1997Who Is Henry Jaglom? — Self
• 1996John Cassavetes: To Risk Everything to Express It All — Self
• 1993Anything for John — Self
• 1989Arena - John Cassavetes — Self
• 1984I'm Almost Not Crazy: John Cassavetes — The Man and His Work — Self
• 1977Opening Night — Self (uncredited)