Bob Balaban

"Seinfeld" fans will recognize Chicago native Bob Balaban as Russell Dalrymple, the NBC executive whose unrequited love for Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) cost him his life in the long-running sitcom's final episode.

Born Aug. 16, 1945, into a family of Midwestern theater owners, Balaban made his Broadway debut in the mid-1960s. After a memorable film bow in 1969's Midnight Cowboy (as the high school student who has a tryst with Jon Voight), Balaban quickly established himself as a respected character actor in film, television and plays. In the '70s and '80s, he landed in a diverse range of films, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Absence of Malice and Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Balaban later appeared in two mockumentaries directed by Christopher Guest (Waiting for Guffman, 1996, and Best in Show, 2000) and had a cameo as editor William Shawn in 2005's Capote.

Filmography