Jeffrey Tambor

Jeffrey Tambor

Active - 1979 - 2019  |   Born - Jul 8, 1944 in San Fernando, California, United States  |   Genres - Comedy, Children's/Family, Drama

Share on

Biography by AllMovie

Born July 8th, 1944, character actor Jeffrey Tambor has built his career in comedies playing the role of the uptight boss, or more generally, the stuffy guy. After graduate school, teaching, and a prolific stage career, Tambor started making television guest-starring appearances in the early '70s. He showed up on Three's Company enough that he eventually got a spot on the spin-off series The Ropers as the disapproving next-door neighbor Jeffrey. After the show's two-season run, he did a few TV movies before landing a reoccurring roles on the television version of 9 to 5, naturally playing the Dabney Coleman boss character. Throughout the '80s and early '90s, he continued to play the role of the stuffy guy on television (The Golden Girls, L.A. Law, Max Headroom) and movies (Mr. Mom, City Slickers, Life Stinks). His big break came in 1992, when he was cast as Garry Shandling's smiling sidekick, Hank Kingsley, on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show, his most recognizable role. For the rest of the '90s, he frequently returned to playing snide characters for movies (Teaching Mrs. Tingle, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Muppets From Space), although he would be more well-known for his work on television. In 1999, he appeared on the AMC series The Lot for its two-season run and provided voice talent for the MTV cartoon show 3 South. He played another boss type in the heist film Scorched in 2002.

In 2003, Tambor joined the cast of Arrested Development for the role of George Bluth, an imprisoned millionaire and patriarch to a seriously dysfunctional family. The role would earn two Emmy nominations. Tambor tried his luck at television success once again in Welcome to the Captain, a short-lived sitcom in 2006, and returned to the big screen for the buddy comedy Twenty Good Years. He played a supporting role in 2009's critically acclaimed comedy the Invention of Lying, and played father of the bride in the megahit The Hangover. In 2011, Tambor took another supporting role for the comedy drama Win Win, and reprised his role in The Hangover for The Hangover Part 2.

Movie Highlights

See Full Filmography

Factsheet

  • Began taking acting lessons as a preteen.
  • Dropped out of a Ph.D. program at Wayne State University in 1970 to appear alongside Richard Chamberlain in a Seattle Repertory Theater production of Richard II.
  • Signature catchphrase as sidekick Hank Kingsley on the Larry Sanders Show was "Hey now!"
  • Became a co-owner of Los Angeles' Skylight Bookstore in 1996.
  • Was the announcer on Hollywood Squares for the game show's 2002-03 season.
  • An acting teacher for many years, Tambor at one time taught his future Arrested Development co-star, Judy Greer.
  • On December 10, 2004, his wife, Kasia Ostlun, gave birth to son Gabriel Kasper; four days later, his grown daughter, Molly Tambor, gave birth to grandson Mason Jay Moore.
  • Has lent his voice to the animated series Archer and WordGirl, as well as big-screen hits The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie (2004) and Monsters vs. Aliens (2009).