Paul Dooley is an American stand-up comedian, screenwriter and actor, whose filmography includes about 200 films and series. Among other things, he played in such series as Alph, Clinic Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Plus, in the popular cartoon cartoons "Cars" he was the one who voiced such a character as Sergeant.
early years
Paul Dooley was born in 1928 in West Virginia, in the small town of Parkersburg. His family was quite ordinary - his mother, Ruth Irene, was a housewife, and his father (his name was Peter James) worked at the factory.
Dooley spent his childhood in the same Parkersberg. And, as he himself recalled later, there were few attractions that interested him (in particular, theaters). In addition, his parents did not have a TV. But there was a radio that the future actor was very fond of listening to (he especially liked the radio performances of comedians of that era, in particular, Jimmy Durante).
As a teenager, Dooley worked as a cartoonist in a local newspaper. He then served in the U.S. Navy and was educated at the University of West Virginia. Dooley graduated from this university in 1952 with a bachelor's degree in oratory and drama.
After graduation, Paul moved to New York, where he first worked as a clown on children's parties, and then for five years acted as a stand-up comedian (for example, in this capacity he participated in the shows "Compass Players" and "The Second City").
TV Shooting
In the early sixties, Dooley began acting in TV shows. Among the first multi-series projects on his track record, Defenders (1961–1965), My Wife Charmed Me (1964–1972), East / West (1963–1964). After that, there were several dozens of roles on TV. So, for example, in the eighties, he played the role of Wizard in the TV series "Alph", dedicated to the adventures of a funny alien from a distant galaxy on our planet. And in 1993, in four episodes of the series Star Trek: Deep Space 9, he played the role of Enabran Thein - a cruel and merciless leader of Cardassian intelligence.
From 1994 to 1996, Dooley starred in more than twenty episodes of the sitcom Grace on Fire (here he embodied the image of John Shirley on a television screen). In addition, he later appeared as a guest in such series as “My So-Called Life”, “Puffies”, “Sabrina the Little Witch”, “Millennium”, “Clinic”, “Desperate Housewives”, etc. In 2000, Dooley was nominated for an Emmy Award for the guest role of extravagant judge Philip Swackheim in the multi-part judicial drama Practice (his character could be seen in eight episodes).
In recent years, despite his age, Dooley still continues to work as a television actor. In 2017, he appeared on the TV series Good Doctor, in an episode titled 22 Steps. Here he played Glenn, an old man with a heart condition who wanted to break his pacemaker because he was tired of experiencing constant pain. And in 2018, Dooley starred in one of the episodes of the sitcom Kids Are Alright.
Paul Dooley at the cinema
Dooley's career in American cinema began in the seventies. Among the films of this period in which he took part, it is worth highlighting "The Wedding" - a black comedy from 1978 from the patriarch of American cinema Robert Altman. Dooley was here a small but memorable role of Liam "Snooks" Brenner.
Just a year later, in 1979, Paul starred in the film "Going Away". Here he very well played a minor character named Ray Stoller. He was even awarded the award by the National Council of Film Critics of the United States for this work.
In 1980, Dooley starred in yet another Robert Altman film - in the musical comedy Popeye. By the way, here he appeared in the frame with Robin Williams, for whom the image of the sailor Popeye was actually the first major film work. Other significant roles played by Dooley in the eighties include the role of Jim Baker in the teenage melodrama Sixteen Candles (1984) and the role of Roy in the movie The Beast in the Closet (1986).
In the same 1986, the actor was invited to the role of seller in the movie musical "Shop of Horrors." However, in the process of further work of Paul Dooley, it was decided to replace James Belushi, and all the already captured scenes with him were deleted.
In the nineties, Dooley continued to act in films. Among other things, it is worth highlighting such paintings with his participation as “A look into the past” (1990), “Dangerous woman” (1993), “Evolver” (1994), “There, inside” (1995), “Runaway bride” (1999).
In 2002, he had the opportunity to play a minor role in the third full-length film of the famous director Christopher Nolan called "Insomnia" (it is interesting that this thriller, released in 2002, is a remake of the Norwegian film of the same name). Further, there were several rather interesting appearances of Paul Dooley in the movies - for example, in the films “Hairspray” (2007), “Riders” (2009), “Thanks” (2011) and “Other People” (2016).
Other activity
Dooley was one of the main authors for the children's educational program "The Electric Company", which was shot for the American television channel PBS. This program was aimed at entertaining to help primary school children develop grammar and reading skills. Its first release came out in 1971.
Also, Paul Dooley, along with Andrew Duncan and Lynn Lipton, was one of the founders of the All Over Creation company, which specializes in creating commercials. Under the brand of this company, about 1000 audio clips for radio and about 500 videos for TV were released. Some of them featured a character named Paul Gorilla. It is known that he was named so in honor of Dooley.
In addition, Dooley proved himself as a voice actor. It was his voice in the English dubbing that Sergeant speaks in the animated films "Cars" (2006), "Cars 2" (2011) and "Cars 3" (2017), created by Pixar. In addition to this, in 2013 he voiced the Snail Brigadier in the animated film Turbo from DreamWorks Animation.
