1. Early life

2. Career

3. Filmography

4. References

5. External links

Maximilian Josef Sommer (born June 26, 1934) is a German-American stage, television, and film actor.

Early life

He was born in Greifswald, Germany, and raised in North Carolina, the son of Elisabeth and Clemens Sommer, a Professor of Art History at the University of North Carolina.^[1] He studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology.^[2] He has a daughter, Maria.

Career

Sommer made his acting debut at the age of nine in a North Carolina production of Watch on the Rhine. He made his film debut in Dirty Harry (1971) and appeared in films such as The Stepford Wives (1975), Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977), Still of the Night (1982), Silkwood (1983), Peter Weir's thriller Witness (1985) opposite Harrison Ford (where he played a dirty cop), Target (1985), Malice (1993), Patch Adams (1998), and The Last Stand (2006). He appeared as 38th President Gerald Ford opposite Gena Rowlands in the made-for-TV movie The Betty Ford Story (1987). In 1974, he appeared in the role of Roy Mills on CBS television daytime drama The Guiding Light, and played George Barton in the 1983 TV version of Agatha Christie's Sparkling Cyanide. He has also had starring roles in two short-lived series, Hothouse (1988) and Under Cover (1991). As of 2007, he has appeared in almost 100 films. Some of his more famous roles have been as a crooked businessman or a corrupt politician. Yet Sommer displayed abundant humanity without being seen on screen when he lent his talents as the poignant Narrator in Sophie's Choice (1982), for which Meryl Streep won an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Though a much-respected and lauded thespian of more than one performing art, this seasoned character actor played a rare leading role—opposite the titular-titled, eponymous character played by Sylvia Kristel—as the film noir-esque detective in the quirky, cult horror comedy Dracula's Widow (1988), a role that Sommer truly appeared to have relished, as reflected by his creatively colorful and enthusiastic performance.

Filmography

• Dirty Harry (1971) as William T. Rothko
• Man on a Swing (1974) as Pete Russell
• The Stepford Wives (1975) as Ted Van Sant
• Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) as Larry Butler
• Oliver's Story (1978) as Dr. Dienhart
• Hide in Plain Sight (1980) as Jason R. Reid
• Absence of Malice (1981) as McAdam
• Reds (1981) as State Department Official
• Rollover (1981) as Roy Lefcourt
• Hanky Panky (1982) as Adrian Pruitt
• Still of the Night (1982) as George Bynum
• Sophie's Choice (1982) as Narrator (voice)
• Independence Day (1983) as Sam Taylor
• Silkwood (1983) as Max Richter
• Iceman (1984) as Whitman
• Witness (1985) as Chief Paul Schaeffer
• D.A.R.Y.L. (1985) as Dr. Jeffrey Stewart
• Target (1985) as Taber
• The Rosary Murders (1987) as Lieutenant Koznicki
• Dracula's Widow (1988) as Lannon
• Chances Are (1989) as Judge Fenwick
• Forced March (1989) as Father
• Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989) as Waldo Winchester
• Shadows and Fog (1991) as Priest
• The Mighty Ducks (1992) as Gerald Ducksworth
• Malice (1993) as Lester Adams
• Nobody's Fool (1994) as Clive Peoples, Jr.
• Cultivating Charlie (1994) as Prescott Putney
• Strange Days (1995) as Palmer Strickland
• Moonlight and Valentino (1995) as Thomas Trager
• The Chamber (1996) as Phelps Bowen
• The Proposition (1998) as Father Dryer
• Bulworth (1998) as Doctor (uncredited)
• Lulu on the Bridge (1998) as Peter Shine (DVD deleted scene) (uncredited)
• Patch Adams (1998) as Dr. Eaton
• The Next Best Thing (2000) as Richard Whittaker
• Shaft (2000) as Curt Fleming
• The Family Man (2000) as Peter Lassiter
• The Sum of All Fears (2002) as Senator Jessup
• Searching for Paradise (2002) as Carl Greenslate
• The Elephant King (2006) as Bill Hunt
• The Last Stand (2006) as The President
• The Invasion (2007) as Dr. Henryk Belicec
• Stop-Loss (2008) as Senator Orton Worrell
• The Other Guys (2010) as D.A. Radford (uncredited)

References

External links

• {{IMDb name|813977|Josef Sommer}}
• {{IBDB name|71287}}
• {{iobdb name|631}}

• Saint Philomena Catholic School
• Saint Philomena College, Puttur
• Saint Photeine
• Saint Piatus
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon constitutional referendum, 1958
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon Daylight Time
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon in World War II
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon legislative election, 2000
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon legislative election, 2006
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon legislative election, 2012
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon Standard Time
• Saint-Pierre de Condom
• Saint-Pierre de la Couture Abbey
• Saint-Pierre de Lisieux
• Saint-Pierre-de-Lisieux
• Saint-Pierre de Montmartre
• Saint-Pierre de Trévisy XIII
• Saint-Pierre-en-Auge
• Saint-Pierre, Haiti
• Saint-Pierre-la-Noue
• Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune Catholic Church
• Saint-Pierre, Reunion Island
• Saint Pierre River
• Saint Pierre River (disambiguation)
• Saint Pierre River (Mascouche)