Paul Le Mat (born September 22, 1946) is an American
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who first came to prominence in the
1973 filmThe year 1973 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces his second wife, Barbara Blakely. Blakely would later marry actor/singer Frank Sinatra....
American GraffitiAmerican Graffiti is a 1973 coming of age comedy-drama film co-written/directed by George Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford...
, which won him the
Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - ActorThe Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actor originated in 1948. Between 1954 and 1965, multiple winners were announced. The category was discontinued following the 1983 ceremonies.-Winners:*1948: Richard Widmark*1950: Richard Todd, Gene Nelson...
. He starred in Floyd Mutrux's 1975 crime spree film
Aloha, Bobby and Rose. In 1977, he starred in
Jonathan DemmeRobert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter.-Personal life:Demme was born in Baldwin, New York, the son of Dorothy Demme and a public relations executive father. Demme has three children: Ramona, Brooklyn, Josephine. He is a graduate of the University of Florida. He...
's acclaimed comedy,
Handle With CareHandle with Care is a 1977 comedy movie set in a small town in Nebraska and loosely based on the wide popularity of citizens' band radio, usually called "CB", at the time...
, which was later re-titled
Citizens Band. In 1979, he reprised his role of John Milner in
More American GraffitiMore American Graffiti is the 1979 sequel film to George Lucas's hit film American Graffiti. Whereas the first film followed a group of friends during the summer evening before they set off for college, this film shows us where the characters from the first film end up a few years later.Most cast...
. Le Mat teamed up again with Jonathan Demme to play Melvin Dummar in
Melvin and HowardMelvin and Howard is a 1980 American comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Demme. The screenplay by Bo Goldman was inspired by real-life Utah service station owner Melvin Dummar, who was listed as the beneficiary of $156 million in a will allegedly handwritten by Howard Hughes that was discovered...
.
Paul Le Mat (born September 22, 1946) is an American
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who first came to prominence in the
1973 filmThe year 1973 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces his second wife, Barbara Blakely. Blakely would later marry actor/singer Frank Sinatra....
American GraffitiAmerican Graffiti is a 1973 coming of age comedy-drama film co-written/directed by George Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford...
, which won him the
Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - ActorThe Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actor originated in 1948. Between 1954 and 1965, multiple winners were announced. The category was discontinued following the 1983 ceremonies.-Winners:*1948: Richard Widmark*1950: Richard Todd, Gene Nelson...
. He starred in Floyd Mutrux's 1975 crime spree film
Aloha, Bobby and Rose. In 1977, he starred in
Jonathan DemmeRobert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter.-Personal life:Demme was born in Baldwin, New York, the son of Dorothy Demme and a public relations executive father. Demme has three children: Ramona, Brooklyn, Josephine. He is a graduate of the University of Florida. He...
's acclaimed comedy,
Handle With CareHandle with Care is a 1977 comedy movie set in a small town in Nebraska and loosely based on the wide popularity of citizens' band radio, usually called "CB", at the time...
, which was later re-titled
Citizens Band. In 1979, he reprised his role of John Milner in
More American GraffitiMore American Graffiti is the 1979 sequel film to George Lucas's hit film American Graffiti. Whereas the first film followed a group of friends during the summer evening before they set off for college, this film shows us where the characters from the first film end up a few years later.Most cast...
. Le Mat teamed up again with Jonathan Demme to play Melvin Dummar in
Melvin and HowardMelvin and Howard is a 1980 American comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Demme. The screenplay by Bo Goldman was inspired by real-life Utah service station owner Melvin Dummar, who was listed as the beneficiary of $156 million in a will allegedly handwritten by Howard Hughes that was discovered...
. Based upon the true story of a gas station attendant who claimed to be an heir of eccentric billionaire
Howard HughesHoward Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American aviator, engineer, industrialist, film producer, film director, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people in the world. He gained fame in the late 1920s as a maverick film producer, making big budget and often controversial films like Hell's Angels,...
, the film won two Academy Awards and received rave reviews from Pauline Kael and other top film critics. In 1982, Le Mat also appeared in
Death ValleyDeath Valley is a horror film starring Catherine Hicks, Edward Herrmann, Peter Billingsley, Stephen McHattie, Mary Steelsmith & Earl W...
and played an abusive husband in the made-for-TV movie
The Burning BedThe Burning Bed is a non-fiction book by Faith McNulty about battered Dansville, Michigan housewife, Francine Hughes. After thirteen years of domestic abuse at the hands of her husband James Berlin Hughes, she set fire to the bed he was sleeping in on March 9, 1977...
. He was Omar's speaking voice in the animated film
Rock & RuleRock & Rule is a 1983 animated film from the Canadian animation studio Nelvana. It was produced and directed by the company's founders, Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert and Clive A. Smith. The film features the voices of Paul Le Mat, Susan Roman and Don Francks, with Catherine O'Hara, Chris Wiggins...
and later had a role in
American History XAmerican History X is a 1998 American film directed by Tony Kaye. The film tells the story of two brothers, Derek Vinyard and Daniel "Danny" Vinyard of Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California...
. He portrayed Yale Professor Alex Whitaker in
Puppet MasterPuppet Master is a 1989 horror film written by Charles Band and Kenneth J. Hall, and directed by David Schmoeller...
and starred in the 1984 holiday flop
The Night They Saved ChristmasThe Night They Saved Christmas is a 1984 RHI Entertainment Christmas film, executive produced by Robert Halmi, Senior and Junior; and originally developed for ABC. The film is about an oil company dynamiting in the North Pole in search of an oil field, unaware that they are endangering Santa Claus...
. He won Golden Globe awards for his work in
American Graffiti and
The Burning Bed. He appears in
Caroline at Midnight- Plot :Victoria is a dealer. She is playing a dangerous game. She is playing into the hands of her husband and his partner, who are dirty cops. Victoria is falling in love with a reporter, who knows all of their secrets.- Cast :Clayton Rohner as Jack Lynch
...
.
Le Mat is a
Vietnam veteranVietnam Era veteran is a phrase used to describe someone who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War. The term has been used to describe veterans who were in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States armed forces, and countries allied to them,...
.