Graham Beckel

Graham Beckel's acting roles have only gotten more interesting as his Hollywood career has matured. His earliest big screen role was as Franklin Ford III, a fellow law student of Timothy Bottoms, in the 1973 drama "The Paper Chase," which was followed by television films and series throughout the '70s and '80s. He was extremely prolific during the '90s, including a part in the HBO original movie "Barbarians at the Gate"--about the machinations of a tobacco conglomerate behind closed doors--and appearances in two of the decade's most critically-acclaimed movies: the Coen Brothers Comedy "Leaving Las Vegas" and the neo-noir "L.A. Confidential." As Dick Stensland, the corrupt partner and mentor of Russell Crowe's character, Officer "Bud" White, he played a pivotal role in kicking off "L.A. Confidential"'s labyrinth of a plot. His work during the '00s mostly consisted of single-episode appearances on television series, a notable exception being the science fiction show "Battlestar Galactica," in which he had a recurring part as Colonel Jack Fisk, who may not be as "by-the-book" as he appears. Beckel walked a similar razor's edge between light and darkness as a guest star in the popular sci-fi series "Heroes" and crime comedy series "Castle." Meanwhile, his film appearances included collaborations with the idiosyncratic Michael and Mark Polish, in the 2006 drama "The Astronaut Farmer." In 2010, Beckel starred in the thriller film "Peacock."