fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

David Hyde Pierce (born April 3, 1959)[1] is an American actor and director of stage, film and television. He starred as psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier from 1993 to 2004, and won four Primetime Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the role. Pierce also received the 2007 Tony Award for playing Lieutenant Frank Cioffi in the musical Curtains. He is also widely known for playing Frank Prady in eight episodes of the television legal drama The Good Wife, and Henry Newman in the comedy film Wet Hot American Summer and its subsequent television spin-offs.

David Hyde Pierce
Pierce in New York City in 2010
Born	David Pierce (1959-04-03) April 3, 1959 (age 63) Saratoga Springs, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Yale University (BA)
Occupation	Actor comedian theatre director
Years active	1982–present
Spouse	Brian Hargrove ​ (m. 2008)​

Pierce has played supporting roles in many films, including Joan Micklin Silver's Crossing Delancey (1988), Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King (1991), Nora Ephron's Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Mike Nichols' Wolf (1994), and Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995). He has also starred in the cult romantic comedy Down with Love (2003), and the dark comedy film The Perfect Host (2010). His voice roles include Disney Pixar's A Bug's Life (1998), Osmosis Jones (2001), and Treasure Planet (2002).

Besides his performance in Curtains, Pierce also had Broadway roles as Sir Robin in Monty Python's Spamalot, Vanya in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and Horace Vandergelder in the 2017 revival of Hello, Dolly!; the latter two of which Pierce was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2015, he directed the Broadway musical It Shoulda Been You.

Early life

Pierce was born in Saratoga Springs, New York. His father, George Pierce,[2] was an aspiring actor, and his mother, Laura Marie Pierce (née Hughes),[2] was an insurance agent.[1] He is the youngest of four children: he has two older sisters, Barbara and Nancy and one older brother, Thomas.[3][4] He adopted the middle name Hyde to avoid confusion with another actor named David Pierce.[5] As a child, Pierce frequently played organ at the local Bethesda Episcopal Church.[6] As a child, Pierce attended the all boys' sleepaway summer camp Kabeyun, where he first began acting in their camp productions of Gilbert & Sullivan and directed their production of H.M.S. Pinafore.[7]

After graduating from Saratoga Springs High School in 1977,[8] Pierce attended Yale University. He originally majored in music with an emphasis in piano performance, but later changed to a double major in English literature and theater studies.[9] While attending Yale, Pierce performed in and directed student productions, appearing in the Yale Gilbert & Sullivan Society's production of H.M.S. Pinafore. Pierce also directed the Gilbert & Sullivan Society's operetta Princess Ida.[10] Pierce graduated from Yale in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Career

1980s

After his graduation, Pierce moved to New York City, where during the 1980s and early 1990s he was employed in various jobs, such as selling ties at Bloomingdale's and working as a security guard, while pursuing an acting career and studying at Michael Howard Studios. During this period he played Laertes in a popular off-Broadway production of Hamlet, with Kevin Kline in the title role, and made his Broadway debut in 1982 in Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy.[11]

1990s–2000s

Pierce's first big television break came in the early 1990s with Norman Lear's political comedy, The Powers That Be, in which Pierce played Theodore, a Congressman.[12] Despite positive reviews from critics, the show was canceled after a brief run.

In part owing to his close facial resemblance to Kelsey Grammer,[13] the producers of the Cheers spin-off Frasier created the role of Niles Crane (Frasier Crane's younger brother) for him.[12] Although prior to Frasier going into production, Pierce had petitioned the Screen Actors Guild to change his billing to David Pierce, the name he had used on the stage, the use of his middle name in the show's credits helped reinforce the actor's and the character's "snooty" image.[13] For his work on Frasier, Pierce was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Emmy a record eleven consecutive years, winning in 1995, 1998, 1999 and 2004.

Pierce also appeared alongside Jodie Foster in Little Man Tate, with Anthony Hopkins in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995), and with Ewan McGregor in Down With Love (2003).[12] He provided the voice for Doctor Doppler in Disney's 42nd animated feature, Treasure Planet, Slim, a stick insect in Pixar's A Bug's Life and Abe Sapien in Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy. In his role in Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Pierce played the brother of Meg Ryan's character, a professor at Johns Hopkins University. The movie was released three months before the start of Frasier.[12] In 2001, he starred in the cult 1981-set summer camp comedy Wet Hot American Summer, as the befuddled astrophysicist, Prof. Henry Newman.

In 2005, Pierce joined Tim Curry and others in the stage production of Spamalot.[12] In August and September 2006, he starred as Lieutenant Frank Cioffi in Curtains, a new Kander and Ebb musical staged at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. In March 2007, Curtains opened on Broadway[12] and on June 10, 2007, Pierce won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical at the 61st Tony Awards for his performance.[12] In his acceptance speech, Pierce said the first words he spoke on a Broadway stage were, "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."[14]

On November 19, 2007, Pierce was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Niagara University in Lewiston, New York. In 1999 he was awarded an honorary degree from Skidmore College, located in his native Saratoga Springs.

2010s

In 2010, Pierce appeared in a revival of David Hirson's play La Bête directed by Matthew Warchus. The production debuted on London's West End before moving to New York.[15] Also in 2010, Pierce had his first starring film role as Warwick Wilson in the dark comedy/psychological thriller The Perfect Host.

From 2014 to 2015 Pierce appeared in The Good Wife as Frank Prady on CBS. He also starred as Assoc. Prof. Henry Neumann in Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015) on Netflix. Pierce directed the Broadway production of the musical It Shoulda Been You. In 2015 he directed the Manhattan Theater Club production of David Lindsay-Abaire's play Ripcord Off-Broadway at City Center.[16]

Pierce appeared in the Off-Broadway limited engagement of A Life by Adam Bock. The play premiered at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater on October 24, 2016, directed by Anne Kauffman, and closed on November 27.[17] In 2017 he returned to television in the limited docudrama series about LBGT rights, When We Rise as Dr. Jones. He also appeared as himself with Julie Andrews in Julie's Greenroom on Netflix.

Pierce co-starred with Bette Midler in the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!. The musical opened on April 20, 2017, at the Shubert Theatre. The show was a critical and box office hit. Pierce himself received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance.[18] Pierce received a 2017 Drama League award nomination for Hello, Dolly! and A Life.[19]

2020s

In 2020, Pierce replaced Tom Hollander as Paul Cushing Child in the limited series Julia which premiered on HBO Max in March 2022. The cast includes Sarah Lancashire, Bebe Neuwirth, and Isabella Rossellini.[20]

Voice acting

Pierce is known for his distinctive voice and, like his Frasier co-star, Kelsey Grammer, is often called upon to provide voice work. His roles include the narrator of the movie The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human in 1999, the walking stick insect "Slim" in A Bug's Life, Dr. Delbert Doppler in Disney's film Treasure Planet, and amphibian Abe Sapien in Hellboy.[12] Pierce declined to be credited for his Hellboy role because he felt it was the performance of Doug Jones, and not his own voice, which ultimately brought the character of Abe Sapien to life.[21] He was the voice for "Drix", a cold pill, in the animated comedy Osmosis Jones.^{[citation needed]}

In a deliberate in-joke, he voiced Cecil, the brother of Kelsey Grammer-voiced Sideshow Bob, in The Simpsons episode "Brother from Another Series", in which the two characters parallel the Frasier–Niles relationship. At one point in the episode, Cecil mistakes Bart for Maris, the unseen wife of Niles on Frasier. He returned as Cecil in the Season 19 episode "Funeral for a Fiend" where Frasier co-star John Mahoney voices Dr. Robert Terwilliger Sr., the father of Cecil and Sideshow Bob.^{[citation needed]}

Pierce provided the voice of Mr. Daedalus in the 1998 Disney show Hercules: The Animated Series. In 2006, he co-starred in the animated pilot for The Amazing Screw-On Head as the Screw-On Head's nemesis Emperor Zombie; however, the series was not picked up. His commercial voiceover work included ads for the Tassimo coffee system, Seattle's Metro Transit, and home furnishings retailer Ikea Canada.[22]

Pierce narrated an audio tour guide, Napa Uncorked, in 2002.[23]

Personal life

After years of media speculation about his sexuality, Pierce revealed in 2007 that he is gay and later confirmed through his publicist that he and television writer, director and producer Brian Hargrove were a couple.[24][25] When accepting his Tony Award for Curtains, Pierce thanked "my partner, Brian, because it's 24 years of listening to your damn notes—that's why I'm up here tonight."[26] They married in California on October 24, 2008, just days before Proposition 8 was adopted as law, banning same-sex marriages in the state.[27] On May 28, 2009, while a guest on The View, he publicly announced his marriage to Hargrove and expressed his anger about the approval of Proposition 8.[28]

Pierce has spent years working with the Alzheimer's Association on behalf of Americans with Alzheimer's disease. He has appeared in Washington, D.C., to testify in support of expanding funding for treatment, and he publicly campaigned for the National Alzheimer's Project Act. Pierce told MSNBC in 2011, "it is up to us, to all of us, to the American people and to their representatives about whether we face the challenges and make all the effort necessary or if we ignore it and just let this sort of tidal wave crash over us."[29]

Filmography

Film

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	The Appointments of Dennis Jennings	Businessman	Short film
1988	Bright Lights, Big City	Bartender at Fashion Show
1988	Crossing Delancey	Mark
1988	Rocket Gibraltar	Monsieur Henri
1989	Vampire's Kiss	Theater Guy
1990	Across Five Aprils	Union Soldier
1991	Little Man Tate	Garth Emmerick
1991	The Fisher King	Lou Rosen
1993	Sleepless in Seattle	Dennis Reed
1993	Addams Family Values	Delivery Room Doctor
1994	Wolf	Roy
1995	Ripple	Peter	Short film
1995	Nixon	John Dean
1998	A Bug's Life	Slim (voice)
1999	The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human	Narrator
2000	Isn't She Great	Michael Hastings
2000	Chain of Fools	Mr. Kerner
2000	The Tangerine Bear	Bird (voice)
2001	Wet Hot American Summer	Henry Newman
2001	Happy Birthday	Barney	Short film
2001	Osmosis Jones	Drix (voice)
2001	Laud Weiner	Laud Weiner	Short film
2002	Full Frontal	Carl
2002	Treasure Planet	Doctor Doppler (voice)
2003	Down with Love	Peter MacMannus
2004	Hellboy	Abe Sapien (voice)	Uncredited
2008	Forever Plaid: The Movie	Narrator
2009	Stingray Sam	Narrator
2010	The Perfect Host	Warwick Wilson
TBA	The Georgetown Project	Father Conor	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Spenser: For Hire	O'Neill	Episode: "The Man Who Wasn't There"
1987	Crime Story	NSA Agent Carruthers	Episode: "Mig 21"
1988	Knightwatch	Gibson	Episode: "Friday Knight"
1992	Dream On	Jerry Dorfer	Episode: "The Guilty Party"
1992–1993	The Powers That Be	Theodore Van Horne	21 episodes
1993–2004	Frasier	Dr. Niles Crane	264 episodes
1995	Saturday Night Live	Himself (host)	Episode: "David Hyde Pierce/Live"
1995	Caroline in the City	Dr. Niles Crane	Episode: "Caroline and the Bad Back"
1996	The Outer Limits	Dr. Jack Henson	Episode: "The Sentence"
1996	Mighty Ducks	Baron von Lichtenstamp (voice)	3 episodes
1996	Caroline in the City	Jimmy Callahan	Episode: "Caroline and the Cat Dancer"
1997	Happily Every After: Fairly Tales for Every Child	Puss (voice)	Episode: "Puss in Boots"
1997, 2007	The Simpsons	Cecil Terwilliger (voice)	2 episodes
1999	Jackie's Back	Perry	Television film
2001	Titus	Jerry October	Episode: "Life Forward"
2001	On the Edge	Barney	Television film
2003	Gary the Rat	Addison (voice)	Episode: "Strange Bedfellows"
2006	The Amazing Screw-On Head	Emperor Zombie (voice)	Television film
2010	Sondheim! The Birthday Concert	Himself (host)	Television special
2012	Sesame Street	Commander Chiphead	Episode: "Get Lost, Mr. Chips"
2014	The Simpsons	Felix (voice)	Episode: "Clown in the Dumps"
2014–2015	The Good Wife	Frank Prady	8 episodes
2015	Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp	Henry Newman	2 episodes
2017	Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later	Henry Newman	Episode: "End Summer Night's Dream"
2017	When We Rise	Dr. Jones	3 episodes
2017	Julie's Greenroom	Himself	2 episodes
2022	Julia	Paul Cushing Child	Main role

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Beyond Therapy	Andrew
1990	The Heidi Chronicles	Peter Patrone
2001	Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks[30]	Michael Minetti
2005–2006	Spamalot	Sir Robin and others
2005	A Wonderful Life	Clarence
2007–2008	Curtains	Lieutenant Frank Cioffi
2009	Accent on Youth	Steven Gaye
2010–2011	La Bête	Elomire
2013	Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike	Vanya
2015	It Shoulda Been You		Director
2015	Ripcord		Director
2016	A Life	Nate Martin
2017–2018	Hello, Dolly!	Horace Vandergelder
2021	The Visitor	Walter

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2007	Tony Award	Best Actor in a Musical	Curtains	Won	[31]
2010		Isabelle Stevenson Award		Won
2013		Best Actor in a Play	Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike	Nominated
2017		Best Actor in a Musical	Hello, Dolly!	Nominated
1994	Primetime Emmy Award	Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Frasier	Nominated	[32]
1995				Won
1996				Nominated
1997				Nominated
1998				Won
1999				Won
2000				Nominated
2001				Nominated
2002				Nominated
2003				Nominated
2004				Won
1994	Golden Globe Award	Best Supporting Actor – Television Series	Frasier	Nominated	[33]
1995				Nominated
1996				Nominated
1997				Nominated
2000				Nominated
1994	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Frasier	Nominated	[34]
		Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series		Nominated
1995		Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture	Nixon	Nominated
		Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Frasier	Nominated
		Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series		Won
1996		Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
		Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series		Nominated
1997		Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
		Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series		Nominated
1998		Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
		Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series		Nominated
1999		Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Won
		Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2000		Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
		Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2001		Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
		Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2002		Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2003				Nominated

References

External links

• David Hyde Pierce at IMDb 
• David Hyde Pierce at the Internet Broadway Database
• David Hyde Pierce at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archive)
• David Hyde Pierce at Playbill Vault
• Interview with Vulture magazine

На других языках

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[de] David Hyde Pierce

David Hyde Pierce (* 3. April 1959 in Saratoga Springs, New York) ist ein US-amerikanischer Schauspieler.

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- [en] David Hyde Pierce

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[es] David Hyde Pierce

David Hyde Pierce (Saratoga Springs, 3 de abril de 1959) es un actor y comediante estadounidense, principalmente conocido por interpretar al psiquiatra Niles Crane en la sitcom Frasier.

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[ru] Пирс, Дэвид Хайд

Дэ́вид Хайд Пирс (англ. David Hyde Pierce; род. 3 апреля 1959 (1959-04-03)) — американский актёр и режиссёр. Наибольшую известность ему принесла роль психиатра Найлза Крэйна в ситкоме «Фрейзер», за которую он получил четыре премии «Эмми».

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