How many career renaissances has Philip Baker Hall had? The first one was back in the mid-'80s, when the stage and screen actor played Richard Nixon in Robert Altman's film version of the play "Secret Honor." He'd been a character actor for about 15 years at that point. Then in 1996 he was "rediscovered" again courtesy of writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, who wrote his debut film "Hard Eight" as a showcase for Hall, whose "Secret Honor" performance obsessed Anderson. Hall's "Hard Eight" character showed audiences a different side of his talent -- not the judge or dad or old cop that everybody knew he could play, but somebody stranger and deeper, an old hustler and killer trying to mentor a younger man (John C. Reilly) and make up for past sins.

Since then, Hall has been a go-to guy for pretty much any character part with any depth, playing the pornography mogul in "Boogie Nights," Don Hewitt in "The Insider," the philandering, dying TV producer in "Magnolia" and Judge Canker on ABC's "The Practice." I don't think he sets out to steal scenes. He just naturally walks away with them; good material sticks to him the way iron filings stick to magnets. Baker stands out in the memory because no matter who he's playing, or what sort of film he's in, he's often the most complicated, real-seeming person on-screen. Your eye can't help but settle on him.

http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/2011/08/12/friday_night_seitz_underrated_actors/slideshow.html

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