You could be somber and then silly, virile and then giddy. You covered all spots on the great, acting spectrum, establishing yourself as one of the top-drawer character actors of an appreciative generation.
Your performance as the bawdy Beef in Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise may be my favorite of your visages, but there are so many to pluck and savor: Hi, Mom!, Home Movies (the latter two also for De Palma), Beware! The Blob (Son of Blob), Chopping Mall (Killbots), C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D., Tunnel Vision, TerrorVision, Child's Play 2, It's Alive III: Island of the Alive, Demon Seed, The Wasp Woman (1995), The Creature Wasn't Nice, Martians Go Home, Ratboy, The Philadelphia Experiment II, Strange New World, Walker, The Little Mermaid (Disney), Magic in the Mirror: Fowl Play, Big Man on Campus, National Lampoon's Class Reunion, National Lampoon's Favorite Deadly Sins, Family Reunion: A Relative Nightmare, Last Resort, Sidekicks, Police Academy 6: City Under Siege, Used Cars, Stuart Saves His Family, The Annihilators, Bobbie Joe and the Outlaw, Cannonball, Night of the Cyclone, The Hatfields and the McCoys (1975), Pretty Baby, Soup for One, Greetings, Special Delivery, Frozen Assets, Old Boyfriends, Au Pair 3: Trouble in Paradise, My Girl 2, The Man with One Red Shoe, Stick It in Detroit, Shake Rattle and Roll, Likely Stories Vol 2, The Love Letter, Love Matters, The Break, One True Thing, Cove Road, Chaotic Ana, The Search for Animal Chin and This Boy's Life.
On television's episodic side, you seized a lead in Just Friends (with Stockard Channing) and held recurring roles on Parker Lewis Can't Loose and Now and Again, in addition to cowriting two 1980s, Twilight Zone episodes (with Chris Hubbell), "Opening Day" and "Still Life," and starring in the series' "Welcome to Winfield," where you played Death. You also visited Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Babylon 5, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Future Cop, Weird Science, Whiz Kids, Tales from the Crypt, New Wave Theatre, Starkey & Hutch, The Rookies, Harry O, Baretta, Miami Vice, Diagnosis: Murder, Third Watch, The A-Team, The Young Riders, Sidekicks (derived from The Last Electric Knight), The Wonder Years, China Beach, Sledge Hammer!, Medical Story, St. Elsewhere, Law & Order, Civil Wars, Reasonable Doubts, Seinfeld, Davis Rules, Parenthood, Sugar and Spice, Dear John, My Two Dads, Family Matters, Dog and Cat, Throb, A Different World, Fame, Dallas, Dynasty, The Larry Sanders Show ... Laverne & Shirley, along with voice work for The Pink Panther, Gargoyles, The Tick, Bruno the Kid, The Critic, Dumb and Dumber and Fievel's American Tails.
You knocked it outta the park so many times over, Mr. Graham, creating a ubiquitous presence that brimmed of consistent variance. (Heck, you even found time to compose for the Grateful Dead!) This is why you were respected. This is why you won't be forgotten. You made your chameleon-like uniqueness shine--a boundless trait that few could ever match, let alone brandish on such a vast, ceaseless level. ∞
