Stuart Pankin (born April 8, 1946) is an American film and television actor.
Pankin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Dickinson College, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and Columbia University. One of his earliest film appearances was as asthmatic musician/magician Dudley Laywicker in Hollywood Knights. Pankin played Earl Sinclair in the TV sitcom Dinosaurs and the father on the short-lived sitcom Nearly Departed. Pankin was also an anchor on HBO's Not Necessarily the News and has appeared in numerous TV commercials.
He played an Orthodox Jew in Curb Your Enthusiasm. He has also starred in Zenon: Girl of the 21 Century, Zenon: The Zequel, and Zenon: Z3 as Commander Plank. Pankin also appeared in Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, as the brother of Wayne Szalinski, and also co-starred as a bossy, self-important lawman in the horror/comedy Arachnophobia.
More recently, Pankin also appeared as an absent-minded professor in a series of edutainment 3D films (Encounter in the Third Dimension and Misadventures in 3D), designed for large-screen IMAX theatres. He is currently a spokesman in infomercials for the Phase 4 Orthotics shoe insert.
Although Pankin is well known for comedy roles and game show appearances, (The $100,000 Pyramid), he has sometimes also taken dramatic roles, such as Michael Douglas' friend Jimmy, who attempts to hit on Glenn Close in Adrian Lyne's hit thriller Fatal Attraction.
An alumnus of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Arguably best known for his voicing of the prehistoric patriarch Earl Sinclair on the TV series "Dinosaurs" (1991).
Played Stuf, who had a huge, out-of-control eating habit, on the 70s TV show "San Pedro Beach Bums, The" (1977).
Heavyset comic actor whose supporting roles generally had him playing the clown or buffoon, usually adding to the fun in parodies (Love at Stake (1988) and Silenzio dei prosciutti, Il (1994)) and other nonsensical fare on film and TV.
His longtime wife Joy is an actress. Together they have performed together on occasion, including such plays as "Lend Me a Tenor." They have a son Andy.
Best known for his roles in HBO's Not Necessarily The News, and as Michael Douglas's best friend in Fatal Attraction.
Master of Fine Arts Degree, 1971, Columbia University.
