Gerald G. Bamman (born September 18, 1941) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

actor and playwright. He is best known for playing Uncle Frank in the films ''

Home Alone ''Home Alone'' is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes. The first film in the ''Home Alone'' franchise, the film stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Hea ...

'' (1990) and '' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'' (1992), and has also guest starred in several television series.

Early and personal life

Bamman was born on September 18, 1941 in

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, the son of Mary M. (née Farrell) and Harry W. Bamman. He studied at St. Francis de Sales School and later graduated from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

with a MFA degree. Bamman was married to director Emily Mann on August 12, 1981, but is now divorced from her. They have one son, Nicholas, born in 1983.

Career

Bamman appeared in the

Michael J. Fox Michael Andrew Fox (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian-American retired actor. Beginning his career in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom ''Family Ties'' (1 ...

film '' The Secret of My Success'' (1987) and also appeared with

Fran Brill Fran Brill (born September 30, 1946) is an American retired actress and puppeteer, best known for her roles on ''Sesame Street'', as well as playing Sally Hayes in the Hal Ashby film '' Being There'' (1979), Dana Mardukas in the Martin Brest fi ...

and

Alyssa Milano Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress. She has played Samantha Micelli in '' Who's the Boss?'', Jennifer Mancini in '' Melrose Place'', Phoebe Halliwell in ''Charmed'', Billie Cunningham in '' My Name Is Earl'', Sa ...

in ''

Old Enough ''Old Enough'' is a 1984 American comedy-drama coming-of-age film written and directed by Marisa Silver, and produced by Dina Silver. The film follows the friendship that develops over one summer between two girls from different social backgrou ...

'' (1984). He had a minor role in ''

Cocktail A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely across ...

'' (1988) before portraying his most notable character, Uncle Frank McCallister in ''

'' and '' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'' in 1990 and 1992, respectively. Bamman improvised the scene in ''Home Alone 2'' where Frank is in the shower and Kevin (

Macaulay Culkin Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor. Often regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed 2nd on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". Culkin rose to prom ...

) walks in on him. "I love the shower scene, even though I don’t think it was the funniest scene in the film," he told the ''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

'' in 2020. "But it was great fun to shoot, because I really had fun padding it out.

he director He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

Chris olumbusstarted to give me directions and choreograph the scene and I said, 'Wait, wait, just let me show you what I've done, and what I have in mind'. And he bought it." Also in 1992, Bamman appeared briefly as Kevin Costner's former colleague Ray Court in the box office smash '' The Bodyguard''. Bamman appeared as defense attorney Stan Gillum in several episodes of ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...

'' and ''

Law & Order SVU ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (often abbreviated to ''Law & Order: SVU'' or just ''SVU'') is an American crime drama television series created by Dick Wolf's own production company, Wolf Entertainment, for NBC. The first spin-off of ''L ...

''. Bamman was also in the first season episode "The Blue Wall" playing Lt. Kennedy of Internal Affairs. Bamman co-starred in ''

Runaway Jury ''Runaway Jury'' is a 2003 American legal thriller film directed by Gary Fleder and starring John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and Rachel Weisz. An adaptation of John Grisham's 1996 novel ''The Runaway Jury'', the film pits lawyer We ...

'' as the blind jury foreman Herman Grimes. Bamman also played Dr. Judalon in the 1992 film ''

Lorenzo's Oil ''Lorenzo's Oil'' is a 1992 American drama film directed and co-written by George Miller. It is based on the true story of Augusto and Michaela Odone, parents who search for a cure for their son Lorenzo's adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), leading to ...

''.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bamman, Gerry 1941 births Living people American male film actors American male television actors Male actors from Pennsylvania People from Independence, Kansas Male actors from Kansas 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors