Sam Anderson (born April 2, 1947) is an American

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. He is best known for his character roles such as Sam Gorpley on '' Perfect Strangers'', Holland Manners on ''

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

'', dentist

Bernard Nadler Rose and Bernard Nadler are fictional characters on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television series ''Lost'', played by L. Scott Caldwell and Sam Anderson respectively. Rose and Bernard visit a faith healer on their honeymoon in Australi ...

on ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'' and in film, as the principal in ''

Forrest Gump ''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth. It is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson and ...

''.

Early life

Anderson was born in

Wahpeton, North Dakota Wahpeton ( ) is a city in Richland County, in southeast North Dakota along the Bois de Sioux River at its confluence with the Otter Tail River, which forms the Red River of the North. Wahpeton is the county seat of Richland County. The populat ...

. He received a Master of Arts degree in American literature and creative writing at the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of ...

and the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. During the 1970s, he taught drama at

Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College (AVC) is a public community college in Lancaster, California. It is part of the California Community College system. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of cove ...

Lancaster, California Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, in the Antelope Valley of the western Mojave Desert in Southern California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 173,51 ...

Career

Anderson is best known for his roles as mailroom supervisor Mr. Gorpley on '' Perfect Strangers'', the lawyer

Holland Manners This article features minor fictional characters who appear as guest stars on the television program ''Angel'', ordered alphabetically. For the show's main characters, please see the article list of ''Angel'' characters. A Alonna Gunn Alonna ...

on the first two seasons of ''

'' and as

Bernard Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...

on ''

''. He notably played the school principal in ''

''. He is also known as the assistant manager of the Hotel Royale in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' episode " The Royale", and as Mike Seaver's adversarial Principal DeWitt on ''

Growing Pains ''Growing Pains'' is an American television sitcom created by Neal Marlens that aired on ABC from September 24, 1985, to April 25, 1992. The show ran for seven seasons, consisting of 166 episodes. The series followed the misadventures of the Se ...

''. In addition, he was one of the recurring actors on various episodes of ''

WKRP in Cincinnati ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' is an American sitcom television series about the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio broadcasting, radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson (director), Hugh Wilson ...

'', playing various roles, including an immigration officer in the episode "The Americanization of Ivan". Anderson has guest-starred in Season 8 of '' NCIS'' as Walter Carmichael, a middle school teacher whose classroom becomes a crime scene where one of his students is kidnapped.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

Ovation Awards The Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the non-profit arts service organization LA Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Winne ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

: Nominated for Lead Actor in a Play for the role of Ichabod Banks in the Road Theatre Company production of ''The Bird and Mr. Banks''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Sam 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American male television actors Antelope Valley College alumni Educators from North Dakota Living people Male actors from North Dakota People from Wahpeton, North Dakota University of North Dakota alumni 1947 births