Judd Hirsch

Judd Hirsch listens as though the answer might change what he says next. The quick speech gets noticed, but the listening makes it convincing. His characters often supply the common sense in a comedy ensemble, and we value how little fuss he makes about being the sensible one. The familiar fathers and authority figures bring a risk, though: sometimes we know what the casting is meant to provide before the part has begun.

His breakthrough as Alex Reiger in Taxi (1978–1983) established him at the centre of a comedy ensemble. Robert Redford's Ordinary People (1980), with Hirsch as Dr Tyrone C. Berger, put that same credibility to work in drama. Leading television roles continued in Dear John (1988–1992) and Numb3rs (2005–2010), while films more often used him in support. The later family figures include Uncle Boris in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans (2022).

In Roland Emmerich's Independence Day (1996), that means Julius Levinson, father to Jeff Goldblum's character. Hirsch makes the family connection worth having in a film that could easily get by on destruction. We were cheered by it because the cast makes the business of saving the world so sociable. The script is foolish and the patriotism overdone, and Hirsch cannot do much about either; what he can do is give the ensemble someone whose intelligence feels believable.

A Beautiful Mind (2001) is a less persuasive reason to seek him out, though casting him as Princeton professor Dr Helinger makes sense. Ron Howard's softened biography gets its warmth chiefly from Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly in the domestic scenes, and its determination to reassure us leaves too little room for the difficulties it raises. Hirsch's credible authority suits the job, but the film needs more than sound casting. We would choose Independence Day for the less dutiful evening, provided you can tolerate the patriotism.