Joe Seneca

Acting

Joe Seneca

Born 1919-01-14 · Cleveland, Ohio, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joe Seneca (January 14, 1919 – August 15, 1996) was an American film and television actor who had a lengthy Hollywood career, portraying bit parts in many major films and television sitcoms spanning from the 1970s to the 1990s. Seneca was born Joel McGhee in Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to his Hollywood career, Seneca belonged to the R&B singing group "The Three Riffs", performing at upscale supper clubs in New York City. He was also a songwriter and had big hits with "Talk to Me" which was sung by Little Willie John and "Break It to Me Gently", which was a smash twice, once by Brenda Lee in 1962, and once by Juice Newton in 1982. His song "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" was recorded by Ike & Tina Turner, Manfred Mann and The Spencer Davis Group. Arguably his most well-known roles are that of bluesman Willie Brown in Crossroads and Dr. Meddows in The Blob, the evil head of a government team sent to contain the title creature. Seneca also made multiple appearances on The Cosby Show as Hillman President Dr. Zachariah J. Hanes. He also played Alvin Newcastle [1]on an episode of The Golden Girls entitled "Old Friends." Joe appeared in Spike Lee's "School Daze" as the Mission College President McPherson in 1988. Joe appeared on Matlock: The Blues Singer Episode May 9, 1989. Joe also appeared in Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel" Music Video In the late 80's. He died from asthma at the age of 77. Description above from the Wikipedia article Joe Seneca, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

A Time to Kill poster
7.4

A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.

A Time to Kill

1996

Malcolm X poster
7.6

A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.

Malcolm X

1992

The Blob poster
6.9

In Arborville, California, three high school students try to protect their hometown from a gelatinous alien life form that engulfs everything it touches.

The Blob

1988

Silverado poster
6.9

Four unwitting heroes cross paths on their journey to the sleepy town of Silverado. Little do they know the town where their family and friends reside has been taken over by a corrupt sheriff and a murderous posse. It's up to the sharp-shooting foursome to save the day, but first they have to break each other out of jail, and learn who their real friends are.

Silverado

1985

Kramer vs. Kramer poster
7.6

Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.

Kramer vs. Kramer

1979

Mo' Better Blues poster
6.5

Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.

Mo' Better Blues

1990

The Verdict poster
7.5

Frank Galvin is a down-on-his-luck lawyer and reduced to drinking and ambulance chasing, when a former associate reminds him of his obligations in a medical malpractice suit by serving it to Galvin on a silver platter—all parties are willing to settle out of court. Blundering his way through the preliminaries, Galvin suddenly realizes that the case should actually go to court—to punish the guilty, to get a decent settlement for his clients... and to restore his standing as a lawyer.

The Verdict

1982

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three poster
7.5

In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers while the authorities question about the method of their escape.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

1974

Crossroads poster
7.3

A wanna-be blues guitar virtuoso seeks a long-lost song by legendary musician, Robert Johnson.

Crossroads

1986

Mississippi Masala poster
6.4

Years after her Indian family was forced to flee their Uganda home, twentysomething Mina finds herself co-operating a motel in the faraway land of Mississippi. Her passionate romance with charming Black carpet cleaner Demetrius challenges the prejudices of their conservative families and exposes the rifts between the region's Indian and African-American communities.

Mississippi Masala

1991

The Evil That Men Do poster
5.8

A former assassin (Charles Bronson) comes out of retirement to avenge the brutal murder of his friend at the hands of a sadistic torturer (Joseph Maher) employed by an oppressive foreign dictatorship.

The Evil That Men Do

1984

School Daze poster
5.7

Fraternity and sorority members clash with other students at a historically black college during homecoming weekend.

School Daze

1988

The Saint of Fort Washington poster
6.6

Matthew, a young schizophrenic, finds himself out on the street when a slumlord tears down his apartment building. Soon, he finds himself in even more dire straits, when he is threatened by Little Leroy, a thug who is one of the tough denizens of the Fort Washington Shelter for Men. He reaches out to Jerry, a streetwise combat veteran, who takes Matthew under his wing as a son. The relationship between these two men grows as they attempt to conquer the numbing isolation of homelessness.

The Saint of Fort Washington

1993

Big Shots poster
6.6

Following the death of his father, a suburbanite runs away from home and winds up on Chicago's South Side. After being mugged, the boy befriends a young hustler and, after stealing a gangster's car, the two embark on an adventure down south in search of the hustler's estranged father.

Big Shots

1987

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh poster
5.6

The Pittsburgh basketball team is hopeless. Maybe with the aid of an astrologer, and some new astrologically compatible players, they can become winners.

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh

1979

Wilma poster
6.6

The story of American track sprinter Wilma Rudolph, who overcame physical handicaps to win three gold medals in the 1960 Olympics.

Wilma

1977

Tarzan in Manhattan poster
4.0

Tarzan goes to New York to rescue the chimp Cheetah, who has been captured by an evil animal experimenter. There, he teams up with Jane, a cab driver and daughter of an ex-cop private eye, who help Tarzan free Cheetah and his friends.

Tarzan in Manhattan

1989

Terrible Joe Moran poster
7.0

A wheelchair-bound, former boxer deals with his long estranged granddaughter whom is seeking financial help for her writing career and helping her loser boyfriend get out of debt with the local mob.

Terrible Joe Moran

1984

Solomon Northup's Odyssey poster
6.8

A free Black man from New York is tricked, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the South, where he endures twelve years of brutal servitude before finding a way to contact his family and secure his freedom.

Solomon Northup's Odyssey

1991

A Gathering of Old Men poster
6.2

A group of elderly Black men on a Louisiana plantation gather to claim responsibility for the murder of a violent white farmer to protect the young Black man who actually killed him.

A Gathering of Old Men

1987

The House of Dies Drear poster
8.0

A young black man and his family move into a home in rural Ohio and discover that during the Civil War it was used by a Dutch immigrant to smuggle runaway slaves to freedom. Soon they begin to suspect that the ghosts of slaves who passed through there are haunting the house.

The House of Dies Drear

1984

Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story poster
8.0

Outraged by the treatment of New York City’s unhoused residents, an activist brings national attention to the issue by taking their case to Congress.

Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story

1986

The Gentleman Bandit poster
5.7

Based on the real-life ordeal of Baltimore priest Bernard Pagano, who was accused of several armed robberies in the late Seventies.

The Gentleman Bandit

1981

The Tenth Month poster
8.7

An unmarried, middle-aged woman accidentally gets pregnant by an internationally renowned pianist and decides to keep and raise the baby on her own.

The Tenth Month

1979