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Neil Patrick Harris Filmography
Source:
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Neil Patrick Harris Resources
Neil Patrick Harris is an actor, born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 15, 1973. He is probably best known for his role as Doogie Howser, M.D.
. His singing voice landed him a role as Tobias Ragg in several concert performances of Sweeney Todd
. He appeared in the film adaptation of Starship Troopers
. He also was in the 2000 film The Next Best Thing
, where he played David, Abbie's gay friend's boyfriend. Recently, he has made a guest appearance on the sitcom Will & Grace. His character was a former homosexual trying to convert others to heterosexuality, but ended up being converted back to homosexuality by Jack.
In 2002 he performed on Broadway beside
Anne Heche in
Proof. In 2003, he performed in Cabaret, alongside Deborah Gibson and Tom Bosley, where he played the role of Emcee. In 2004 he performed a dual role of the Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald on Broadway in the controversial musical revival of
Stephen Sondheim's
Assassins.
He also played a drug-addicted version of himself in the movie Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle in 2004.
He made an appearance on the Bravo Channel's
Celebrity Poker Showdown on October 31, 2004 and on Numb3rs in 2005.
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EuropeObituary: Robert Mulligan
Between his forceful debut, Fear Strikes Out (1957), and his enchanting final work, The Man in the Moon (1991), the director Robert Mulligan, who has died aged 83 of heart disease, made other equally memorable movies. However, some dross, several commercial failures and a battle with alcohol marginalised him, and the quantity and quality of his output never quite lived up to its early promise.Mulligan was one of the new wave of American moviemakers who emerged from the heyday of postwar television, enjoying initial acclaim but erratic subsequent careers. Together with Sidney Lumet, Martin Ritt, John Frankenheimer and others, he maintained an uneasy balance between commercialism and personal works, often missing out on critical attention. Still, few critics could deny the integrity of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), the power of Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965) or dispute the popular success of Summer of '42 (1971) or Mulligan's sensitive understanding of human relationships. His technique was understated and secure and his fine work with actors ensured that many - Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis and Steve McQueen included - returned to work with him.Born in New York city to a policeman father, Mulligan described his upbringing as "Bronx Irish". His brother was the actor Richard Mulligan, who played Burt Campbell in the US sitcom Soap. Robert intended to be a priest until the second world war interrupted his studies and he found himself in the marines, emerging, aged 20, into a changed world with new-found ambitions. He joined the New York Times as a messenger and moved to CBS in a similar, lowly capacity. Within three years, he had graduated to direction and worked on television series including Suspense, The Alcoa Hour and The Philco Television Playhouse. Within a decade he had directed hundreds of shows and married actress Jane Lee Sutherland. "Nobody knew what they were doing," he said of television work. "It was the ones with the cool heads who succeeded."Inevitably, Hollywood beckoned, so Mulligan and producer Alan Pakula made their debuts with Fear Strikes Out. This intense account of the career - and mental disintegration - of Jimmy Piersall, of the Boston Red Sox, made a star of the young Anthony Perkins and gained Mulligan outstanding reviews.For a while, he returned to television, working on the literary adaptations that proliferated in the 1950s. Starry versions of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey (both 1958) won acclaim. Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence (1959) gained Laurence Olivier an Emmy. After directing the first screen version of Billy Budd, with Don Murray in the lead role, Mulligan moved back into cinema.During the 1960s he directed 10 films, half of them produced by Pakula. Their successful collaboration ended with the western The Stalking Moon (1969), after which Pakula, a galvanising force in their relationship, turned to direction. Mulligan made only nine more movies - few of note - during the second half of his career.His belated follow-up to Fear Strikes Out starred Curtis in an altogether lighter work, The Rat Race. Based on a play by Garson Kanin, it followed the affair between a musician and a dancer. Far more intriguing was The Great Imposter (also 1960), in which Curtis played the real-life Ferdinand Demara who, in the 1950s, had successfully impersonated a teacher, a prison warden, a monk and, incredibly, a surgeon.After this dark comedy, Mulligan's duo of films with Rock Hudson helped neither career. Come September (1961) was a mild romantic comedy and The Spiral Road (1962) an overlong religio-medical drama. It allowed Mulligan the odd distinction of directing his dullest and finest films within a year.To Kill a Mockingbird reunited him with Pakula and proved one of those happy circumstances where every facet of a movie blends seamlessly. Few 60s films have worn as well as this depiction (based on Harper Lee's evocative novel) of a southern childhood and bigotry. The film was nominated for eight Academy awards, including best picture, and won three: best actor (Peck), screenplay (Horton Foote) and art direction (Alexander Golitzen, Henry Bumstead and Oliver Emert). Mulligan, although nominated for best director, lost out to David Lean for Lawrence of Arabia, which also won best film. It was followed by a gritty romance, Love With the Proper Stranger (1963), and - again with McQueen - the remarkable Baby the Rain Must Fall. This bleak portrait of a man whose abusive childhood has led to problems in later life gave McQueen one of his greatest roles. Mulligan had proved himself adept at confrontational dramas, but he was not flamboyant enough to handle Inside Daisy Clover (1965), an exposé of Hollywood and the pressures of stardom, based on Gavin Lambert's scabrous novel. Up the Down Staircase (1967) about a dedicated teacher in New York suited him better and proved a hit.His choice of a chamber western, The Stalking Moon (1968), reunited him with Peck. Shot with minimal dialogue, it concentrated on the relationship between an army scout, a woman and the half-breed son he is protecting from the boy's Apache father. A sombre, interior work, it failed to reach the audience it deserved.The Pursuit of Happiness (1971), a study of legal injustice, attempted to make a difficult subject accessible to audiences. They rejected it. However, the same year, Mulligan made Summer of '42 - a love story between a virginal teenager and a 22-year-old woman whose husband is away at war. Mulligan narrated the sentimental movie and it proved a phenomenal hit. In Britain it was launched with an National Film Theatre preview and a retrospective of his films, where Mulligan proved a disarming guest. A couple of years later he directed an uncharacteristic work The Other, adapted by actor Tom Tryon from his own novel - one of the dark tales of possession then much in vogue. This enjoyed more success that The Nickel Ride (1974), which disappeared after showing in competition at the Cannes film festival. He probably identified with Bloodbrothers (1978), in which Richard Gere played the sensitive son of a Bronx family who wants to work with children but has his ambitions frustrated. However, it failed commercially and he next directed a safe vehicle, Same Time, Next Year, based on a stage hit.There was a long gap before the tame Kiss Me Goodbye (1982) and an even longer one before his penultimate movie, Clara's Heart (1988). Its warmth and compassion - qualities in short supply in Hollywood at the time - were typical of Mulligan, but despite Whoopi Goldberg's portrayal of the Jamaican maid who befriends the young son of a well-off family and Neil Patrick Harris's memorable performance as the troubled boy, the film received little attention.Critically, Man in the Moon fared better, and was notable for the appearance of Reese Witherspoon in her film debut, but its then unfashionable concern with young love, small-town life and troubled emotions failed to attract an audience. It was the swansong of a liberal and sympathetic director who deserved more attention. In a 1991 article in the Dallas Morning Herald looking back over his film career, Mulligan reflected that many of his films deal with the emotional highs and lows experienced by children and adolescents when confronting traumatic circumstances. "Ordinarily they say that cliche, a 'coming-of-age movie', and I reject that term," he said. "I think it's 'coming to life'. I felt, when I looked back on it, that I really didn't know what life was about until I was somewhere in my teens, when you become aware that sooner or later you're going to have to walk out the front door. Mother and father are not going to be there, you're not going to be protected. All those things become exciting and terrifying at the same time."Mulligan is survived by his wife of 37 years, Sandy, three children from a previous marriage, Kevin, Beth and Christopher, two grandchildren and a brother, James.? Robert Mulligan, film director, born 23 August 1925; died 20 December 2008United Statesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Published: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:05:58 GMT - Source: Guardian.Co.Uk - Read the articleLiteratureHarris Eager For Horrible 2, Dollhouse
Neil Patrick Harris told SCI FI Wire that he's eager to appear in a sequel to Joss Whedon's hit Web musical Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and would also jump at the chance to guest on Whedon's upcoming Fox SF series Dollhouse.
Published: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:00:00 GMT - Source: Scifi.Com - Read the article
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