‘Homeland’ Actor James Rebhorn Dies At 65

Prolific and longtime character actor James Rebhorn has passed away after a long struggle with skin cancer.

Rebhorn, 65, most recently played Frank Mathison, Carrie Mathison’s (Claire Danes) father on the Showtime drama Homeland. Rebhorn also had a supporting role on White Collar on the USA Network portraying special Agent Reese Hughes. He recently made guest appearances on The Good Wife and 30 Rock and had the role of the prosecutor that sent Jerry and his pals to jail on the Seinfeld finale. You may also remember him for this role in Meet the Parents as Dr. Larry Banks. He appeared on TV soap operas early in his acting career.

While he wasn’t a household name, CNN observed that “While you may not know his name, Rebhorn’s face may be familiar as the arrogant headmaster in Al Pacino’s Scent of a Woman or the scheming secretary of defense in Independence Day.”

According to Rebhorn’s agent, “He died from melanoma, which had been diagnosed in 1992. He fought it all this time. He died Friday afternoon at his home in New Jersey, where he had been receiving hospice care for a week and a half.”

Speaking of James Rebhorn, the agent, Dianne Busch, added that “He was a wonderful, wonderful man. I represented him since 1990, and I represented him for my entire career. He was an absolute joy to work with. He was very funny and was warm. He was drawn to projects with a social conscience. One of his favorite movies that he did was Lorenzo’s Oil because it made a difference. He had a very strong faith and loved his family. His family was extremely important to him and I saw him make career sacrifices for them.”

Rebhorn has 125 credits on his IMDB resume for his five-decade-long movie and television work as an all-purpose, versatile character actor. He was described as a “tall, gangly American character actor adept at play clever villains, domineering dads, and corrupt politicos.”

[image credit: Bing]