Will Patton (Actor)

Will Patton in Cold Heaven. (Photo: MGM)

A veteran of over 40 New York stage plays, Will Patton has won three OBIE Awards for his work. The first was for "Tourists and Refugees Number 2" (1980/81), a joint work with Joseph Chaikin and his experimental group The Winter Project, of which Patton was a member. His second was for his performance as Eddie in the 1982 Circle Repertory Theatre production of Sam Shepard's "Fool for Love". He was also cited for his work in Richard Foreman's "What Did He See?" during the 1988/89 season. Other stage credits include Shepard's "A Lie of the Mind" and David Rabe's "Goose and Tom Tom".

A native North Carolinian, the eldest child of a Lutheran minister, Patton trained for the stage at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Actors Studio. He made his film debut in multiple roles in the low-budget "King Blank" (1982). His first high profile film was Mike Nichols' "Silkwood" the following year. After appearances in "After Hours" and "Desperately Seeking Susan" (both 1985), Patton turned in a fine screen performance as the oily and officious homosexual aide to Gene Hackman's shady Secretary of Defense in Roger Donaldson's taut Washington thriller, "No Way Out" (1987). Subsequently, he has turned in strong portrayals of flawed characters, including upstanding lawmen ("A Shock to the System" 1990; "Copycat" 1995), crusading journalists ("Midnight Edition" 1994) and quirky, possibly villainous, individuals ("The Client" and "The Puppet Masters" both 1994). He has key roles in two 1996 features: "Fled", as a lawman tracking two escaped convicts, and "The Spitfire Grill", as a suspicious businessman.