Paul Dooley (born February 22, 1928) is an American actor.
Dooley was born Paul Brown in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the son of Ruth Irene (née Barringer), a homemaker, and Peter James Brown, a factory worker. Dooley was a keen cartoonist as a youth and drew a strip for a local paper in Parkersburg. He joined the Navy before discovering acting while at college. He is married to writer Winnie Holzman, with whom he has one daughter, Savannah (born 1985).
Moving to New York, he soon found success as a regular on the stage. Also having an interest in comedy, Dooley was a standup comedian for five years, and a member of the Compass Players, as well as having brief stints as a magician and as a clown. Not afraid of trying different areas of entertainment, he also worked as a writer. He was one of the writers on The Electric Company and appeared in commercials.
Besides appearing in many movies, including most notably Popeye and Breaking Away, Dooley has also appeared as a variety of recurrent characters on numerous television shows, including My So-Called Life, Dream On, Grace Under Fire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, ALF (playing Whizzer Deaver) and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine where he played the recurring role of Enabran Tain. He guest starred in other primetime shows like Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Golden Girls, and Desperate Housewives. In 2000, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role as an eccentric judge on The Practice. He was also in the infamous alternate ending to Little Shop of Horrors, but was replaced by Jim Belushi in the final cut.
His most famous role was in 1984's Sixteen Candles in which he played the understanding father of the character played by Molly Ringwald, Samantha Baker. Recently, he played the main sponsor of The Corny Collins Show, Mr. Harriman F. Spritzer in Hairspray.
"That's why they call them crushes. If they were easy they'd call them something else."
-Jim Baker (Sixteen Candles)
