Biography
Elliott Gould earned an Oscar nomination for his comedic performance in "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" (1969) before becoming a Robert Altman regular with leading roles in "M*A*S*H" (1970), "The Long Goodbye" (1973) and "California Split" (1974). Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1938 to a florist mother and textiles buyer father, Elliott Gould studied at the Professional Children's School and began his acting career on the Broadway stage, starring alongside future wife Barbra Streisand in "I Can Get It for You Wholesale." After making his screen debut in TV movie "Once Upon a Mattress" (1964), he was cast as The Mute in comedy drama "Quick, Let's Get Married" (1964), played a young entrepreneur in William Friedkin's "The Night They Raided Minsky's" (1968) and picked up a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nod for his turn as Ted in dramedy "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" (1969). That same year Gould forged a working relationship with esteemed director Robert Altman that would see him play leading men Trapper John in war satire "M*A*S*H" (1970), P.I. Philip Marlowe in thriller "The Long Goodbye" (1973) and wisecracking gambler Charlie Waters in buddy movie "California Split" (1974). During this prolific period, Gould also played an aspiring teacher in "Getting Straight" (1970), archaeologist in Ingmar Bergman's "The Touch" (1971) and a photographer in Alan Arkin's directorial debut, "Little Murders" (1971), also co-producing the latter. Gould then appeared alongside Diane Keaton in both "I Will, I Will for Now" (1976) and "Harry and Walter Go to New York" (1976), joined the ensemble cast of war epic "A Bridge Too Far" (1977) and starred in boxing kangaroo farce "Matilda" (1978). He also hosted "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975-) six times in five years, took center stage in conspiracy thriller "Capricorn One" (1978) and worked in Canada on "The Silent Partner" (1978) and England on "The Lady Vanishes" (1979). After showing up in Disney films "The Last Flight of Noah's Ark" (1980) and "The Devil and Max Devlin" (1981), Gould added "Tramps" (1983), "Over the Brooklyn Bridge" (1984) and "Inside Out" (1986) to his filmography, took his first recurring TV role in medical sitcom "E/R" (CBS, 1984-85) and became more of a supporting player with turns in "The Big Picture" (1989), "The Lemon Sisters" (1990) and "Bugsy" (1991). Gould then introduced his talents to a whole new generation with the long-running role of Monica Geller's father Jack in "Friends" (NBC, 1994-2004), while performances in the controversial "American History X" (1998), Steven Soderbergh's "Ocean's" trilogy and "Contagion" (2011) and indie drama "Ruby Sparks" (2012) ensured he remained a visible big screen presence. Gould switched his focus to television during his later years, landing the recurring roles of Ezra Goldman in fixer drama "Ray Donovan" (Showtime, 2013-), Dr. Cass in black comedy "Sensitive Skin" (HBO Canada, 2014-16)) and supporting roles in short-lived sitcoms "Mulaney" (Fox, 2014-15) and "9JKL" (CBS, 2017-18). He then shared top billing with Jermaine Clement in father-son comedy "Humor Me" (2017).
