Powers Boothe - Career

Career

After graduating from college, Boothe joined the repertory company of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, with roles in Henry IV, Part 2 (portraying Henry IV of England), Troilus and Cressida, and others. His New York stage debut was in the 1974 Lincoln Center production of Richard III. Five years later, his Broadway theater debut came in a starring role in the one-act play Lone Star, written by James McLure. Boothe first came to national attention in 1980, playing Jim Jones in the CBS-TV movie Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones. Boothe's portrayal of the crazed cult leader received critical acclaim. In Time's story on the production, Boothe was praised: "There is one extraordinary performance. A young actor named Powers Boothe captures all the charisma and evil of 'Dad', Jim Jones."

Boothe won the Emmy Award for his role, beating out veterans Henry Fonda and Jason Robards. As the Screen Actors Guild were on strike in the fall of 1980, he was the only actor to cross picket lines to attend the ceremonies. He said at the time, "This may be either the bravest moment of my career or the dumbest."

Powers Boothe made an appearance during the 1987 Celebrity Golf Challenge for Charity where he made the current long drive record for celebrities of 490 yards. For these efforts, Boothe was awarded the Golden Pumpkin, but, because of scheduling conflicts, he could not receive the award in person.

Boothe joined the ranks of Humphrey Bogart and other actors when he portrayed Philip Marlowe in a series of short films for HBO in the 1980s. He appeared in films like Southern Comfort, A Breed Apart, Red Dawn, The Emerald Forest, Tombstone, Oliver Stone's Nixon (where he played Chief of Staff Alexander Haig), Sudden Death, U Turn, and Extreme Prejudice, as well as HBO films like Into The Homeland and By Dawn's Early Light. He also appeared in the 1990 CBS-TV film Family of Spies, in which he played traitor Navy Officer John Walker. Boothe also portrayed Curly Bill Brocius in Tombstone, as well as the disloyal senior Army officer in Blue Sky (opposite Jessica Lange's Oscar-winning performance).

In 2001, he starred as Flavius Aëtius, the Roman general in charge of stopping the Hun invasion in the made-for-TV mini-series Attila. Most recently, Boothe has played a featured role as brothel-owner Cy Tolliver on the HBO series Deadwood, and the seedy Senator Roark in the motion picture Sin City. He is the voice of one of the characters in the 2005 video game Area 51 and Gorilla Grodd, the hyper-intelligent telepathic supervillain in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. He voiced the villain, Kane, in the 2008 video game entitled Turok.

He was a special guest star on 24, where he played Vice President Noah Daniels. He returned in the prequel to the seventh season, 24: Redemption. Just after taking the role as acting President, Boothe is seen exiting Air Force Two with F-15s in the background. Boothe played a downed F-15 pilot in Red Dawn. In March 2008, he narrated a television campaign ad for Senator John McCain's presidential campaign. He maintains a private art collection which includes Western paintings of his friend and fellow actor Buck Taylor.

In 2012, Boothe appeared in Joss Whedon's "The Avengers (2012 film)" in a secretive role as a shadowy governmental superior to S.H.I.E.L.D. Boothe was also cast as Lamar Wyatt in the ABC musical drama series Nashville.