# Creed Bratton

Creed Bratton (born William Charles Schneider; February 8, 1943) is an American actor and musician. A former member of the rock band the Grass Roots, he is best known for playing a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom The Office, which earned him five nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

## Early life and education

Bratton was born William Charles Schneider in Los Angeles, and grew up in Visalia, California, a town near Sequoia National Park.

## Musical career
### Early years

Bratton adopted his new name while on a global excursion as a traveling musician. He traveled through Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He played guitar at a large folk festival in Israel, appearing with his group the Young Californians. Fellow American and guitarist Warren Entner witnessed Bratton's performance and asked to give him a call when he got back to the United States. In 1966, they formed a partnership and recruited the remaining members needed for their group, the 13th Floor. Bratton played lead guitar, Rick Coonce played drums, Entner played rhythm guitar and Kenny Fukomoto played bass. The Young Californians recorded a demo and sent it to Dunhill, a new record company headed by Lou Adler.

### The Grass Roots

Producers/songwriters P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri heard the demo and liked it. They needed new band members for a folk-rock group that they had created in 1965. The 13th Floor lost their bass player to the draft during this time, and quickly recruited Rob Grill, changing the band's name to the "Grass Roots" for prior name recognition. The group went straight to the Top 10 with the song "Let's Live for Today" in 1967 and toured the United States. Iconic hit songs such as "Midnight Confessions" cemented the group's standing as major contributors to the rock-music scene.
The Grass Roots had top songwriters offering their best songs to them and wrote many songs themselves. For their major songs, music on the recordings was played by the LA studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. Bratton co-wrote the songs "Beatin' Round the Bush", "No Exit" and "Hot Bright Lights", and self-composed "Dinner for Eight" and "House of Stone". He sang lead vocals on "This Precious Time" and "Dinner for Eight". Bratton played with the group on its albums Let's Live for Today, Feelings, Golden Grass (a compilation) and Lovin' Things. Three of the albums charted, and Golden Grass received a gold record certification. He took part in ten of the group's singles, eight of which charted; "Midnight Confessions" received a gold record certification.
The Grass Roots played at the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival on Sunday, June 11, 1967, during the "Summer of Love" as their top-ten hit "Let's Live for Today" was hitting the airwaves. Though the music festival occurred before the Monterey Pop Festival, it was not filmed as was the latter festival (see List of electronic music festivals). On Sunday, October 27, 1968, the group played at the San Francisco Pop Festival and then played at the Los Angeles Pop Festival and Miami Pop Festival in December as the top-ten hit "Midnight Confessions" was becoming popular.
In April 1969, Bratton became frustrated by Dunhill's refusal to allow the band to write its own songs and play the instruments on its records (although the members did play alone at concerts). After a disastrous appearance at the Fillmore West in April 1969, Bratton was asked to leave the band.

### Solo years

In 2001 and 2002, Bratton released three albums showcasing his solo recordings since the 1960s with the assistance of Peter White. In 2007, he presented an induction award to the Wrecking Crew at the Musicians Hall of Fame. In 2008, he released another album of new music with producer Jon Tiven. In 2010, Bratton released an album titled "Bounce Back" with producer Dave Way. In 2011, Bratton released an album of greatest hits from his first three solo albums, titled "Demo". In 2010 and 2012, Bratton performed live at the SXSW festival. In 2013, Bratton released an original work in three acts as an audio biography titled Tell Me About It. Songs ranged from those recently written to pieces that he had written decades before. Bratton states that he listens to much jazz and classical music.
On January 18, 2014, Bratton joined his friend Zachary Scot Johnson for a duet for the 500th consecutive day of the thesongadayproject on YouTube.

## Acting career

Bratton began to pursue an acting career in 1975. He has appeared in films such as Mask and Heart Like a Wheel. He was a cast member, playing a fictional version of himself, on NBC's Emmy and SAG award-winning The Office. In a deleted scene from the episode "Booze Cruise", he speaks about his time with the Grass Roots. In Season 3 Episode 10 "A Benihana Christmas", Creed sings a karaoke rendition of his song "Spinnin' N Reelin'" during the Christmas party. In a deleted scene from Season 3 Episode 21 "Product Recall", the reporter from the Scranton Times recognizes him as Creed Bratton from the band the Grass Roots and mentions that he wrote his obituary. In the episode "Money", he says "he never goes bankrupt", as all his debt "is always transferred to William Charles Schneider" (which is his birth name), while holding an allegedly fake passport on camera. In the series finale, his character is revealed to be a part of Grass Roots, and was arrested after being a wanted fugitive living at the Dunder Mifflin office. This episode also features Bratton performing his song "All the Faces".
In 2008, he appeared in a short film with Kyle Gass titled Just One Of The Gynos, which won an award for best short film at the 2008 Malibu International Film Festival. He appeared in the feature film Labor Pains in 2009. His recent film projects are The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, written, produced and directed by Paul Bunnell; I Am Ben, written, produced and directed by Mathew Brady and Gaelan Connell; and Terri produced by David Guy Levy. Terri was selected by the Sundance Film Festival 2011 to appear in the US dramatic competition. It was one of only 16 films selected from 1,102 submissions to the US dramatic category. In 2012, he appeared as special guest star in Staged with Brandon Olive who appeared with him in Just One Of The Gynos. In 2013, he starred in Saving Lincoln, a biography set during the American Civil War.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1968 | With Six You Get Eggroll | Himself | As a member of The Grass Roots |
| 1983 | Heart Like a Wheel | Photographer | |
| 1985 | Mask | Carnival Ticket Taker | |
| 1987 | The Wild Pair | Dalton | |
| 1988 | Seven Hours to Judgment | Subway Worker | |
| 1991 | Neon City | Guard at Neon | Also worked as a grip |
| 2006 | The Manual | Maj. Edwards | Short film |
| 2008 | Just One Of The Gynos | Dr. Gus Callery | Short film |
| 2009 | Remembering Nigel | Himself | |
| 2011 | I Am Ben | Dr. Cobb | |
| 2011 | Terri | Uncle James | |
| 2012 | The Ghastly Love of Johnny X | Mickey O'Flynn | |
| 2012 | The Guilt Trip | Suitor | |
| 2012 | Melvin Smarty | | |
| 2013 | Saving Lincoln | Senator Charles Sumner | |
| 2015 | Band of Robbers | Dobbins | |
| 2015 | The Sound of Magic | SRC | |
| 2018 | The Sisters Brothers | Quarrel Saloon Guy Town 2 | |
| 2021 | Hero Mode | James Tisdale | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1967 | The Hollywood Palace | Himself (guest) | |
| 1967–1969 | American Bandstand | Himself (guest) | 4 episodes |
| 1969 | It's Happening | Himself (guest) | Episode: "The Grassroots" |
| 1969 | Playboy After Dark | Himself (guest) | |
| 1975 | Kolchak: The Night Stalker | Man Entering Lab | Episode "Primal Scream" |
| 1977 | Quincy M.E. | Young Man | Episode "No Deadly Secret" |
| 1977 | Eight Is Enough | Merv | Episode "Mortgage Burnin' Blues" |
| 1986 | The Magical World of Disney | Court Clerk | Episode: "A Fighting Choice" |
| 1987 | U.S. Marshals: Waco & Rhinehart | Agent Jones | Television film |
| 1994 | Secret Sins Of The Father | Gas Station Worker | Television film |
| 2003–2004; 2006 | The Bernie Mac Show | Various | 6 episodes |
| 2005–2013 | The Office | Creed Bratton | Recurring role (seasons 1–3); main cast (seasons 4–9) SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1) Nominated - SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (5) |
| 2007–2008 | Today | Himself (guest) | 2 episodes |
| 2008 | Celebrity Family Feud | Himself (guest) | Episode: "The Office vs. American Gladiators, Hickeys vs. Camden County" |
| 2010 | The Forgotten | Guy | Episode: "Double Doe" |
| 2010 | Funny or Die Presents | Himself | 4 episodes |
| 2012 | Liz & Dick | Darryl Zanuck | Television film |
| 2014 | Adventure Time | Phlannel Boxingday | Episode: "Lemonhope Part Two" |
| 2014 | Franklin & Bash | Judge Patrick Semmer | Episode: "Kershaw v. Lincecum" |
| 2014 | Garfunkel and Oates | Kazoo Man | Episode: "Maturity" |
| 2015 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | Grandfather | Episode: "Ty Burrell Wears a Chambray Shirt & Clear Frame Glasses" |
| 2015 | Grace and Frankie | Seth | Episode: "The Bachelor Party" |
| 2017 | The New V.I.P.'s | Charlie | Television film |
| 2019 | Hello Realtor | Sal | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2019 | Into the Dark | George Atwood | Episode: "Culture Shock" |
| 2020 | Upload | Rupert Tilford | Episode: "The Funeral" |

### Web

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2008 | The Office: The Outburst | Creed Bratton | 4 episodes |
| 2009 | The Office: Blackmail | Creed Bratton | 4 episodes |
| 2010 | The Office: The Mentor | Creed Bratton | Episode: "Reimbursements" |
| 2010 | The Office: The 3rd Floor | Creed Bratton | Episode: "The Final Product" |
| 2010 | In Gayle We Trust | Denny Potter | 2 episodes |
| 2011 | The Office: The Podcast | Creed Bratton | 3 episodes |
| 2012 | Staged | Villain | Episode: "Gym Class Heroes" |
| 2017 | The New V.I.P.'s | Charlie |
| 2024 | Tunnel Rave | Man in the Tree | |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role |
| 2011 | World Gone Sour | Narrator (voice) |
| 2020 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | Emerson Black (voice) |

## Discography
### Singles

| Release date | Title | Flip side | Record Label | Chart Positions | Chart Positions | Chart Positions |
| Release date | Title | Flip side | Record Label | US Billboard | US Cashbox | UK |
| 1967 | Let's Live for Today | Depressed Feeling | Dunhill | 8 | 5 | |
| 1967 | Things I Should Have Said | Tip Of My Tongue | Dunhill | 23 | 36 | |
| 1967 | Wake Up, Wake Up | No Exit | Dunhill | 68 | 61 | |
| 1968 | Melody For You | Hey Friend | Dunhill | 123 | 120 | |
| 1968 | Feelings | Here's Where You Belong | Dunhill | | 118 | |
| 1968 | Midnight Confessions ++ | Who Will You Be Tomorrow | Dunhill | 5 | 5 | |
| 1968 | Bella Linda | Hot Bright Lights | Dunhill | 28 | 20 | |
| 1969 | Melody For You | All Good Things Come To An End | Dunhill | | | |
| 1969 | Lovin' Things | You And Love Are The Same | Dunhill | 49 | 35 | |
| 1969 | The River Is Wide | (You Gotta) Live For Love | Dunhill | 31 | 16 | |
++ - Gold Record - RIAA Certification

### Albums

| Release date | Title | Record Label | Chart Positions | Chart Positions | Chart Positions |
| Release date | Title | Record Label | US Billboard | US Cashbox | UK |
| 1967 | Let's Live for Today | Dunhill | 75 | 69 | |
| 1968 | Feelings | Dunhill | | | |
| 1968 | Golden Grass ++ | Dunhill | 25 | 25 | |
| 1969 | Lovin' Things | Dunhill | 73 | 58 | |
| 2001 | Chasin’ The Ball | Kindred | | | |
| 2001 | The 80s | Kindred | | | |
| 2002 | Coarsegold | Kindred | | | |
| 2008 | Creed Bratton | Kindred | | | |
| 2010 | Bounce Back | Kindred | | | |
| 2011 | Demo | Kindred | | | |
| 2018 | While The Young Punks Dance | Alien Chicken | | | |
| 2020 | Slightly Altered | Alien Chicken | | | |
++ - Gold Record - RIAA Certification