# Charles Cyphers

Charles George Cyphers (July 28, 1939 – August 4, 2024) was an American actor who is known in the horror movie community for his work in the films of John Carpenter, especially his role as Sheriff Leigh Brackett in Carpenter's 1978 movie Halloween. He reprised this role in the 1981 sequel Halloween II and the 2021 sequel Halloween Kills.

## Career

Cyphers's first feature film was the 1974 movie Truck Turner, and he first worked with Carpenter in the 1976 action film Assault on Precinct 13, in which he played Starker, one of the ill-fated police officers gunned down by gang members.
He later appeared as Sheriff Leigh Brackett in the 1978 hit horror movie Halloween. Cyphers worked with Carpenter two years later, playing Dan O'Bannon in The Fog, a 1980 horror film which also starred Tom Atkins, Cyphers's fellow Halloween cast member Jamie Lee Curtis, his Assault on Precinct 13 co-star Darwin Joston, and Nancy Kyes, who worked with Cyphers in both Assault on Precinct 13 and Halloween. He then played the Secretary of State in Carpenter's popular 1981 film Escape from New York, in which he appeared with Atkins and Halloween actress Nancy Stephens. He reprised the role of Sheriff Brackett in Halloween II.
In 2005, he appeared in the movie Dead Calling, and in 2007 he was set to appear in Ethan Dettenmaier's unreleased film, Sin-Jin Smyth, and in the film Methodic in a role which paid homage to his character in Halloween.
Cyphers later returned to the Halloween franchise, reprising the role of Brackett in the 2021 film Halloween Kills.
Cyphers appeared in numerous television productions. During the 1970s, he had a recurring role, as Hugo Muncy, in The Betty White Show, and he guest-starred in an episode of Gibbsville in 1976. In addition, he had guest roles in popular television series such as Barnaby Jones, Wonder Woman and The Dukes of Hazzard, and he played Drake in the 1977 mini series Roots.
More recently, Cyphers appeared in Sliders, ER, Seinfeld, JAG, and Any Day Now. From 1996 to 1998, Cyphers played Al Yaroker in the 1990s series Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher. He also acted in various made-for-television movies.

### Other work

Cyphers' roles on the stage, both on- and off-Broadway, include 12 Angry Men, in which he portrayed "Juror #3" to Julie Cobb's "#2" (her father portrayed "#3" in the 1957 movie). Cyphers appeared on The Dating Game in 1967 to compete for a date with Yvonne Craig ("Batgirl" from the 1960s Batman TV series).

## Death

Cyphers died after a brief illness in Tucson, Arizona, on August 4, 2024, at the age of 85.

## Filmography

Film :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1972 | Cool Breeze | Backstage Police Officer | Uncredited |
| 1973 | The Slams | Nicol | Uncredited |
| 1974 | Truck Turner | Drunk | |
| 1976 | Vigilante Force | Perry Beal | |
| 1976 | Assault on Precinct 13 | Officer Starker | |
| 1977 | MacArthur | Brigadier General Forest Harding | |
| 1978 | Coming Home | Pee Wee | |
| 1978 | Gray Lady Down | Larson | |
| 1978 | Halloween | Sheriff Leigh Brackett | |
| 1979 | A Force of One | Dr. Eppis | |
| 1979 | The Onion Field | Chaplain | |
| 1980 | The Fog | Dan O'Bannon | |
| 1980 | Borderline | Ski | |
| 1981 | Escape from New York | Secretary of State | |
| 1981 | Halloween II | Sheriff Leigh Brackett | |
| 1982 | Death Wish II | Donald Kay | |
| 1982 | Honkytonk Man | Stubbs | |
| 1982 | Grizzly II: Revenge | Steve | |
| 1986 | Hunter's Blood | Woody | |
| 1987 | Big Bad Mama II | Stark | |
| 1989 | Major League | Charlie Donovan | |
| 1989 | Gleaming the Cube | Harvey McGill | |
| 1993 | Loaded Weapon 1 | Interrogator | |
| 1995 | Murder in the First | Bailiff | Uncredited |
| 2001 | Mach 2 | Harry Olson | |
| 2001 | Critical Mass | Henderson | |
| 2006 | Dead Calling | Chuck Walker | |
| 2007 | Methodic | Chief Sperranza | |
| 2021 | Halloween Kills | Leigh Brackett | Final film role |
Television :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1972–1973 | Cannon | Janniver's Accomplice | Season 2, episode 7 |
| 1972–1973 | Cannon | Corky Hill | Season 3, episode 13 |
| 1973–1975, 1977 | Barnaby Jones | Mike Hartney | Season 1, episode 2 |
| 1973–1975, 1977 | Barnaby Jones | Brad Kirtz | Season 3, episode 1 |
| 1973–1975, 1977 | Barnaby Jones | Bill Garwood | Season 4, episode 10 |
| 1973–1975, 1977 | Barnaby Jones | Jimmy Dorset | Season 6, episode 14 |
| 1973 | The F.B.I. | Charlie Wicker | Season 9, episode 3 |
| 1974 | The Manhunter | Emmett Crowley | Season 1, episode 4 |
| 1974 | The F.B.I. Story: The FBI Versus Alvin Karpis, Public Enemy Number One | Arthur 'Doc' Barker | TV film |
| 1974 | The Missiles of October | Press Photographer | TV film |
| 1975 | The Secrets of Isis | Sam Niles | Season 1, episode 3 |
| 1976 | The Six Million Dollar Man | Faler | Seasons 3–4 (guest role, 3 episodes) |
| 1976 | The Bionic Woman | Faler | Season 2, episode 1 |
| 1976 | Phyllis | Coach Joe Cook | Season 2, episode 7 |
| 1976, 1978–1979 | Starsky & Hutch | Arthur Cole | Season 2, episode 8 |
| 1976, 1978–1979 | Starsky & Hutch | Medical Examiner Delaney | Season 4, episode 7 |
| 1976, 1978–1979 | Starsky & Hutch | Detective Webster | Season 4, episode 15 |
| 1976 | Gibbsville | Wingfield | Season 1, episode 3 |
| 1977 | Charlie's Angels | Haller | Season 1, episode 15 |
| 1977 | Roots | Fred Drake | Miniseries (episode 8) |
| 1977 | Wonder Woman | Kurt | Season 1, episode 13 |
| 1977 | The Tony Randall Show | Eddie Foxworth | Season 1, episode 22 |
| 1977 | Dog and Cat | Loomis | Season 1, episode 5 |
| 1977 | Our Town | Sam Craig | TV film |
| 1977–1978 | The Betty White Show | Hugo Muncy | Season 1 (recurring role, 14 episodes) |
| 1977 | The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald | Michael Brandon | TV film |
| 1978 | Alice | Allen Wolf | Season 2, episode 13 |
| 1978 | Someone's Watching Me! | Gary Hunt | TV film |
| 1979 | Elvis | Sam Phillips | TV film |
| 1979, 1984 | The Dukes of Hazzard | Bumper | Season 1, episode 9 |
| 1979, 1984 | The Dukes of Hazzard | Phil | Season 6, episode 14 |
| 1979 | Friendly Fire | Tom Loomis | TV film |
| 1979 | Lou Grant | Jerry Baldwin | Season 3, episode 4 |
| 1981 | Hart to Hart | Lester | Season 2, episode 10 |
| 1982 | The Quest | Peters | Season 1, episode 5 |
| 1982 | Benson | Scotty | Season 4, episode 7 |
| 1983 | Memorial Day | Jack Ruskin | TV film |
| 1983 | Little House on the Prairie: Look Back to Yesterday | Zack Taylor | TV film |
| 1984 | Rituals | Dutch | Unknown episode(s) |
| 1984 | Airwolf | Joe Ganns | Season 2, episode 8 |
| 1985, 1987 | Hill Street Blues | Capt. Leder | Season 5 (guest role, 2 episodes) |
| 1985, 1987 | Hill Street Blues | Commander #1 | Season 7, episode 17 |
| 1986 | Matlock | Tom Coyle | Season 1, episode 9 |
| 1987 | Dallas | Bertram Pogue | Season 10 (guest role, 2 episodes) |
| 1987 | Our House | Fred Houston | Season 1, episode 19 |
| 1987 | Santa Barbara | Sheriff | Episode 724 |
| 1987 | Simon & Simon | Sergeant Lester | Season 7, episode 1 |
| 1988 | Night Court | Leo | Season 5, episode 12 |
| 1988 | China Beach | The General | Season 1, episode 1 |
| 1988 | Aaron's Way | | Season 1, episode 12 |
| 1988 | 21 Jump Street | Team Doctor | Season 3, episode 4 |
| 1989 | Freddy's Nightmares | Ben Ostroff | Season 2, episode 1 |
| 1989 | Jake and the Fatman | Benny Kraus | Season 3, episode 5 |
| 1989 | Dragnet | Coach Simons | Season 1, episode 7 |
| 1989 | Mancuso, F.B.I. | | Season 1, episode 5 |
| 1990 | The Outsiders | | Season 1, episode 13 |
| 1991–1992 | Roc | Mr. Samuels | Season 1 (guest role, 2 episodes) |
| 1991 | Murder, She Wrote | Lt. Timothy Chance | Season 8, episode 5 |
| 1993 | FBI: The Untold Stories | Sillous Huddleston | Season 2, episode 19 |
| 1993 | Renegade | Zachary Quinn | Season 2, episode 11 |
| 1993 | Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman | Thaddeus Roarke | Season 1, episode 11 |
| 1994 | California Dreams | Coach Cotler | Season 2, episode 15 |
| 1994 | seaQuest DSV | Calvin Shelley | Season 1, episode 22 |
| 1994 | Hardball | Chuck | Season 1, episode 1 |
| 1994 | The George Carlin Show | Officer Bill Koski | Season 1–2 (guest role, 3 episodes) |
| 1995 | Sliders | Coach Almquist | Season 1, episode 6 |
| 1995 | Deadly Games | General Barnicke | Season 1, episode 6 |
| 1995 | Seinfeld | Gardner | Season 7, episode 5 |
| 1995 | E.R. | Injured Civil-War Reenactor | Season 2, episode 8 |
| 1995 | JAG | Jesse | Season 1, episode 8 |
| 1995 | The George Wendt Show | Mr. Blake | Season 1, episode 8 |
| 1996 | Murder One | Patrick McQueen | Season 1 (guest role, 4 episodes) |
| 1996–1998 | Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher | Al Yaroker | Season 1–2 (main role, 41 episodes) |
| 1998 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Coach Carl Marin | Season 2, episode 20 |
| 1998 | Pensacola: Wings of Gold | General Stabler | Season 2, episode 6 |
| 1998 | Hyperion Bay | | Season 1, episode 9 |
| 1999 | Any Day Now | | Season 2 (guest role, 2 episodes) |
| 2001 | Cousin Skeeter | | Season 3, episode 1 |