# Daniel von Bargen

Daniel von Bargen (June 5, 1950 – March 1, 2015) was an American character actor of film, stage and television. He was known for his roles as Mr. Kruger on Seinfeld, Commandant Edwin Spangler on Malcolm in the Middle, and Chief Grady in Super Troopers.

## Early life

Von Bargen was born to Juanita J. (née Bustle) and Donald L. von Bargen, and was of German and English descent. He was born in Cincinnati, where he grew up for most of his childhood before moving with his family to Southern California. In 1968, von Bargen graduated from Reading High School. He graduated from Purdue University in Indiana.

## Career

In 1974, von Bargen made his television debut in Feasting with Panthers, a play about Oscar Wilde's imprisonment at the Reading Gaol, on PBS's Great Performances anthology series.
Von Bargen's film credits included The Silence of the Lambs, London Betty, RoboCop 3, Basic Instinct, Broken Arrow, Truman, The Majestic, Philadelphia, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Snow Falling on Cedars, Thinner, A Civil Action, Disney's The Kid, Super Troopers and Universal Soldier: The Return.
Von Bargen played the maniacal sorcerer Nix in Clive Barker's Lord of Illusions and the Sheriff in The Postman. He played a terrorist in a season 5 episode of The X-Files. Von Bargen had played Mr. Kruger, George Costanza's boss, in the ninth season of Seinfeld, and also played the recurring antagonist Edwin Spangler, the eye patch wearing Commandant in charge of Marlin Academy who’d always clash with Francis Wilkerson in the FOX comedy Malcolm in the Middle for the first three seasons.
Von Bargen's stage career included a long residency with Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island. He made his Off-Broadway debut in 1981 in Missing Persons. He also appeared in the debut of Larry Gelbart's Mastergate and other plays at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He made his Broadway debut when the show went to New York City. In 1990, he won a Theatre World Award for Outstanding New Performer for his role in Mastergate. His last films roles were as Maury in London Betty and as George Burgess in Things That Hang from Trees.
In 1993, von Bargen narrated the unabridged Streets of Laredo audiobook.

## Personal life

Von Bargen was married to actress Margo Skinner. They divorced in 2005. Skinner died in her sleep of a heart attack in her New York City apartment.

## Health issues and death

On February 20, 2012, Von Bargen shot himself in the temple in an apparent suicide attempt. He managed to call 911, and an ambulance was dispatched to his apartment in Montgomery, Ohio. He suffered from diabetes and had previously had a leg amputated. When calling 911, he told the operator that he was scheduled to have two of his remaining toes amputated but didn't want to undergo another surgery. "I have no children and no life, and I'm tired," he said. Von Bargen played fewer and fewer roles as his diabetes worsened. His last role was in the comedy London Betty in 2009.
Von Bargen died on March 1, 2015 of undisclosed causes at 64 years old. The Washington Post reported that his death "came after an unspecified long illness."

## Filmography
### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1974 | Great Performances | Wooldridge | Episode: "Feasting with Panthers" |
| 1976 | Visions | Guard | Episode: "Life Among the Lowly" |
| 1979 | The Scarlet Letter | Sailor | Unknown episodes |
| 1983 | The Dean of Thin Air | George Berkeley | TV movie |
| 1985 | Right to Kill? | Detective Roberts | TV movie |
| 1985 | American Playhouse | Thomas | Episode: "Three Sovereigns for Sarah: Part I" |
| 1985–1986 | Spenser: For Hire | Al / Mr. Hurley | 2 episodes |
| 1990 | H.E.L.P. | Whitehall | Episode: "Are You There, Alpha Centauri?" |
| 1991–2004 | Law & Order | Superintendent Cooper / Commander Billings / Lambrusco | 3 episodes |
| 1992 | Citizen Cohn | Clyde Tolson | TV movie |
| 1993 | The Last Hit | Nordlinger | TV movie |
| 1993 | The Good Policeman | Frederic LeComte | TV movie |
| 1993 | With Hostile Intent | Officer Ted Campbell | TV movie |
| 1993 | Scam | Albert Magliocco | TV movie |
| 1993 | Guiding Light | Joe Morrison | Unknown episodes |
| 1994 | One West Waikiki | Captain Charlie Dalton | Episode: "'Til Death Do Us Part" |
| 1994 | The Gift of Love | Mr. Brady | TV movie |
| 1994–1995 | All My Children | Lieutenant Cody | Unknown episodes |
| 1995 | The Shamrock Conspiracy | Sternhardt | TV movie |
| 1995 | Truman | General Douglas MacArthur | TV movie |
| 1995–1997 | New York Undercover | Green / Omega Bomber / Duane | 2 episodes |
| 1996 | The Writing on the Wall | Rockwell | TV movie |
| 1996 | NYPD Blue | Sergeant Ray Kahlins | 2 episodes |
| 1997–1998 | Seinfeld | Mr. Kruger | 4 episodes |
| 1998 | The Pretender | Captain Prentiss McClaren | Episode: "Collateral Damage" |
| 1998 | Significant Others | David Lerner | Episode: "The Plan" |
| 1998 | The X-Files | Jacob Steven Haley | Episode: "The Pine Bluff Variant" |
| 1998 | Arliss | | Episode: "Whatever It Takes" |
| 1998 | Party of Five | Dr. Dick Grayson | Episode: "Love and War" |
| 1999 | Fantasy Island | District Attorney Flynn | Episode: "Innocent" |
| 1999 | The Practice | Detective Smiley | Episode: "Happily Ever After" |
| 2000 | City of Angels | Stewart Rafferty | Episode: "Unhand Me" |
| 2000 | Time of Your Life | Mr. Halloway | Episode: "The Time They Got E-Rotic" |
| 2000 | The Fearing Mind | P.F. O'Horgan | Episode: "Good Harvest" |
| 2000 | The West Wing | Air Force General Ken Shannon | 2 episodes |
| 2000–02 | Malcolm in the Middle | Commandant Edwin Spangler | 15 episodes (Seasons 1–3) |
| 2001 | Ally McBeal | Judge William Kopesky | Episode: "The Ex-Files" |
| 2001 | Judging Amy | Judge | Episode: "Grounded" |
| 2003 | Without a Trace | Chief Patrick Finn | Episode: "Trip Box" |

### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1991 | The Silence of the Lambs | SWAT Communicator | |
| 1991 | Company Business | Mike Flinn | |
| 1991 | Shadows and Fog | Hacker's Vigilante #4 | |
| 1992 | Complex World | Malcom | |
| 1992 | Basic Instinct | Lieutenant Nilsen | |
| 1993 | RoboCop 3 | Moreno | |
| 1993 | Rising Sun | Chief Olson / Interrogator | |
| 1993 | The Saint of Fort Washington | Boat Captain | |
| 1993 | Six Degrees of Separation | Detective | |
| 1993 | Philadelphia | Jury Foreman | |
| 1994 | I.Q. | Secret Service Agent | |
| 1995 | Crimson Tide | Vladimir Radchenko | |
| 1995 | Lord of Illusions | Nix | |
| 1996 | Looking for Richard | Ratcliffe | Documentary |
| 1996 | Broken Arrow | Air Force General Creely | |
| 1996 | Before and After | Police Chief Fran Conklin | |
| 1996 | Thinner | Chief Duncan Hopley | |
| 1997 | G.I. Jane | Secretary of the Navy Theodore Hayes | |
| 1997 | The Real Blonde | Devon | |
| 1997 | Trouble on the Corner | Cecil, The butcher | |
| 1997 | Amistad | Warden Pendleton | |
| 1997 | The Postman | Pineview Sheriff Briscoe | |
| 1998 | Desert Blue | Sheriff Jackson | |
| 1998 | I'm Losing You | Dr. Litvak | |
| 1998 | Inferno | General Craig Maxwell | |
| 1998 | The Faculty | Mr. Tate | |
| 1998 | A Civil Action | Mr. Granger | |
| 1999 | The General's Daughter | Police Chief Yardley | |
| 1999 | Universal Soldier: The Return | General Radford | |
| 1999 | Snow Falling on Cedars | Carl Heine Sr. | |
| 2000 | A Question of Faith | Adrian | |
| 2000 | O Brother, Where Art Thou? | Sheriff Cooley | |
| 2000 | Shaft | Lieutenant Kearney | |
| 2000 | Disney's The Kid | Sam Duritz | |
| 2001 | Super Troopers | Chief Bruce Grady | |
| 2001 | Trigger Happy | Harold | |
| 2001 | The Majestic | Federal Agent Ellerby | |
| 2002 | Coastlines | Sheriff Tate | |
| 2002 | S1m0ne | Chief Detective | |
| 2003 | Artworks | Howard Deardorf | |
| 2004 | Dead Horse | Stu Conklin | |
| 2005 | Drip | Daniel | |
| 2006 | Things That Hang from Trees | George Burgess | |
| 2009 | London Betty | Maury | (final film role) |

### Stage

| Year | Title | Role | Venue |
| 1981 | Missing Persons | Tucker | |
| 1986 | Good by C. P. Taylor | John Halder (lead) | Dallas Theater Three |
| 1987 | Uncle Vanya | Vanya | Hasty Pudding Theater |
| 1988 | Platonov | Pavel Petrovich Scherbuk | |
| 1988 | Life is a Dream | King Basilio | |
| 1988 | Nobody | Carl | |
| 1989 | Mastergate | Maj. Manley Battle | American Repertory Theater |
| 1990 | Macbeth | Ross | Joseph Papp Public Theater |
| 1991 | Beggars in the House of Plenty | Pop | |
| 1992 | Angel of Death | Gunther Ludwig | American Jewish Theater |
| 1993 | The Treatment | Andrew | Joseph Papp Public Theater |
| 2003 | Secret Order | Robert Brock | Laguna Playhouse |
| | ''Tis Pity She's a Whore | | |
| | The Changeling | | |