Philip Baker Hall, a beloved character actor with 50 years of credits, died on Sunday night. Los Angeles Times sports reporter Sam Farmer, who was Hall’s neighbor and friend, announced the news on Twitter. Hall was 90.

“My neighbor, friend, and one of the wisest, most talented and kindest people I’ve ever met, Philip Baker Hall, died peacefully last night,” Farmer wrote on Twitter Monday. “He was surrounded by loved ones. The world has an empty space in it.”

Hall was raised “in the slums of the north end of Toledo” during the Depression, as the actor told The Washington Post in 2017. His passion for performance originated at the University of Toledo, leading him to pursue acting professionally in the 1970s. “When I first came out here, I was totally naive. I didn’t know where to start,” Hall told the outlet. “Television really had no meaning for me. We never had a television. I didn’t see myself doing a movie. Ever. It didn’t seem possible or likely.”

The actor’s naivete would give way to a five-decade career, with at least 185 titles on his IMDB page. Hall has worked with some of Hollywood’s most influential auteurs on projects including Michael Mann’s The Insider, David Fincher’s Zodiac, Lars von Trier’s Dogville, and Robert Altman’s Secret Honor, in which he played Richard Nixon. But perhaps his most significant professional relationship was formed with filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, who would direct Hall in Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, and Magnolia.

Hall first met Anderson while filming a PBS movie, where Anderson was working as a production assistant. “He was a fan of my work, so how could I not like him?” he told The Post. “We would talk, and have cigarettes and coffee.” Their burgeoning friendship resulted in the aptly titled short film Cigarettes & Coffee, which starred Hall in a role that Anderson wrote for him.

Despite his wide range of work, Hall acknowledged he had a particular gift for portraying grim characters. “Men who are highly stressed, older men, who are at the limit of their tolerance for suffering and stress and pain,” he told The Post. “I had an affinity for playing those roles.” This description would apply to one of Hall’s most famous appearances as humorless library cop Lieutenant Bookman in season three of Seinfeld. He would go on to reprise the role in the show’s series finale. Said Seinfeld cocreator Larry David, “Philip has made me laugh harder than any actor I’ve worked with.” 

Hall is survived by his wife, Holly, and his four daughters.