Biography
Maximilian Josef Sommer (born June 26, 1934) is a German-American retired stage, television, and film actor. His best known roles are as The President in X-Men: The Last Stand, Senator Jessup in The Sum of All Fears, Peter Lassiter in The Family Man, Curtis Flemming in Shaft, Dr. Eaton in Patch Adams, Phelps Bowen in The Chamber, Clive Peoples Jr. in Nobody's Fool, Mr. Duckworth in The Mighty Ducks, Chief Paul Schaefer in Witness, Max Richter in Silkwood, Sam Taylor in Independence Day, Rothko i...
Known For
Complete Filmography

The Other Guys
2010
as District Attorney Radford (uncredited)
Unlike their heroic counterparts on the force, desk-bound NYPD detectives Gamble and Hoitz garner no headlines as they work day to day. When a seeming...

Stop-Loss
2008
as Senator Orton Worrell
A veteran soldier returns from his completed tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is arbitrarily ordered to return t...

The Invasion
2007
as Dr. Henryk Belicec
Washington, D.C. psychologist Carol Bennell and her colleague Dr. Ben Driscoll are the only two people on Earth who are aware of an epidemic running r...

X-Men: The Last Stand
2006
as The President
When a cure is found to treat mutations, lines are drawn amongst the X-Men—led by Professor Charles Xavier—and the Brotherhood, a band of powerful mut...

The Elephant King
2006
as Bill Hunt
The story of two brothers who lead totally different lives. Jake Hunt enjoys life to the fullest in Thailand, while his shy brother Oliver deals with ...

Searching for Paradise
2002
as Carl Greenslate
A young woman, coping with the death of her father, embarks on a quest to meet a Hollywood star with whom she has become obsessed.

The Sum of All Fears
2002
as Senator Jessup
When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. The change in political leaders sparks paranoia a...

The Family Man
2000
as Peter Lassiter
Jack's lavish, fast-paced lifestyle changes one Christmas night when he stumbles into a grocery store holdup and disarms the gunman. The next morning ...

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Winds of Change
2000
as Woodrow Wilson
Following World War I, Indy - now fluent in several languages - works as a translator at the controversial Paris Peace Conference, where he once more ...

Shaft
2000
as Curt Flemming
New York police detective John Shaft arrests Walter Wade Jr. for a racially motivated slaying. But the only eyewitness disappears, and Wade jumps bail...

The Next Best Thing
2000
as Richard Whittaker
A comedy-drama about best friends - one a straight woman, Abbie, the other a gay man, Robert - who decide to have a child together. Five years later, ...

The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer
1999
An account of early 1970s social activist Ira Einhorn, who allegedly murdered his girlfriend and then fled the country.

Patch Adams
1998
as Dr. Eaton
The true story of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams, who in the 1970s found that humor is the best medicine, and was willing to do just anything to make his pa...

Bulworth
1998
as Doctor (uncredited)
A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by affecti...

Hidden in America
1996
as Edward Millerton
Story of a man whose pride in being the head of his family won't let him accept help from his sick daughters doctor. He has to prove to his kids that ...

Mistrial
1996
as Nick Mirsky
When a cop-killer goes free, a detective's search for personal justice veers dangerously out of control. Declaring a mistrial, he takes the accused, t...

The Chamber
1996
as Phelps Bowen
Idealistic young attorney Adam Hall takes on the death row clemency case of his racist grandfather, Sam Cayhall, a former Ku Klux Klan member he has n...

Strange Days
1995
as Palmer Strickland
Former policeman Lenny Nero has moved into a more lucrative trade: the illegal sale of virtual reality-like recordings that allow users to experience ...

Moonlight and Valentino
1995
as Thomas Trager
A young widow still grieving over the death of her husband finds herself being comforted by a local housepainter.

Letter to My Killer
1995
A letter is found by a demolition worker that reveals a cover up and a murder that is over 30 years old. The victim is the author of the letter that a...

Kansas
1995
as Joseph 'Joe' Farley
When a single mother and high-powered Chicago ad executive returns to her home town in Kansas to care for her ailing father, she rediscovers the joys ...

Nobody's Fool
1994
as Clive Peoples Jr.
A rascally nearing-retirement man juggles a workers' compensation suit while secretly working for his nemesis and flirting with his nemesis' young wif...

Don't Drink the Water
1994
as Ambassador Magee
Somewhere behind the early 1960s cold-war iron curtain, the Hollander family cause an international spying incident when Walter photographs a sunset i...

The Enemy Within
1994
as Defence Secretary Charles Potter
A officer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff uncovers a planned military coup of the U.S. government and has only one week to prevent the takeover.

Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker
1994
as Col. Morrow
The story of Johnson Whittaker, one of the first African-American cadets admitted to West Point. Tied down and beaten by his fellow cadets

Malice
1993
as Atty. Lester Adams
A tale about a happily married couple who would like to have children. Tracy teaches infants, Andy's a college professor. Things are never the same af...

An American Story
1992
as Henry Meade
World War II has ended and many soldiers return to their houses and families. But three of them find themselves with big problems when they arrive at ...

The Mighty Ducks
1992
as Mr. Ducksworth
After reckless young lawyer Gordon Bombay gets arrested for drunk driving, he must coach a kids hockey team for his community service. Gordon has expe...

Hostages
1992
as Tom Sutherland
True account of the six men held hostage by religious extremists in Beirut during the Reagan-Bush era.

Citizen Cohn
1992
as Albert Cohn
As lawyer and power broker Roy Cohn lies dying of AIDS in a private hospital room, ghosts from his past visit him as he reflects on his life and loves...

Shadows and Fog
1991
as Priest
With a serial strangler on the loose, a bookkeeper wanders around town searching for the vigilante group intent on catching the killer.

Before the Storm
1991
as Stewart Merriman
A follow up to Under Cover aka The Company (1991). Linda Purl is again Kate Del'Amico, National Intelligence Agent who travels to Kuwait in 1990 to in...

Under Cover
1991
as Stewart Merriman
A seasoned operative pursues a dangerous mission: to prevent the assassination of a high-ranking Soviet reformer. Meanwhile, his best friend believes ...

When Will I Be Loved?
1990
as Martin Ransil
Three disillusioned wives who are contemplating divorce compare notes on their stormy marriages.

William Shakespeare's Hamlet
1990
as Polonius
A Danish prince and university student avenges his father's murder by his uncle, who stole the crown and married his mother.

Money, Power, Murder.
1989
as Jack Finley
Peter Finley is a cable-TV newsman who is led into a network of sin and conspiracy when he has interest in a missing anchorwoman's story.

Bloodhounds of Broadway
1989
as Waldo Winchester
This musical is based on four short stories by Damon Runyon. In one tale, gambler Feet Samuels sells his body to science just as he realizes that Hort...

Forced March
1989
as Richard Kline
Ben Kline is an American television star and a bankable name, who is cast to portray the Hungarian writer Miklos Radnoti, whose journal of poems was f...

Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman
1989
as Charles Estiman
The Bionic Woman and the Six-Million-Dollar Man reunite--with a few younger bionic assistants--and try to catch a bionic spy.

Bridge to Silence
1989
as Al Duffield
A hearing impaired woman suffers a mental breakdown when a drunk-driving accident kills her husband and she finds herself in a struggle with her mothe...

Chances Are
1989
as Judge Fenwick
Louie Jeffries is happily married to Corinne. On their first anniversary, Louie is killed crossing the road. Louie is reincarnated as Alex Finch, and ...

Dracula's Widow
1988
as Lannon
Dracula's wife, Vanessa, comes back to life and attacks Raymond who has a waxworks museum, where he displays notorious monsters and murderers.

The Rosary Murders
1987
as Lieutenant Koznicki
A priest is put in a dilemma when the serial killer who has been murdering priests and nuns confesses to him.

A Special Friendship
1987
as General Winder
During the American Civil War, two women, a wealthy white woman and a freed black slave, join forces to fight for freedom and the abolition of slavery...

The Betty Ford Story
1987
as President Gerald Ford
This biographical film was based on the book The Times of My Life written by Chris Chase and Betty Ford.

Double Image
1986
as James Angleton
This film tells the true-life story of Yuri Nosenko, a top Soviet KGB agent who defected to the West at the height of the Cold War in 1962.

The Execution of Raymond Graham
1985
as Jim Neal
A young man, convicted of the murder of a clerk, who has been on death row for five years and now awaits his execution while his family desperately se...

Target
1985
as Barney Taber
A Texan with a secret past searches Europe with his son after the KGB kidnaps his wife.

D.A.R.Y.L.
1985
as Dr. Jeffrey Stewart
Daryl is a normal 10-year-old boy in many ways. However, unbeknown to his foster parents and friends, Daryl is actually a government-created robot wit...

Brotherly Love
1985
as Mr. Rafferty
A businessman is stalked by his murderous twin brother, who has just been released from a mental hospital.

Witness
1985
as Chief Paul Schaeffer
While protecting an Amish boy - who is the sole witness to a brutal murder - and his mother, a detective is forced to seek refuge within their communi...

Iceman
1984
as Whitman
A team of Arctic researchers find a 40,000 year-old man frozen in ice and bring him back to life. Anthropologist Dr. Stanley Shephard wants to befrie...

Silkwood
1983
as Max Richter
The story of Karen Silkwood, a metallurgy worker at a plutonium processing plant who was purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possi...

Saigon: Year Of The Cat
1983
as Jack Ockham
The year is 1974, and Barbara Dean (Judi Dench), a British assistant manager in a foreign bank in Saigon, begins a relationship with American Bob Ches...

Sparkling Cyanide
1983
as George Barton
The beautiful but unfaithful wife of a successful lawyer meets her untimely end at their anniversary dinner. After a suicide note is found soon after ...

Independence Day
1983
as Sam Taylor
Mary Ann Taylor loves the comforts of her hometown in Mercury, Texas. She has a steady job as a waitress in her father's diner, yet she can't help but...

Sophie's Choice
1982
as Narrator (voice)
Stingo, a young writer, moves to Brooklyn in 1947 to begin work on his first novel. As he becomes friendly with Sophie and her lover Nathan, he learns...

Still of the Night
1982
as George Bynum
When one of his patients is found murdered, psychiatrist Dr. Sam Rice is visited by the investigating officer but refuses to give up any information. ...

Hanky Panky
1982
as Adrian Pruitt
Naïve Michael Jordon is drawn into a web of government secrets when a girl carrying a mysterious package gets into a taxi with him. When she's later m...

Reds
1981
as State Department Official
An account of the revolutionary years of the legendary American journalist John Reed, who shared his adventurous professional life with his radical co...

Absence of Malice
1981
as McAdam
Megan Carter is a reporter duped into running an untrue story on Michael Gallagher, a suspected racketeer. He has an alibi for the time his crime was ...

Rollover
1981
as Roy Lefcourt
An Arab oil organization devises a plan to wreck the world economy in order to cause anarchy and chaos.

The Henderson Monster
1980
as Dr. Martin Grossman
A small town becomes gripped by an ethical debate when the community discovers a moody, egotistical scientist is experimenting with DNA and the creati...

Hide in Plain Sight
1980
as Jason R. Reid
True story of a man in search of his children after his ex-wife enters the Witness Protection Program.

Doctor Franken
1980
as Mr. Parker
This variation of the Frankenstein legend, set in a brownstone in present-day Manhattan, has Robert Vaughn as a determined New York surgeon bringing "...

Too Far to Go
1979
as Henry Mills
Love and passion, anger and heartbreak, laughter and happiness, all complex textures woven into the fabric so many have come to know as marriage. For ...

Oliver's Story
1978
as Dr. Dienhart
Oliver Barrett IV is emotionally devastated by the death of his wife Jenny, and, while he tries to lose himself in his work as a lawyer, the long hour...

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1977
as Larry Butler
After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is abou...

The Front
1976
as Committee Chairman
A cashier poses as a writer for blacklisted talents to submit their work through, but the injustice around him pushes him to take a stand.

Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys
1976
as Pomeroy
In 1930s Alabama, nine young black men are accused of raping two white women. The judge in the case, unlike the rest of the town, comes to believe tha...

Valley Forge
1975
George Washington struggles to hold his army together at a critical point during the Revolutionary War.

The Stepford Wives
1975
as Ted Van Sant
Joanna Eberhart has come to the quaint little town of Stepford, Connecticut with her family, but soon discovers there lies a sinister truth in the all...

Man on a Swing
1974
as Pete Russell
When a young schoolteacher is found dead in her car in a parking lot in broad daylight, police chief Lee Tucker can find no clues pointing to her kill...

Enemies
1974
as Nikolai
In a sun-dappled garden in provincial Russia in 1905, some factory owners and their wives discuss the unrest among the workers. Rather than submit to ...

The Witches of Salem: The Horror and the Hope
1972
as Proctor
A bizarre series of events focused on young women in the village of Salem causes paranoia in the late 1600s. It ends with the lynching of the accused ...

Dirty Harry
1971
as Rothko
When a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan – famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law enforcement...