Charles Cioffi

A graduate of the University of Minnesota, baleful-eyed, prematurely gray Charles Cioffi made his first off-Broadway appearance in William Gibson's A Cry of Players. Cioffi continued as a familiar presence on the off-Broadway scene, finally making his on Broadway bow in 1990's Stand-Up Tragedy. In his film and TV work, Cioffi has most often been seen as an excitable police official or an uptight executive with something to hide (e.g., the sexually deviant "solid citizen" Peter Cable in Klute). His television work has encompassed a number of daytime soap operas, including Another World, Where the Heart Is, Ryan's Hope, and Days of Our Lives (as Ernest Toscano). Charles Cioffi has also been a regular in the prime-time weeklies Assignment: Vienna (1971), Get Christie Love! (1974), and the 1989 revival of Kojak.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide