Resuming his career with a role opposite Delphine Seyrig in a French made-for-TV-movie, Bauchau returned to the big screen in 1980 in "Guns". A more significant part in Wim Wenders' "The State of Things" (1982), a behind-the-scenes story of a movie crew remaking Roger Corman's "The Day the World Ended" in Portugal, boosted his stock. Lending his unique cosmopolitan charms to a multitude of roles in several languages in films of varying quality, the actor remained constantly employed. He made an impression as the hapless spouse of Miou-Miou in Diane Kurys' "Entre Nous" (1983) and as a French gangster in his American debut in Alan Rudolph's "Choose Me" (1984). But for every "A View to a Kill" (1985), there was a "Creepers" (also 1985), for every decent supporting role (e.g., the cuckolded husband in "Australia" 1989), there was another that made critics and audiences scratch their collective heads (i.e., "Every Breath" 1994). Writer-director Michael Tolkin offered Bauchau interesting roles as the amoral boyfriend dumped by Mimi Rogers in "The Rapture" (1991) and as a spiritual guide to an upscale couple in "The New Age" (1994). He offered strong performances as an outspoken gay priest in the Brazilian film "Jenipapo/The Interview" and a filmmaker whose disappearance sets off a chain of events in Wenders' "Lisbon Story" (both 1995).

The debonair actor also made inroads in American television with featured roles in the miniseries "Christopher Columbus" (CBS, 1985) and "Kane & Abel" (CBS, 1985). Bauchau appeared in a modern-day vampire story "Blood Ties" (Fox, 1991) that in some ways was a warm-up for his first regular series role, as the head of a contemporary family of the undead in the short-lived 1996 Fox series "Kindred: The Embraced". Later that fall, he accepted perhaps his best-known role, Dr. Sydney Green, the scientist who nurtured gifted children including Jarod, the titular character, in "The Pretender" (NBC, 1996-2000). Bauchau lent his distinctive flair to the character who functions as a surrogate father to Michael T Weiss' Jarod, creating a rarity for American TV, a multi-dimensional, ambiguous figure who combines charisma with a hint of danger, a complicated person who has been morally compromised.