Character actor and stage veteran Paxton Whitehead died on Friday, June 16, 2023. His son, Charles, stated that he died in the hospital in Arlington, Virginia. Whitehead was 85 years old.

Whitehead was known for playing stuffy intellectual characters in movies like Back to School and shows like Mad About You.

Francis Edward Paxton Whitehead was born in Kent, England on October 17, 1937. He started acting as a teenager, attending drama school, then his career started in 1958 at England’s Royal Shakespeare Company. In ’62 he made his Broadway debut in The Affair and was later nominated for a Tony for his performance in the 1980 Broadway production of Camelot. His other notable stage appearances were in My Fair Lady, The Harlequin Studies, London Suite, and The Crucifier of Blood.

Whitehead’s TV debut was in 1960 in a few episodes of Knight Errant Limited, then he started doing more screen acting in the ‘80s on shows like Magnum, P.I. and The A-Team. His film debut was in 1986’s Back to School as Dr. Philip Barbay, the snobby professor and romantic rival to Rodney Dangerfield’s character. Whitehead was in Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Silver Spoons, Baby Boom, and Murder, She Wrote.

He had a recurring role on Mad About You as the uptight neighbor Hal Conway and did a few episodes of Friends as Rachel’s boss Mr. Waltham at Bloomingdale’s. Whitehead also did episodes of Dinosaurs, Ellen, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Frasier, The Drew Carey Show, The West Wing, and Desperate Housewives. His later film work included Kate & Leopold, The Aristocrat, and The Importance of Being Earnest TV movie in 2011 was his final role.