Gerry Bamman

Gerry Bamman, born Gerald G. Bamman on September 18, 1941, in Independence, Kansas, is an American actor and playwright. The son of Mary M. (née Farrell) and Harry W. Bamman, he received his early education at St. Francis de Sales School before earning an MFA from New York University. His career has spanned stage, film, and television across several decades.

Bamman's Broadway career extended from 1977 to 2012 and included productions such as Execution of Justice, Uncle Vanya, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, An Enemy of the People, and The Merchant of Venice. His stage work has included a particular engagement with the plays of Henrik Ibsen, several of which he has also translated.

On screen, Bamman appeared in Old Enough (1984) alongside Fran Brill and Alyssa Milano, and in the Michael J. Fox film The Secret of My Success (1987). He had a minor role in Cocktail (1988). His most widely recognized film work came with his portrayal of Uncle Frank McCallister in Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). In the second film, Bamman improvised the shower scene in which Kevin, played by Macaulay Culkin, walks in on Frank. He has described developing the scene himself before presenting his approach to director Chris Columbus, who accepted it. In 1992, he also appeared as Ray Court, a former colleague of Kevin Costner's character, in The Bodyguard, and played Dr. Judalon in Lorenzo's Oil.

Bamman co-starred in Runaway Jury as Herman Grimes, a blind jury foreman. On television, he recurred as defense attorney Stan Gillum across multiple episodes of Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and appeared in the Law & Order episode "The Blue Wall" as Lt. Kennedy of Internal Affairs.

In his personal life, Bamman was married to theater director Emily Mann on August 12, 1981. The two later divorced. They have one son, Nicholas, born in 1983.