Joe Seneca

Joe Seneca, born Joel McGhee Jr. on January 14, 1919, in Cleveland, Ohio, was an American actor, singer, and songwriter whose career spanned stage, film, and television. He died on August 15, 1996, at his home on Roosevelt Island, New York City, following a coronary arrest after an asthma attack, at the age of 77. He was married to Betty Seneca until his death.

Before pursuing acting, Seneca built a career in music as a member of the R&B singing group The Three Riffs, which performed at upscale supper clubs in New York City from the late 1940s through the mid-1970s. He also worked as a songwriter, penning "Talk to Me," recorded by Little Willie John, and "Break It to Me Gently," which became a hit for Brenda Lee in 1962 and again for Juice Newton in 1982.

In the early 1970s, Seneca transitioned into acting through regional theatre, beginning at the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference in Waterford, Connecticut. His Broadway debut came in 1974 with Of Mice and Men, featuring James Earl Jones. He returned to Broadway in 1981 in The Little Foxes alongside Elizabeth Taylor, and in 1984 appeared in August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, in which he portrayed Cutler, an old blues trombonist. Although Seneca could play piano, he learned the trombone specifically to take on the role. In 1982, between his Broadway engagements, he appeared in Rhinestone, an off-Broadway musical.

Seneca's film work included The Verdict (1982), in which he played Dr. Thompson, a small-town physician enlisted by attorney Frank Galvin, portrayed by Paul Newman, to support a malpractice case. He portrayed blues musician Willie Brown in Crossroads (1986) and Dr. Meddows in The Blob (1988), the head of a government team responsible for creating and containing the film's title creature. That same year he appeared in Spike Lee's School Daze as Mission College President McPherson.

On television, Seneca accumulated appearances in more than twenty series. He played Dr. Zachariah J. Hanes, the president of Hillman College, on The Cosby Show, and portrayed Alvin Newcastle, a man living with Alzheimer's disease, in the 1987 Golden Girls episode "Old Friends." Also in 1987, he appeared in Michael Jackson's music video for "The Way You Make Me Feel." His other television credits include the role of Fossil Williams on The Equalizer, Eddie Haynes on Matlock in the 1989 episode "The Blues Singer," and a character named Blind Otis Lemon in the 1990 Doogie Howser, M.D. episode "Doogie Sings the Blues." He later played murder witness Lionel Jackson in the 1993 Law & Order episode "Profile." His television film appearances included Wilma (1977), The House of Dies Drear (1984), A Gathering of Old Men (1987), and The Vernon Johns Story (1994). His final screen role was the character Whitechaple in the British television film The Longest Memory (1997), a performance he completed two weeks before his death.