Don Stark
Don Stark is an actor, born 1954.
Bob Pinciotti is the sort of part that eats an actor's public identity whole. Stark played him across all eight seasons of That '70s Show from 1998 to 2006, then returned to the same character for That '90s Show almost two decades later. What that summary hides is how much work came first. His screen credits reach back to 1979 and run through a long stretch of parts listed by function rather than name: Punk 1, Diner Customer, Umpire, Escort to Penthouse, Bubba in the 1981 horror film Evilspeak.
The useful thing about Stark is volume. He is a loud actor, a New Yorker by birth who plays men who talk over other men, and Bob works because there is enough warmth underneath the noise that the character never curdles into a joke about a loud dad. Directors who need a room filled fast keep finding him: Nicky the Nose in Star Trek: First Contact, Gus in Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, Doug Stell in Peggy Sue Got Married, Jules Podell in Green Book, Sol in Cafe Society.
He has a second career in voice work that most viewers never connect to the face, including Rhino in the 1990s Spider-Man animated series and Vincent in Father of the Pride. Television gave him one more sustained run as Oscar Kinkade, owner of the fictional Los Angeles Devils, in VH1's Hit the Floor. Nearly forty credits sit in this catalogue and a single character accounts for almost all of the recognition, which is a fair description of the working actor's economy rather than a knock on the actor.
Movies (26)
- Green Book (2018)
- John Carter (2012)
- Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
- Café Society (2016)
- Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)
- Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
- Freaked (1993)
- 3 Ninjas Kick Back (1994)
- 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up (1995)
- Night of the Running Man (1995)
- Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)
- The Couch Trip (1988)
- Beyond The Sky (2018)
- Arcade (1993)
- The Gift (1979)
- Heaven's Prisoners (1996)
- Wrong Cops (2013)
- Letters from a Killer (1998)
- Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)
- Liquid Dreams (1991)
- Evilspeak (1981)
- iCarly: iGo to Japan (2008)
- Goosed (1999)
- Safelight (2015)
- Santa with Muscles (1996)
- Meeting Spencer (2010)
TV (12)
Where to start with Don Stark
Everything routes through That '70s Show, and there is no point pretending otherwise. Eight seasons is a long time to keep a broad character funny, and the Bob and Red double act is the reason the adult half of that show holds up better than the teenage half. That '90s Show then lets you watch him play the same man decades on, softer and slightly sadder, which is a rarer opportunity than it sounds.
After that, hunt the small parts. Star Trek: First Contact casts him as a hood called Nicky the Nose and he makes the most of it. Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead is the best film in the list and puts him among a very good ensemble of hoods. Green Book and Café Society are the prestige end, both brief. If you want the pre-fame version, Peggy Sue Got Married is the earliest thing here worth watching.