Stephen Macht

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Stephen Macht (born May 1, 1942, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American actor.

Born in Philadelphia, Macht was raised in Brooklyn Heights, NY, until his father's death. At age nine, he moved with his mother and older brother to live with his maternal grandfather, a haberdasher, in Mystic, CT. After graduating from Dartmouth College (where he roomed with future actor Michael Moriarty), Macht obtained two graduate degrees (including a Ph.D.) and became adept in Aristotelian concepts. While teaching at Queens College, he received approval by his department chair to appear in plays in New York in lieu of publishing scholarly articles as part of the tenure track. Spotted by a Universal Studios talent scout while starring at the Canadian Shakespeare Festival in Stratford Ontario Canada in 1975, Macht was signed to a contract and by the mid 1970's had left teaching and was making frequent appearances in TV episodes and movies.

Dark, with a solid build, Macht was often cast in ethnic roles (i.e., Jews, Italians and Native Americans) such as Raid on Entebbe (NBC, 1977), where he portrayed Yonni Netanyahu, the Israeli officer killed in the rescue of hostages in Uganda. In 1978 Macht had a big break as the lead in The Immigrants a syndicated miniseries about the rise of the son of Italian immigrants in turn-of-the-century San Francisco.

The success of the TV-movie American Dream (ABC, 1981) led to a critically acclaimed short-lived series which cast Macht in the role of a family man who chucks the suburban life to set up home in the inner city of Chicago. The following season, he landed the role of the brother of Karen MacKenzie (Michelle Lee) on Knots Landing (CBS, 1982-83). The actor, however, found more challenging roles in TV longforms. Notable roles included playing Nancy McKeon's father in Strange Voices (NBC, 1987). He was Benedict Arnold in the 1984 CBS miniseries George Washington and one of the survivors of Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac (NBC, 1984). Macht spent three seasons (1985-88) in the recurring role of David Keeler, love interest to Det. Chris Cagney (Sharon Gless), on Cagney & Lacey (CBS). During his run on the show, he moved behind the cameras to make his directorial debut.

More recent credits have included playing an Austrian Jew who must be baptized along with his wife and daughter in order to escape the Nazis in A Friendship in Vienna (The Disney Channel, 1988); a doctor helping Jane Seymour in the syndicated miniseries Sidney Sheldon's Memories of Midnight (1991); and cult member Joan Van Ark's suffering husband in Moment of Truth: A Mother's Deception (NBC, 1994). In 1996 he did a six-month stint on the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live as Elliot Durban, a psychiatrist and gambling addict blackmailed into hypnotising Victoria Lord Buchanan (Erika Slezak).

He played Krim Aldos in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Macht's work in feature films has been more sporadic, beginning with a turn as one of The Choirboys (1977). He also had roles in The Mountain Men (1980), The Monster Squad (1987), and Stephen King's Graveyard Shift (1990). Macht has also played Dr. Harris in three entries in the Trancer series.

He is the father of actor Gabriel Macht.