Thomas Patrick Noonan (April 12, 1951 – February 14, 2026) was an American actor, director and screenwriter, best known for his roles as Francis Dollarhyde<!-- Do NOT change. The spelling was altered for the film MANHUNTER. "Dollarhyde" is correct. --> in Manhunter (1986), Frankenstein's Monster in The Monster Squad (1987), Cain in RoboCop 2 (1990), The Ripper in Last Action Hero (1993), Kelso in Heat (1995), Sammy Barnathan in Synecdoche, New York (2008), Mr. Ulman in The House of the Devil (2009), Reverend Nathaniel in Hell on Wheels (2011–2014), the Pallid Man in 12 Monkeys (2015–2018), and as the voice of everyone but Michael and Lisa in Anomalisa (2015).
Noonan was also a writer and director of theatre and film. His debut feature film as a filmmaker, What Happened Was... (1994), won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Early life
Thomas Patrick Noonan was born on April 12, 1951, in Greenwich, Connecticut, the son of Rita (McGannon), a mathematics teacher, and John Noonan Sr., a jazz musician and doctor of dental surgery. He had an older brother, John Ford Noonan, an actor, playwright, and screenwriter, and two sisters, Barbara and Nancy. Noonan was a very talented basketball player, and said "playing basketball is how I learned to perform in a lot of ways. It's how I got interested in performing... I never acted as a kid. I never did school plays. I never acted until I was 27...you learn a lot when you're in front of people and you've got a crowd going and you're doing something that you love to do. A lot of the skills that you would need for acting come through that... It's like a life and death struggle in front of people that you hope to impress."
Career
Noonan started working in theatre (appearing in the original Off-Broadway production of Sam Shepard's play Buried Child), but in the 1980s he began working in film. At tall, Noonan's imposing presence was probably responsible for his tendency to be cast as menacing villains, as in RoboCop 2,
In 1986, Noonan played Francis Dollarhyde, a serial killer who kills entire families, in Michael Mann's Manhunter,), Law & Order: Criminal Intent, for which he won the San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Death
Noonan died at a hospital in Englewood, New Jersey, on February 14, 2026, at the age of 74. and later confirmed by Fred Dekker in a tribute on Facebook.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1980
| Willie & Phil
| Man In Park
|
|-
| Gloria
| 2nd Man - Gangster
|
|-
| Heaven's Gate
| Jake
|
|-
| 1981
| Wolfen
| Ferguson
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1983
| Eddie Macon's Run
| Daryl Potts
|
|-
| Easy Money
| Paddy
|
|-
| 1984
| Best Defense
| Frank Holtzman
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1985
| The Man with One Red Shoe
| Reese
|
|-
| Tom Goes to the Bar
| Unknown
| Short film
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1986
| F/X
| Varrick
|
|-
| Manhunter
| Francis Dollarhyde<!-- Do NOT change. In "Manhunter", his name is spelt with two Ls. -->
|
|-
| 1987
| The Monster Squad
| Frankenstein's Monster
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1989
| Collision Course
| Scully
|
|-
| Mystery Train
| Man in Arcade Diner
| Segment: "A Ghost"
|-
| 1990
| RoboCop 2
| Cain / RoboCain
|
|-
| 1993
| Last Action Hero
| Ripper / Tommy Noonan
|
|-
| 1994
| What Happened Was...
| Michael
| Also writer, director, editor and composer
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1995
| Heat
| Kelso
|
|-
| The Wife
| Jack
| Also writer, director, editor and composer
|-
| 1998
| Phoenix
| Chicago
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1999
| The Astronaut's Wife
| Jackson McLaren
|
|-
| Wang Dang
| Mickey Hounsell
| Unreleased; also writer and director
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2000
| The Opportunists
| Mort Stein
|
|-
| The Photographer
| Butler
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2001
| The Pledge
| Gary Jackson
|
|-
| Knockaround Guys
| Sheriff Decker
|
|-
| Bullet in the Brain
| Anders
| Short film
|-
| 2002
| Eight Legged Freaks
| Joshua Taft
| Uncredited
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2003
| The Egoists
| Bryon Bradley
|
|-
| Madness and Genius
| Frank Donovan
|
|-
| 2004
| Hair High
| Principal
| Voice
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2005
| The Roost
| Horror Host
|
|-
| They're Made Out of Meat
| Duncan
| Short film
|-
| 2006
| Seraphim Falls
| Minister Abraham
|
|-
| 2007
| Snow Angels
| Mr. Chervenick
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2008
| The Alphabet Killer
| Ray Gullikson
|
|-
| Synecdoche, New York
| Sammy Barnathan
|
|-
| 2009
| The House of the Devil
| Mr. Ulman
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2010
| Follow the Prophet
| Brother John
|
|-
| The Rendezvous
|
| Writer
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2012
| The Pilgrim & The Private Eye
| Leche
| rowspan="2" | Short film
|-
| Skinhead Requiem
| Priest
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2014
| Late Phases
| Father Roger Smith
|
|-
| The Shape of Something Squashed
| Douglas Whymper
|Also writer and director
|-
| 2015
| Anomalisa
| Everyone else
| Voice
|-
| 2017
| Wonderstruck
| Older Walter
|
|-
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1980
| Rage!
| Bo
| Television film
|-
| 1984
| Tales from the Darkside
| Bill Lacey
| Episode: "The Odds"
|-
| 1989
| The Equalizer
| Brandon Thorton
| Episode: "Making of a Martyr"
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1991
| Red Wind
|
| Television film; writer and producer
|-
| The Ten Million Dollar Getaway
| Mr. Y
| Television film
|-
| Monsters
| Howard Mitla
| Episode: "The Moving Finger"; Also wrote and directed two episodes
|-
| 1994
| Heaven and Hell: North and South, Book III
| Will Fenway
| 3 episodes
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1996
| Early Edition
| Frank Price
| Episode: "Pilot"
|-
| The X-Files
| John Lee Roche
| Episode: "Paper Hearts"
|-
| 2000
| The Beat
| Howard Schmidt
| 13 episodes
|-
| 2002
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
| Zephyr
| Episode: "Abra Cadaver"
|-
| 2003
| Law & Order: Criminal Intent
| Malcolm Bryce
| Episode: "Graansha"
|-
| 2004
| The Jury
| Marty McMahon
| Episode: "The Honeymoon Suite"
|-
| 2005
| Jonny Zero
| Chucky
| Episode: "No Good Deed"
|-
| 2007
| Kidnapped
| Gibson
| Episode: "Do Unto Others"
|-
| 2008
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
| Jake Berlin
| Episode: "Confession"
|-
| 2009–2011
| Damages
|Detective Victor Huntley
| 17 episodes
|-
| 2010
| Louie
| Dr. Haveford
| Episode: "God"
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2011
| The Cape
| Preston Holloway
| 2 episodes
|-
| Bar Karma
| Caleb
| Episode: "Man Walks Out of a Bar"
|-
| 2011–2014
| Hell on Wheels
| Reverend Nathaniel Cole
| 17 episodes
|-
| 2013–2014
| The Blacklist
| The Stewmaker
| 2 episodes: "The Stewmaker", "The Decembrist"
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2014
| How and Why
| Man in Black Parka
| Pilot
|-
| The Leftovers
| Casper
| Episode: "The Guest"
|-
| 2015–2018
| 12 Monkeys
| Pallid Man
| 18 episodes
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2016
| Horace and Pete
| Tom
| rowspan="2" | 3 episodes
|-
| Quarry
| Oldcastle
|-
| 2017
| Dimension 404
| Bob
| Voice; Episode: "Bob"
|-
| 2018
| Animals.
| Phil's Dad
| Voice; Episode: "The Democratic People's Republic of Kitty City"
|}
References
External links
- GreenCine Daily Podcast with Tom Noonan for The House of the Devil