Paul David Graf was an American actor, known for his role as Sgt. Eugene
Tackleberry in the Police Academy series of films.
Early life and education Graf was born in Zanesville, Ohio, and
later moved to Lancaster, Ohio and graduated from Lancaster High School. He
studied theatre at Otterbein College in Westerville, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio
where he graduated in 1972. He attended graduate school at Ohio State University
until 1975, when he dropped out to pursue his acting career.
Acting career Graf made his first television
appearance as a contestant on the game show The $20,000 Pyramid in December
1979, where he teamed with actress Patty Duke. As a struggling actor in the early
1980s, he also took small roles in popular sitcoms, including M*A*S*H, The
Dukes of Hazzard, Airwolf, Hardcastle and McCormick and The A-Team.
He made his film debut in 1981 when he played Gergley in the drama Four
Friends. Graf later played the trigger-happy Cadet Eugene Tackleberry
in the 1984 comedy Police Academy, and starred in each of six sequels. In 1986,
Graf had a role as Councilman Harlan Nash on the short-lived sitcom He's the
Mayor. In 1992, Graf returned to play a minor role as a police officer again for
the comedy series Seinfeld during its fourth season episode "The Ticket" and
also appeared on Night Court. He played Tackleberry for the final time in a
guest appearance on the short-lived Police Academy: The Series.
Graf also made various guest appearances following his role in the Police Academy
series, including a repeating part in The West Wing, several appearances in
Star Trek: Voyager episode and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In the latter
series, he played a Klingon called Leskit in the fifth season episode
"Soldiers of the Empire". Graf was Lt. Weismann in the movie
Suture in 1993 and Ralph Brinker in the Disney Channel movie Brink! in 1998.
Graf made a guest appearance in an episode of the short-lived ABC sitcom
Teen Angel as a camp leader for Steve Beauchamp's little sister Katie, in the
1997-1998 season. In 2000, he made an appearance on The Amanda Show as a
paramedic who accidentally swapped pagers with Amanda Bynes. He also made
an appearance on Lois and Clark The New Adventures of Superman season 2 episode
20 as a reporter for the Daily Planet. Graf also had a small role in 1995's The
Brady Bunch Movie, portraying Alice's boyfriend Sam Franklin, the butcher. In
1996, Graf also made a guest appearance in Promised Land. He played the role of
a grieving husband whose wife died while working for a company and he went there
trying to find answers to her death. Graf guest starred in several episodes
of ABC's sitcom Step By Step in the 1990s. He also starred in the second
episode of the third season of ABC's Home Improvement as angler Chuck
Norwood. Some of his last acting performances were two guest appearances
as Pentagon staff member Colonel Chase in the series The West Wing and as
Jacques Douche in the Son of the Beach TV series episode "Grand Prix". Graf's
last acting role was the Nickelodeon sitcom The Amanda Show just three months
before his death. Death
Graf died of a heart attack on April 7, 2001, nine days before his 51st
birthday, during a family wedding in Phoenix, Arizona. He was subsequently
buried at Forest Rose Cemetery in Lancaster, Ohio.
References ^ "David Graf; Played Many Film, TV
Roles". The Los Angeles Times. April 11, 2001. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
^ Actor Graf Dies ^ David Graf
.findagrave.comfg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21836 External links
David Graf at the Internet Movie Database
MSN Entertainment: Biography of David Graf
Yahoo! Movies: David Graf David Graf at Memory Alpha
David Graf at Find a Grave