Actor Seymour Cassel, frequent Cassavetes collaborator, dies

LOS ANGELES – Journeyman character actor Seymour Cassel, who appeared frequently in the films of John Cassavetes and Wes Anderson, has died. His daughter Dilyn Cassel Murphy says Monday that he passed away. He was 84.

Born in Detroit, he made his way to New York in the 1950s to pursue acting. It was there that he met Cassavetes and made his film debut in his 1958 feature “Shadows.”

He’d go on to work for Cassavetes often, with roles in “Faces,” which earned him a best supporting actor nomination in 1969, “Minnie and Moskowitz,” ”Opening Night” and “Love Streams.”

Later, he’d find a fruitful collaboration with filmmaker Wes Anderson as Bert Fischer in “Rushmore,” the ill-fated Esteban in “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou” and Dusty the elevator operator in “The Royal Tenenbaums.”