Philip Casnoff Explained

Philip Casnoff
Birth Date:	3 August 1949
Birth Place:	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education:	Central High School (1967)
Alma Mater:	Wesleyan University
Occupation:	Actor director
Years Active:	1978-present
Known For:	Television film theater
Spouse:	Roxanne Hart (m. 1984)
Children:	2

Philip Casnoff (born August 3, 1949) is an American actor and director, known for his roles in TV series and on Broadway.^[1] ^[2] He is probably best known for his portrayal of the sadistic, egomaniacal antagonist Elkanah Bent in the miniseries North and South.

Early life and education

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 3, 1949,^[3] Philip Casnoff graduated in the 226th Class from Central High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1967,^[4] and later from Wesleyan University,^[3] where he first caught the acting bug.^[5]

Personal life

Casnoff married actress Roxanne Hart.^[6] They have two sons.^[7]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Message from Space	Aaron	film debut
1980	Gorp	Bergman
1980	Christmas Evil	Ricardo Bauma
1992	Jersey Girl	Mitchell
1994	Saints and Sinners	Detective Battaglia
1994	Temptation	Michael Reddick
1998	How Stella Got Her Groove Back	Kennedy
2006	Material Girls	Victor Marchetta
2010	Mineville	Mr. Johnson	also Associate Producer
2011	Grace Face	Steve	Short Film
2013	Sex & Marriage	Rosen	Direct-to-Video
2015	Ted 2	Playstation Owner	uncredited
2015	Sight Unseen	Rusty Sampson
2016	Harvey's Dream		Short Film Nominated – Sanford International Film Festival Award for Best Acting Duo (shared with Roxanna Hart)
2017	The Post	Chalmers Roberts
2023	Rachel Hendrix	Jerry Rorty

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	American Playhouse	unknown	Episode: "King of America"
	The Renegades	Dancer	Television Movie
	Remington Steele	Ben Pearson	Episode: "License to Steele" Credited as Philip Sanoff
1983	The Hamptons	David Landau	Episode: "#1.1"
1984	George Washington	Lafayette	Television Miniseries Episode: "#1.1"
	ABC Afterschool Special	Harvey Schmidt	Episode: "Out of Step"
	The Edge of Night	Brian Murdock	33 Episodes
	Tales from the Darkside	Chris Wood	Episode: "Slippage"
1985	Crazy Like a Fox	Gino	Episode: "Bum Tip"
1985	North and South: Book I	Major Elkanah Bent	Television Miniseries (8 Episodes)
1986	North and South: Book II	Major Elkanah Bent	Television Miniseries (8 Episodes)
1987	Hands of a Stranger	Marty Loftus	Television Movie
1988	The Red Spider	Detective Patrick Shaunessy	Television Movie
1990	One Life to Live	Rob Riviera	5 Episodes
1991	Ironclads	Lieutenant Guilford	Television Movie
1991	Red Wind	Charlie Lapidus	Television Movie
1992	Sinatra	Frank Sinatra	Television Miniseries (4 Episodes) Nominated – American Television Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
1994	North and South: Book III	Elkanah Bent	Television Miniseries (3 Episodes)
1994–1995	Under Suspicion	Internal Affairs Detective James Vitelli	Series Regular (18 Episodes)
1995	Sisters	Jack Chambers	3 Episodes
	Zoya	Simon Hirsch	Television Movie
	Chicago Hope	Paul Accosta	Episode: "Christmas Truce"
1996	Special Report: Journey to Mars	Nick Van Pelt	Television Movie
	The Nanny	Cantor Gary Isaacs	Episode: "The Cantor Show" Performer: "Bayom Hahu" and "Change My Mind"
	Wings	Eric	Episode: "Too Beautiful for You"
	Promise Land	Bill Carter	Episode: "Little Girl Lost"
1997	Little Girls in Pretty Boxes	Greg Radkin	Television Movie
1997	The Hunger	William Cobb	Episode: "Necros"
1998	Blood in Her Hands	Richard Davis	Television Movie
	Players	John Fellowes	Episode: "Con-spiracy"
	Tempting Fate	Richard Davis	Television Movie
	Chameleon	Cortez, IBI Chief	Television Movie
	The Defenders: Taking the First	John Walker	Television Movie
	ER	Dr. Dan Litvak	Episode: "Masquerade"
1999	Fantasy Island	unknown	Episode: "Innocent"
	The Practice	Danny Rogers	Episode: "Of Human Bondage"
	Walker, Texas Ranger	Harris	Episode: "Livegirls.now"
	Diagnosis Murder	Grant Connor	Episode: The Seven Deadly Sins"
1999–2000	Oz	Nikolai Stanislofsky	Recurring Role (13 Episodes)
2000	Chicken Soup for the Soul	unknown	Episode: "14 Steps/Damaged Goods/Ballerina Dreams"
	Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye	Mackey, Dusin's Boss	Television Movie
	For All Time	Al Glasser	Television Movie
2000–2005	Strong Medicine	Chief of Staff Dr. Robert Jackson	Recurring Role (108 Episodes) Director (8 Episodes)
2001		Ilya Korska	Episode: "Pixies"
2002		Jack Santon	Television Movie
	Frasier	Dr. Bernard Gadston	Episode: "War of the Words"
	Law & Order	Bill Talbot	Episode: "Slaughter"
2005		Assistant District Attorney Nick Forster	Episode: "The Line"
2005–2006	Monk		Director (2 Episodes)
2006	Without a Trace	Donald Clarence	Episode: "Candy"
2006	Numb3rs	Maurice Connors	Episode: "Longshot"
2007	Crossing Jordan	Dr. Sanchez	Episode: "Sleeping Beauty"
2008	Jane Doe: Eye of the Beholder	Lance Saxon	Television Movie
2009–2010	Dollhouse	Clive Ambrose	3 Episodes
2010	Criminal Minds	James Stanworth	Episode: "25 to Life"
2011		Bo	Episode: "Zuma Canyon"
	Field of Vision	Kenny McFarland	Television Movie
	The Whole Truth	unknown	Episode: "The End"
2011–2012	NCIS	Sean Latham	2 Episodes
2012		Jonah Clyborn	Episode: "Seeing Red"
	Franklin & Bash	Gleen Friedman	Episode: "Viper"
	Grey's Anatomy	Dr. Mel Barnett	Episode: "Going, Going, Gone"
2013	Lucky 7	Charlie	2 Episodes
2014	Perception	Gordon Williams	Episode: "Obsession"
2015	Scream Queens	Steven Munsch	Episode: "Beware of Young Girls"
2016	Elementary	Jack McGill	Episode: "To Catch a Predator Predator"
2017	Homeland	Christopher	Episode: "America First"
	Chicago P.D.	Mr. Dowd	Episode: "Grassing for Salvation"
	One Mississippi	Ezra Weiss	Web Series (2 Episodes)
2018	Madam Secretary	Judge Nathan Mayfield	Episode: "Family Separation: Part 1"

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972–1980	Grease	Teen Angel / Johnny Casino u/s Danny Zuko (replacement)	Royal Theatre 20 Performances
1976	Rockabye Hamlet	Hamlet / Laertes (standby)	Minskoff Theatre 7 Performances
1988	Chess	Frederick "Freddie" Trumper, The American	Broadway – Imperial Theatre 68 Performances Theatre World Award
1988–1989	The Devil's Disciple	unknown role (replaced Richard Dudgeon)	Circle in the Square Theatre
1989	Up Against It	Ian McTurk	Off-Broadway – Joseph Papp Public Theater/ LuEsther Hall 16 Performances
-	1990	Shogun: The Musical	John Blackthorne	Broadway – Marquis Theatre 72 Performances
2007	Chicago	Billy Flynn (replacement)	Richard Rodgers Theatre

Soundtrack

Singles

Year	Title	Album
1988	"Freddie's Entrance"	Chess
	"Argument" (with Judy Kuhn)
	"The American and Florence" (with Judy Kuhn)
	"One Night in Bangkok" (and Ensemble)
	"Who'd Ever Think It?"
	"Winning" (with Dennis Parlato)
	"Freddie Goes Metal"
	"Pity the Child"
	"Endgame" (with Paul Harman, Kurt Johns, Kip Niven, David Carroll and Ensemble)

External links

- - Central High School of Philadelphia - 226th Class

Notes and References

Web site: Lipton . Michael A. . Ring-a-Ding Ringer . People.com . 1992-11-09 . 2010-10-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20180215143637/http://people.com/archive/ring-a-ding-ringer-vol-38-no-19/ . dead . February 15, 2018.
Web site: Summer 2008: Fox/MGM . Nbrmp.org . 2010-10-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101014183047/http://nbrmp.org/features/Summer2008FoxMGM.cfm . October 14, 2010 . dead .
[John A. Willis|Willis, John]
Web site: Notable Alumni – Central High School. centralhs.philasd.org. en-US. 2018-05-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20200806193442/https://centralhs.philasd.org/about-central-high-school/famous-alumni/ . live . August 6, 2020.
Norborn, Mary Ann (May 5, 1986). "The dastardly duo: Philip Casnoff, a 'North and South' sinner". USA Today. p. 3D. Retrieved April 23, 2025. "A native of Philadelphia, Casnoff began acting while a student at Connecticut's Wesleyan University. "It was my dad's plan that I become a doctor. That's what he wanted for himself before World War II interfered," says Casnoff. [...] CASNOFF: For the role of North and South heavy Elkanah Bent, he remembered a professor he didn't like. As for Elkanah's affair with Ashton (Terri Garber), 'There is a sickness to their passion.'"
News: Miller . Bruce R. . Now producers cry, 'We gotta have Hart' . April 23, 2025 . The Sioux City Journal . May 16, 1986 . A 8. .
News: Lavin . Cheryl . Hart Fond Of Hot Fudge Marshmallow Sundaes . April 23, 2025 . Daily Gleaner . August 18, 1995 . Canada, New Brunswick, York, Fredericton . Leisure 2. .