Daniel von Bargen
Daniel von Bargen was an actor best known for playing George Costanza’s dim-witted boss Mr. Kruger during the final season of Seinfeld. Although he only appeared in four episodes of the hit NBC comedy as the incompetent owner of Kruger Industrial Smoothing, they included memorable scenes such as George’s appeal for a nickname during the “Koko” vs. “T-Bone” debate.
He also appeared as the hook-handed, eye-patch-wearing Commandant Edwin Spangler on 15 episodes of Malcolm in the Middle, where he butted heads with Christopher Masterson’s character Francis.
Von Bargen had a long list of television credits, and many memorable guest roles on hit shows, such as his appearances on two episodes each of The West Wing, NYPD Blue and New York Undercover. He also held guest spots on the series Law & Order, Guiding Light, All My Children, The Pretender, The X-Files, Party of Five, Fantasy Island, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Judging Amy and Without a Trace.
Daniel von Bargen was an actor best known for playing George Costanza’s dim-witted boss Mr. Kruger during the final season of Seinfeld. Although he only appeared in four episodes of the hit NBC comedy as the incompetent owner of Kruger Industrial Smoothing, they included memorable scenes such as George’s appeal for a nickname during the “Koko” vs. “T-Bone” debate.
He also appeared as the hook-handed, eye-patch-wearing Commandant Edwin Spangler on 15 episodes of Malcolm in the Middle, where he butted heads with Christopher Masterson’s character Francis.
Von Bargen had a long list of television credits, and many memorable guest roles on hit shows, such as his appearances on two episodes each of The West Wing, NYPD Blue and New York Undercover. He also held guest spots on the series Law & Order, Guiding Light, All My Children, The Pretender, The X-Files, Party of Five, Fantasy Island, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Judging Amy and Without a Trace.
In films, he typically played an authority figure, such as his role as a member of the Air Force in Broken Arrow, a SWAT communicator in The Silence of the Lambs, a police officer in both Basic Instinct and Super Troopers, a secret service agent in I.Q., a warden in Amistad, a federal agent in The Majestic, a sheriff in The Postman and, perhaps most famously, a Southern lawman in pursuit of George Clooney’s character Everett in O Brother, Where Art Thou? He also had small roles in the Woody Allen film Shadows and Fog and Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia.
Von Bargen died March 1, 2015, in Montgomery, Ohio. He was 64.
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