He came to the United States at the age of 19 and studied at Quincy University in Quincy, Illinois. He would later join the United States Army to speed up the process to U.S. citizenship, which he would gain in 1959. He taught English at Western Illinois University in the early 1970s before entering the acting profession in 1977.

He started acting on the theatrical stage before going into television and film. His first film role came in the 1981 biopic "Hudson Taylor." He would go on to appear in numerous films during his career with such credits as: "Code of Silence" (1985), "The Manhattan Project" (1986), "Moonstruck" (1987), "Tin Men" (1987), "Suspect" (1987), "Eight Men Out" (1988), "Frantic" (1988), "Say Anything" (1989), "Barton Fink" (1991), "In the Line of Fire" (1993), "Striking Distance" (1993), "The Hudsucker Proxy" (1994), "Reality Bites" (1994), "The American President" (1995), "Primal Fear" (1996), "The Broken Hearts Club" (2000), "Dan in Real Life" (2007) and "Flipped" (2010). He appeared on various television series during his career such as: "H.E.L.P.," "The Human Factor," "Cheers," "3rd Rock from the Sun," "Becker," "The Simpsons," "Burn Notice," "ER," "In Treatment," and "Hot in Cleveland," in addition to "Frasier." After Frasier ended, he went back to his theatrical roots, appearing in "Prelude to a Kiss" on Broadway and "The Outgoing Tide" and "The Birthday Party" in Chicago. He also did voice work for several animated features during his career, including "Antz" (1998), "The Iron Giant" (1999), and "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (2001). He earned both a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award and a Gold Derby TV Award and received many other award nominations for his work on "Frasier." He passed away while in hospice care.