Why Schafer From Ozark Season 4 Looks So Familiar

If you've kept an eye on the entertainment industry at any point in the last 50 years, you've probably seen Bruce Davison somewhere. Though he now plays Senator Randall Schafer on "Ozark," his latest role is just one in a long list of credits he has amassed throughout his career. 

With more than 250 acting credits to his name (via IMDb), Davison is one of Hollywood's most recognizable and prolific character actors. Whether we're fans of police procedurals, science fiction movies, soap opera television series, or pretty much anything else involving the video medium, we've all probably seen Davison on screen at some point, leading us to point at the TV and yell, "Hey, it's that guy!"

To best illustrate where you might recognize him from, we've picked out a handful of Davison's most visible and memorable roles, including a few you might have forgotten about. Without further ado, let's dig into just a small sampling of Davison's most notable filmography.

Davison started acting in the late '60s and quickly rose to prominence in the business. He first appeared in a 1969 film called "Last Summer," alongside "The Waltons" actor Richard Thomas. The two would later reunite in a 1975 episode of "The Waltons." In Season 3, Episode 19 ("The Shivaree"), Davison plays a city-slicker visitor of Jefferson County, Virginia by the name of Bob Hill. Hill has come to marry a family friend of the Waltons, but quickly struggles to adjust to the country setting. Throughout the episode, Hill becomes so enraged by the odd customs of the group that he threatens to call off the wedding. Luckily, the family is able to convince him to rejoin his fiancée before the end of the episode. Sadly, in Season 4, Episode 10 ("The Loss"), Hill's wife reports that he has died in an automobile accident. 

Davison and Thomas both also starred in a 1995 TV movie called "Down, Out, & Dangerous" (via IMDb). Even more notably, they are also both in the latest season of "Ozark," though the two haven't shared any scenes yet. While their storylines seem definitively separate (Davison plays the part of a corrupt senator, while Thomas plays Wendy's father) we have to wonder if there's any chance the two might cross paths in the final seven episodes of the series.

Bruce Davison also lent his acting talents to the 1984 version of NBC's "V," a series about an alien invasion. Davison played a character named John Langley, who is first introduced in Season 1, Episode 11 ("The Hero"). In his debut episode, John quickly takes a liking to Robin Maxwell (Blair Tefkin) and works to gain the confidence of other members of the Resistance. By the end of the episode, John is hailed as a hero by the other members of the group. However, despite John's friendly appearance, he is revealed to be a Visitor spy working directly for Diana (Jane Badler). 

In Season 1, Episode 12 ("The Betrayal"), John meets with Diana and, though the two disagree on their next moves, he eventually decides to continue with his mission to impregnate Robin in order to create a half-human/half-visitor hybrid known as a starchild. By the end of the episode, John's secret identity is revealed to the Resistance and he is shot in the back before he can complete his mission. As Diana peers down at his body, she simply says, "You've disappointed me, John."

According to IMDb, Davison also makes a brief, uncredited appearance in Season 1, Episode 13 ("The Rescue"), but for all intents and purposes, his character arc is already finished by this time.

"Seinfeld" is certainly a show that had no shortage of great bit parts for character actors like Bruce Davison. In "Seinfeld," Davison played Wyck Thayer, the chairman of the Susan Ross Foundation, a charity set up in the aftermath of the sudden death of George Costanza's fiancée. The sole mission of the foundation is to disperse the funds of Susan's sizable estate, millions of dollars in cash that would have gone to George had he actually gone through with the wedding. Thayer first appears in Season 8, Episode 1 ("The Foundation"), where he introduces himself to George and seems to take great joy in exploring the many items that are not George's, as a result of Susan's untimely death via stamp poisoning. 

He reappears in the second episode ("The Soul Mate") of the season and implies at a board meeting that he believes George murdered Susan. When George works to refute these claims, Wyck is happy to watch George embarrass himself repeatedly, leading the rest of the board to come to the same conclusion. Davison makes his third and final appearance in Season 8, Episode 18 ("The Van Buren Boys") when the foundation reviews potential scholarship recipients. George picks a student who most reminds him of himself, while the others initially favor more academically prone choices. However, after George introduces his pick, the scholarship applicant begins to show sudden higher career aspirations, leading the rest of the group to embrace him and George to, once again, feel like a failure.

Comic book fans will surely recognize Bruce Davison from his role in the first two "X-Men" films, where the actor portrayed Senator Robert Kelly. In the opening moments of the 2000 film, Kelly publicly debates the Mutant Registration Act with Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). While Grey argues against the proposed law, Kelly openly worries about mutants as a potential threat to society. Some time after the speech, Kelly is kidnapped by Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) and turned into an unstable mutant by Magneto (Ian McKellen). 

After Magneto is finished with him, Kelly emerges from the water on the beach and is barely able to maintain a human shape, shifting between liquid and solid form (shocking a number of onlookers, including one Stan Lee). He seeks help for his condition at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, where the group works tirelessly to save him. As the senator contemplates his current predicament, he would seem to have some regret for his prior actions. Sadly, not even Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) can save him and the senator completely disintegrates into water in the presence of Storm (Halle Berry).

Though his character is dead from that point forward, Davison's work in the series was not quite finished. Mystique assumes his identity and instead champions mutant rights as a member of the United States Senate. Davison briefly reprised his role in 2003's "X2: X-Men United."

Davison also made two appearances in ABC's "Lost," in which he played a therapist named Dr. Douglas Brooks. Brooks first arrives in a flashback of Season 2, Episode 18 ("Dave") focused on Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia). At some point before the crash of Oceanic 815, Hurley comes to view himself as a spreader of unluckiness. Despite having nothing to do with it, he even blames himself for a deadly accident involving the collapse of an overcrowded deck. His sense of guilt grows so much that his mother commits him to the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute, where he meets Dr. Brooks. Brooks' therapy is largely successful in helping Hurley tackle a number of different mental health issues, ranging from his diet to his sense of self-worth and even an imaginary friend named Dave (Evan Handler). 

In Season 6, Episode 12 ("Everybody Loves Hugo"), Brooks returns to Hurley in the flash-sideways universe. Here, Brooks works as a therapist doing his best to help Libby (Cynthia Watros), another patient of the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute. When Libby and Hurley first reunite in a restaurant, Brooks abruptly interrupts the two, apologizing that his patient wandered from the rest of the group during a field trip. However, Hurley pursues Brooks and enquires about seeing Libby more. While Brooks is initially hesitant to allow it, Hurley manages to persuade him by making a sizable donation to Brooks' place of employment.