Stanley Anderson

Stanley Anderson (October 23, 1939 – June 24, 2018) was an American character actor who played Drew Carey's father on The Drew Carey Show.

Born in Billings, Montana, Anderson attended Garfield Elementary School, Lincoln Junior High School, and Billings Senior High School. He graduated from San Jose State University in the 1960s with a master's degree in theatre.

He had two years of military service in Korea, where he served in a broadcasting post that he compared to the film Good Morning, Vietnam. Between returning from Korea and becoming an actor, he worked with display advertising in California.

Anderson began his professional acting career in 1967. Prior to 1990 and his work in film and television, Anderson had spent 23 years in over 200 productions as a professional actor working at Arena Stage, ACT, The Actors Company, and the California Shakespeare Festival, among others.

After undergraduate and graduate work at San Jose State University, where he appeared in 16 productions, he and his wife, actress Judith Long, moved to Seattle, Washington, where they spent three years at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. After two years at Actors Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky, Anderson headed to Washington, D.C., to join the Arena Stage. His debut with Arena Stage was in the starring role of Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Anderson went on to spend 17 years with Arena Stage, appearing in nearly 100 of their productions. During the years he was active in Arena Stage, Anderson lived with his wife and their son in Springfield, Virginia. In the mid-2000s they moved to the Los Angeles area of California.

In the early 1970s, Anderson was a member of the board of directors of Actors Company of Ann Arbor, Michigan, in addition to acting with the group.

Anderson's films include Deceived, RoboCop 3 and The Pelican Brief. He appeared in Michael Bay's movies The Rock and Armageddon; in both films, he played the role of the US president. His TV guest appearances include The Practice, The X-Files, and "Judge Vandelay" in the Seinfeld episode "The Finale". Anderson also worked as voiceover talent for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, PBS, and the History Channel documentaries.

Anderson died of brain cancer on June 24, 2018, at the age of 78.