Joe Seneca (January 14, 1919 – August 15, 1996)[1] was an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for having played Willie Brown in Crossroads (1986), Dr. Meadows in The Blob (1988), and Dr. Hanes in The Cosby Show.
Life and career
Seneca was born Joel McGhee Jr. in Cleveland, Ohio. Before his acting career, he belonged to the R&B singing group The Three Riffs, which was active from the late 1940s and performed at upscale supper clubs in New York City.[2]
In the 1982 film, The Verdict, Seneca played Dr. Thompson, a small-town women's hospital physician brought in by attorney Frank Galvin (Paul Newman) to support his belief that two famous doctors' incompetence left his client alive but in a coma. Arguably his most well-known roles are that of bluesman Willie Brown in Crossroads (1986) and Dr. Meddows in The Blob (1988), the evil head of a government team sent to contain the title creature.[citation needed]
Seneca played Eddie Haynes on Matlock in the May 9, 1989 episode "The Blues Singer." He later played a murder witness in the October 13, 1993 Law & Order episode "Profile".[citation needed]
Seneca appeared in Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel" music video in 1987.
Seneca played "Blind Otis Lemon", based on Muddy Waters,[4] a homeless blues legend who gets one last chance to sing and play in a club the night before an operation that may leave him deaf, on Doogie Howser, M.D., season 2 episode 6, "Doogie Sings the Blues", October 17, 1990.
Death
He died from cardiac arrest or asthma August 15, 1996 at the age of 77. He was married to his wife, Betty Seneca, until his death.[5]
