Maybe I was 7 - I probably am exaggerating a little - and immediately was plunged into the fact that there was an official place to put your fantasies. Up until then I didn't know what I would do with them all. It was very exciting for me, and I began very, very early on.

In 2010 Balaban appeared as Judge Clayton Horn the real-life judge who presided over the obscenity trial of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights Bookstore in the movie Howl. H & E Balaban Corporation operated their own movie palaces including the Esquire Theatre in Chicago. In 1999 Balaban made a guest appearance in the sitcom Friends as Phoebe Buffay's father Frank in "The One With Joey's Bag".

Robert Elmer "Bob" Balaban (born August 16 1945) is an American actor author producer and director.