---
name: "Anthony Heald"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/anthony-heald"
fi1m_id: "anthony-heald"
imdb_id: "nm0372217"
tmdb_id: 16293
wikidata_id: "Q573332"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "25 August 1944"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 6
average_fi1m_score: 66
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 6
updated: "2026-10-05T19:49:00.256454+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Anthony Heald

## Identity

Anthony Heald

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/anthony-heald
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** anthony-heald
- **IMDb ID:** nm0372217
- **TMDB ID:** 16293
- **Wikidata ID:** Q573332
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Heald, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q573332, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372217/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/16293

Actor. Born 25 August 1944 in New Rochelle, New York, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 25 August 1944, New Rochelle, New York, USA
- **Active:** 1991–2006
- **Also known as:** 安東尼・希爾德
- **Frequently works with:** [Anthony Hopkins](https://film.one/person/anthony-hopkins.md), [Ted Tally](https://film.one/person/ted-tally.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 66, as actor, over 6 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 70 (4), 2000s 59 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 66 to 64 across 6 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 2 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 0 of 4 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Crime 5, Thriller 5, Drama 4, Action 1, Adventure 1, Horror 1
- **Screen time:** 13 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $1,406m across 6 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Heald, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q573332, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372217/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/16293

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The Silence of the Lambs*](https://film.one/film/the-silence-of-the-lambs.md) (91), [*The Pelican Brief*](https://film.one/film/the-pelican-brief.md) (63)
- **Peacock:** [*Red Dragon*](https://film.one/film/red-dragon.md) (64)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Anthony Heald

> Anthony Heald plays men who believe they outrank everyone present and suspect they do not. His Dr Chilton in *The Silence of the Lambs* is the pick of them, and the reason he spent the following decade being asked for more of the same.

Dr Frederick Chilton runs the hospital that holds Hannibal Lecter, and in *The Silence of the Lambs* (1991) Anthony Heald plays him as a man who has mistaken the keys for the authority. He patronises Clarice Starling and expects to be admired for it. Heald does not have much screen time. He fills it with small shows of superiority that never quite cover the fear underneath, the fear of a man who knows someone cleverer is in the building and that everybody else knows it too. We disliked him inside a minute, and it took longer to notice how carefully Heald had arranged that: the polish on top, the insecurity showing through, so the dislike feels like our own discovery rather than the film's instruction.

He came to films late. Heald spent years in regional repertory theatre and taught acting in Lansing, Michigan, before moving to New York in his mid-thirties, with an Off-Broadway debut in 1980 and a Broadway debut in 1982. His first film was *Silkwood* (1983). The reputation was made on stage, in *Anything Goes* and in a Terrence McNally play, and later with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he has played Shylock. He has put it plainly himself: the career has been nearly all theatre, with film a small share, and he would like the balance to shift, though not all the way. We cannot send you to a stage performance, which is the difficulty with writing about him at all.

Chilton did what breakthroughs often do, which is narrow the offers. Through the nineties he was the lawyer or the official, Marty Velmano in *The Pelican Brief* (1993) among three Grisham adaptations, the man in the suit the hero is right not to trust. He has said he had mostly played lovable nerds before Chilton and wanted to try someone less sympathetic. He got his wish, repeatedly. Television was kinder. David E. Kelley kept finding him judges in *The Practice* and *Boston Legal*, and gave him four seasons as Scott Guber, the vice-principal in *Boston Public* (2000–2004), a prig with enough time to turn into a person. He went back to Chilton for *Red Dragon* (2002).

What he does well is detail: the voice, the carriage, the small vanities, worked out in advance so that on screen he can be quick and economical. He has said the thing he most likes to hear is that he is different from role to role, and the screen has rarely asked him to prove it. If you want to see what the theatre has been seeing for forty years, there is one film we can point you to with confidence, under Jonathan Demme, and he is in it for a few minutes, being insufferable with great care.

## Biography

Anthony Heald is an American actor. Born in New Rochelle, New York, he graduated from Michigan State University and worked in regional theatre before making his Broadway debut in the early 1980s.

He is known for portraying Dr. Frederick Chilton in *The Silence of the Lambs* (1991) and *Red Dragon* (2002). On television he played Scott Guber in *Boston Public* (2000–2004) and had recurring roles as Judge Cooper in *The Practice* and *Boston Legal*. He has also appeared in films including *The Pelican Brief* (1993), *The Client* (1994), *A Time to Kill* (1996) and *X-Men: The Last Stand* (2006).

Heald has received Tony Award nominations for his Broadway work in *Anything Goes* (1987) and *Love! Valour! Compassion!* (1995). He has performed regularly with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (6)

- *X-Men: The Last Stand* (2006), Fi1m 54, as FBI Mystique Interrogator — [page](https://film.one/film/x-men-the-last-stand.md)
- *Red Dragon* (2002), Fi1m 64, as Dr. Chilton — [page](https://film.one/film/red-dragon.md)
- *A Time to Kill* (1996), Fi1m 55, as Wilbert Rodeheaver — [page](https://film.one/film/a-time-to-kill.md)
- *The Client* (1994), Fi1m 72, as Larry Trumann — [page](https://film.one/film/the-client.md)
- *The Pelican Brief* (1993), Fi1m 63, as Marty Velmano — [page](https://film.one/film/the-pelican-brief.md)
- *The Silence of the Lambs* (1991), Fi1m 91, as Dr. Frederick Chilton — [page](https://film.one/film/the-silence-of-the-lambs.md)

## Complete filmography (53)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *A Man in Full* (2024), series, as Judge Taylor
- *Alone* (2020), as Robert
- *Old?!* (2015), Actor
- *Monday Mornings* (2013), series, as Mitch Tompkins
- *Accepted* (2006), as Dean Van Horne
- *X-Men: The Last Stand* (2006), as FBI Mystique Interrogator — Fi1m 54, [page](https://film.one/film/x-men-the-last-stand.md)
- *The Closer* (2005), series, as Howard Pierce
- *Numb3rs* (2005), series, as Walt Merrick
- *Boston Legal* (2004), series, as Judge Harvey Cooper — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/tv/boston-legal.md)
- *NCIS* (2003), series, as Guyman Purcell — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/tv/ncis.md)
- *Benjamin Franklin* (2002), series, as Jonathan Austin
- *Red Dragon* (2002), as Dr. Chilton — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/red-dragon.md)
- *Crossing Jordan* (2001), series, as Attorney McBride
- *The Ruby Princess Runs Away* (2001), as King Regal
- *Proof of Life* (2000), as Ted Fellner
- *Boston Public* (2000), series, as Scott Guber
- *8MM* (1999), as Longdale
- *Deep Rising* (1998), as Simon Canton
- *Liberty!* (1997), series, as Philip Vickers Fithian
- *The Practice* (1997), series, as Judge Wallace Cooper, Scott Guber
- *Cosby* (1996), series, Actor
- *A Time to Kill* (1996), as Wilbert Rodeheaver — Fi1m 55, [page](https://film.one/film/a-time-to-kill.md)
- *Poltergeist: The Legacy* (1996), series, as Damon Ballard
- *New York News* (1995), series, Actor
- *Bushwhacked* (1995), as Reinhart Bragdon
- *Kiss of Death* (1995), as Jack Gold
- *The Client* (1994), as Larry Trumann — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/the-client.md)
- *The Pelican Brief* (1993), as Marty Velmano — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/film/the-pelican-brief.md)
- *Frasier* (1993), series, as Corkmaster — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/frasier.md)
- *The X-Files* (1993), series, as Harold Piller — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-x-files.md)
- *The Ballad of Little Jo* (1993), as Henry Grey
- *Searching for Bobby Fischer* (1993), as Fighting Parent
- *Class of '96* (1993), series, as Professor Davis
- *Whispers in the Dark* (1992), as Paul
- *The Super* (1991), as Ron Nessim
- *The Silence of the Lambs* (1991), as Dr. Frederick Chilton — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/film/the-silence-of-the-lambs.md)
- *Postcards from the Edge* (1990), as George Lazan
- *Law & Order* (1990), series, as Ian O'Connell, Councilman Spencer Talbert — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/law-and-order.md)
- *Orphans* (1987), as Man in Park
- *Happy New Year* (1987), as Dinner Guest
- *Outrageous Fortune* (1987), as Weldon
- *Fresno* (1986), series, as Kevin Kensington
- *Kay O'Brien* (1986), series, Actor
- *A Case of Deadly Force* (1986), as Dave O'Brian
- *Spenser: For Hire* (1985), series, Actor
- *The Beniker Gang* (1984), as Mr. Uldrich
- *Teachers* (1984), as Narc
- *Murder, She Wrote* (1984), series, as Bob Kendall
- *Tales from the Darkside* (1984), series, as Englebert Ames
- *Miami Vice* (1984), series, as Commander René — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/miami-vice.md)
- *Silkwood* (1983), as 2nd Doctor at Union Meeting
- *Cheers* (1982), series, as Kevin — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/cheers.md)
- *Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys* (1976), as Lawyer Crony

## Awards

### Other awards — 1 won, 1 nominated

- Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play 1995: Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play (nominated)
- Theatre World Award 1982: Theatre World Award (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/anthony-heald