Balaban's first notable role was on stage; he created the role of Linus in the original off-Broadway production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown in 1967.
One of his earliest appearances in film was in Midnight Cowboy (1969). In the 1970s, he appeared as Grady Garrett on an episode of Room 222, Orr in Catch-22, Elliot the Organizer in The Strawberry Statement, and the interpreter David Laughlin in the 1977 Steven Spielberg science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In 1979, he received a Tony Award nomination for his role in The Inspector General. During the 1980s he ... read more
