And I think being a good director is being able to be completely tyrannical and you?ve got to be an absolute dictator while at the same time, you have to listen and see everything because it can all change on a dime.

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.