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Adults in John Hughes teen movies don't usually come off so well. There's that mean janitor in The Breakfast Club, the Javertesque vice-principal in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and the endless parade of white-trash freaks in the Vacation series (which Hughes wrote). Occasionally, though, Hughes writes an adult character who treats the spoiled -- oops, I mean "misunderstood" teen protagonist with love and respect. There is a moment, in Sixteen Candles, when a father, in the midst of planning a hellish wedding for his elder daughter, hangs out with his forgotten middle child (played by Molly Ringwald) and ruefully talks shit about his future in-laws. It's a genuine moment (another rare thing in a John Hughes movie), and the actor who makes it work -- wearing a bathrobe and a hangdog expression -- is Paul Dooley.

Paul Dooley doesn't always play dads, of course -- he recently played an alien abductee in Waiting for Guffman -- but playing secondary dad characters to heroic daughters is what he does most, and does best. He's been a dad to Julia Roberts (Runaway Bride), Toni Collette (Clockwatchers), Sherry Stringfield (ER), Bess Armstrong (My So-Called Life), and originated the role of Gus Stemple (father to Helen Hunt's Jamie) on Mad About You. He played a character named only "Dad" in Breaking Away.

When not playing some pulchritudinous actress's dad, Paul Dooley plays judges. He has done so in Happy, Texas, on Dharma & Greg, and, most recently, on The Practice.

The natural next step for Paul Dooley is to play Amy Brenneman's dad on Judging Amy.