Actor James Rebhorn dies at 65

He was a neurosurgeon, a shipping magnate, a pompous headmaster, an autocratic father. He was the self-inflated authority figure whose long, narrow, aristocratic face was as well-known in films and television as his name was obscure.

James Rebhorn, a journeyman character actor seen most recently as the father of super-spy Carrie Mathison in Homeland, died on Friday at his home in the US state of New Jersey, of melanoma, his wife, Rebecca Linn, said. He was 65.

Rebhorn had more than 100 television and movie credits, including roles in Scent of a Woman and My Cousin Vinny - both released in 1992 - and Meet the Parents (2000). In the 1998 finale of Seinfeld, he played a district attorney who prosecuted the show's four main characters for idly standing by as a fat man was robbed at gunpoint.

"This group from New York not only ignored but, as we will prove, mocked the victim," Rebhorn's District Attorney Hoyt declaimed before a small-town jury. "You will see how everyone who has come in contact with these individuals has been abused, wronged, deceived and betrayed."

While Rebhorn succeeded in putting away Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer - a result the actor later described as "very satisfying" - his characters were often undone by their own treachery.

With his receding hairline and bony face, the lanky Rebhorn was often recognised, but not quite famous.