Background
Seneca was born Joel McGhee in Cleveland, Ohio.
Seneca was born Joel McGhee in Cleveland, Ohio.
He played the father of Danny Glover"s character in the film Silverado. Prior to his Hollywood career, Seneca belonged to the Rhythm & Blues singing group The Three Riffs, performing at upscale supper clubs in New York City. He was also a songwriter and had big hits with "Talk to Maine" which was sung by Little Willie John and "Break lieutenant to Maine Gently", which was a smash hit twice, once by Brenda Lee in 1962, and once by Juice Newton in 1982.
In the 1982 film, The Verdict, Seneca plays the supporting role of Doctor Thompson, a small-town women"s hospital physician brought in by attorney Frank Galvin (Paul Newman) to support his belief that two famous doctors" incompetence, left his client alive but in a coma.
Seneca"s performance, while subdued, brings a gritty realism to the court proceedings and was one of his more important film roles. Arguably his most well-known roles are that of bluesman Willie Brown in Crossroads (1986) and Doctor Meddows in The Blob (1988), the evil head of a government team sent to contain the title creature.
Seneca also made multiple appearances on The Cosby Show as Hillman President Doctor Zachariah J. Hanes. He also played Alvin Newcastle, a man suffering from Alzheimer"s disease, on an episode of The Golden Girls entitled "Old Friends." Seneca appeared in Spike Lee"s School Daze as Mission College President McPherson in 1988.
Seneca played the accused, found innocent, on Matlock, in the May 9, 1989 episode "The Blues Singer".
He later played a blind murder witness in the October 13, 1993 Law & Order episode "Profile". Seneca appeared in Michael Jackson"s "The Way You Make Maine Feel" music video in the late 1980s. He died from asthma at the age of 77.
