Veteran character actor Dan Ziskie, known for his recurring roles in Netflix’s “House of Cards” and HBO’s “Treme,” died July 21 in New York at age 80. His family announced that Ziskie died from arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a condition that affects blood flow by stiffening the arteries.
Born August 13, 1944, in Detroit, Ziskie built a distinguished career spanning television, film, and theater over four decades. He portrayed Vice President Jim Matthews in six episodes of “House of Cards” from 2013 to 2017, appearing alongside Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, and Michael Kelly in the groundbreaking Netflix political drama.
On “Treme,” Ziskie played C.J. Liguori, a New Orleans construction magnate and political fundraiser who worked alongside Jon Seda’s character Nelson Hidalgo. He appeared in 18 episodes across the show’s final three seasons from 2011 to 2013, portraying a character who sought to profit from the rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Katrina.
Ziskie’s family described him as having remarkable talent and being a keen observer of life. They noted that “he was as vibrant and multifaceted as the characters he portrayed on stage and screen.”
After graduating from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in English, where he excelled in track and field and competed in relay races, Ziskie worked various jobs including as a crewman on a Great Lakes freighter and briefly as a journalist. His path to entertainment began when he joined Chicago’s Second City comedy troupe in the early 1970s, working alongside future stars John Belushi, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Joe Flaherty.
Ziskie made his Broadway debut in 1980 as an understudy in the revival of Paul Osborn’s “Morning’s at Seven.” He later appeared as a replacement actor in the original production of Herb Gardner’s “I’m Not Rappaport” from 1985 to 1988, and returned to Broadway in 2004 for Arthur Miller’s “After the Fall.”
His television career began in 1980 with appearances on “The Edge of Night” and expanded to include roles in numerous series throughout the 1980s and beyond. Ziskie appeared on “Remington Steele,” “The Equalizer,” “Newhart,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Murphy Brown,” “L.A. Law,” and “Quantum Leap.” He frequently portrayed government officials, including senators on CBS’s “Person of Interest” in 2012 and NBC’s “The Blacklist” in 2014.
Notable among his government roles was his portrayal of U.S. Attorney General who orders President Logan’s dismissal on the fifth-season finale of Fox’s “24” in 2006. He also appeared on Dave Chappelle’s “Chappelle’s Show” in 2004, playing a character named Frank Niggar in a 1950s-set black-and-white sketch featuring Chappelle as a neighborhood milkman.
Ziskie was a regular cast member on the ABC conspiracy series “Zero Hour” in 2013, starring alongside Anthony Edwards, though the show lasted only 13 episodes. His later television appearances included “ER,” “The Practice,” “Sex and the City,” “NYPD Blue,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Ugly Betty,” “Louie,” “Gossip Girl,” “The Good Wife,” “Gotham,” “Elementary,” “Blue Bloods,” “Madam Secretary,” and “Bull.”
His film career included roles in Robert Altman’s “O.C. and Stiggs” (1985), Chris Columbus’s “Adventures in Babysitting” (1987), where he played the father, “Troop Beverly Hills” (1989), Roger Donaldson’s “Thirteen Days” (2000), and Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York” (2008). He also appeared in “Concussion” (2015), portraying NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
Beyond acting, Ziskie was an accomplished photographer who developed his skills after receiving his first camera, a Brownie, from an uncle who operated a camera store in Detroit. He specialized in New York street photography and published a collection titled “Cloud Chamber” in October 2017. His photographic work was featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, and the Financial Times.
His family noted that Ziskie enjoyed traveling and exploring complex topics including the nature of the cosmos and quantum physics. They described his legacy as extending beyond his family, with colleagues and friends remembering him as a creative, thoughtful, and interesting man whose presence enriched their lives.
Ziskie is survived by his brother David and sister-in-law Cynthia, his nephews Jesse, Brett, and Austin, and their six children. His final screen credit was a role in the miniseries “The Bite” in 2021, and he was set to appear in the upcoming film “Very Close Quarters.”