ALONGSIDE a successful career as a character actor in cinema and television films, William Hootkins made notable radio recordings and readings of well-known texts. His rendition this year of the unabridged Moby Dick in some 24 hours and 50 minutes was described by the critic Sue Arnold in The Guardian as “the most extraordinary performance I’ve ever heard”.

Though his bulk and abundant beard made him instantly recognisable on film, in television or on stage, Hootkins had the ability to disappear into other characters in his voice work. This talent was gloriously demonstrated when he reinvented himself as Alfred Hitchcock in Terry Johnson’s play Hitchcock Blonde (2003) in London. He seemed to grow Hitchcock’s jowls and famous profile, and beneath his immaculate enunciation of the London-born director’s voice it was impossible to detect Hootkins’s own Texan origins.

His triumph in that role should have led to a starring appearance in the play on Broadway this year, but at new year Hootkins had a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and spent the rest of 2005 undergoing treatment.

William Michael “Bill” Hootkins was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1948. His father was an oil man. He attended St Mark’s prep school in Dallas and had his first taste of acting in a drama group (another member of the group was Tommy Lee Jones). He went on to Princeton, where he studied astro-physics before transferring to oriental studies and becoming fluent in Mandarin Chinese (as well as Russian and French). He was active in the university’s theatre, the Intime.

Larger than his own too short life, Hootkins the actor inhabited even the smallest roles with memorable invention. He appeared in Nicolas Roeg’s Bad Timing (1980) as a Colonel Taylor in an improbable beard, and he made a scene-stealing appearance in the TV series Cagney & Lacey in 1983.

His first major Hollywood film was Star Wars (1977) in which he appeared as Red Six (Porkins) — he was later a favourite at gatherings of Star Wars fans. Roles such as Lieutenant Eckhardt in Batman (1989) brought him recognition in cultish circles.

Hootkins’s physical bulk reflected his passion for food. A fine cook and a gregarious entertainer, he was especially knowledgeable about Chinese cuisine.

Since training at the London Academy of Dramatic Art in the early 1970s, and marriage to Polly Abbott in 1973, he spent many years living and working in Britain where he found a niche in radio drama. The scriptwriter Mike Walker created several substantial parts for him, including the roles of Lyndon Johnson, the Texan Vice-President who succeeded JFK, and J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI.

Hootkins’s gift for friendship survived notable political arguments. As a Jew he held firmly to the cause of Israel, and he and Martin Sheen had serious disagreements over the Palestinian cause. Nonetheless, Sheen was his best man at his marriage this summer to the chef Carolyn Robb, the woman who saw him through the ravages of his cancer treatment.

He also had a gift for pricking pomposity that would earn him enemies. On meeting Val Kilmer as they set out to film the ill-fated Island of Doctor Moreau, he made the mistake of laughing when Kilmer said, “I am Batman”.

Kilmer was serious and did not forgive Hootkins, who was confined to prosthetic anonymity among the monsters of the movie — he even appeared in disguise at the wrap party. The film, however, added many anecdotes to his repertoire, and wonderful recollections of Marlon Brando.

New enthusiasms constantly entered his life, such as a sudden passion for following total solar eclipses — this made him a suspect visitor to Iran in 1999 when thousands of other watchers were ignored.

Hootkins is survived by his wife, Carolyn.

William Hootkins, actor, was born on July 5, 1948. He died on October 23, 2005, aged 57.