Rich Sommer

Intro

Rich Sommer is an actor whose work connects the advertising offices of Mad Men, the Broadway stage and the intimate radio conversations of Firewatch. His role as Harry Crane in the AMC series provides a familiar starting point, but his credits also include film comedy, independent drama and voice performance. Following those different projects reveals a career in which a recognizable supporting presence can become the audience's central point of contact when the form of the story changes.

Career snapshot

Sommer's professional resume records a theatre arts degree from Concordia College and an MFA in acting from Case Western Reserve University. His stage experience includes Shakespeare and modern plays, with Cleveland Play House credits ranging from Twelfth Night to Hay Fever. That training supplies a useful background to his screen career without making every later performance an exercise in classical technique. It also establishes that theatre was a substantial part of his work before his Broadway debut brought him to a wider New York audience.

The entry point

On Mad Men, Sommer plays Harry Crane within an ensemble organized around the changing world of American advertising. AMC places the series across the 1960s and into 1970, so the office is also a setting in which social and professional rules shift over time. Returning to Harry's scenes alongside the central characters can make the ensemble structure easier to appreciate: colleagues contribute their own ambitions and responses even when another person's story occupies the foreground. Sommer's continuing role gives those encounters an accumulated history.

Screen identity and style

A very different kind of continuity shapes Firewatch, in which Sommer voices Henry. Campo Santo describes Henry as a man taking a fire-lookout job in Wyoming, with supervisor Delilah accessible through a handheld radio. The player explores the landscape while conversation carries the human relationship. Here, timing, hesitation and changes in vocal emphasis must do work that a close-up might handle in a television scene. The developer's audio tour offers a further route into the production and identifies Sommer's contribution in his own voice.

Collaborations and patterns

Sommer made his Broadway debut in the 2012 revival of Mary Chase's Harvey. The Broadway League records him as Duane Wilson in Scott Ellis's production at Studio 54, alongside Jim Parsons as Elwood P. Dowd and Jessica Hecht as Veta Louise Simmons. The production opened on June 14 and closed on August 5. This is the stage revival, rather than a film adaptation: keeping the production and role together helps connect Sommer's screen visibility with the specific theatrical work he was doing during the same period.

Era reflection

His film resume includes Doug in The Devil Wears Prada, Brian in The Giant Mechanical Man and Robert in Hello, My Name Is Doris. Those titles provide several ways to look beyond the long-running television role. Further television appearances include The Office, Elementary and GLOW, while his stage credits include Bradley in Buried Child and Chris Wyatt in The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin. The range is useful as a viewing map, rather than a claim that every part has the same size or dramatic purpose.

Legacy and rediscovery

The gallery presents two separate public-appearance photographs, from 2010 and the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival period. These show Sommer as a performer attending events, rather than as Harry Crane or another character. For a compact introduction to his work, compare a Mad Men episode with the voice-led storytelling of Firewatch, then explore the film or theatre credits that appeal most. The comparison draws attention to how an actor can maintain a recognizable presence while the audience's access to face, body and voice changes.

Selected roles

• Mad Men: Harry Crane — Television
• The Devil Wears Prada: Doug — Film
• Harvey: Duane Wilson — 2012 Broadway revival
• Firewatch: Henry (voice) — Video game

A career in pictures

Two distinct public-appearance photographs document Sommer during his television and film career.

Public appearance (2010)

Rich Sommer

Photograph by Romain Brami.

Tribeca appearance (2012)

Rich Sommer

Photograph by Sachyn Mital.

Rewatch notes

• Sommer plays Harry Crane in Mad Men.
• His 2012 Broadway debut was as Duane Wilson in Harvey.
• He voices Henry in Firewatch.