Крид Брэттон: от The Grass Roots до «Офиса»

American actor and musician
the musician and actor

Creed Bratton (born William Charles Schneider in 1943) is an American actor, singer and musician. A former member of the rock band the Grass Roots, he is best known for playing a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom The Office, which earned him five nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

Bratton was born William Charles Schneider in Los Angeles, and grew up in Visalia, California, a town near Sequoia National Park.

Bratton adopted his new name while on a global excursion as a traveling musician. He traveled through Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He played guitar at a large folk festival in Israel, appearing with his group the Young Californians. Fellow American and guitarist Warren Entner witnessed Bratton's performance and asked to give him a call when he got back to the United States. In 1966, they formed a partnership and recruited the remaining members needed for their group, the 13th Floor. Bratton played lead guitar, Rick Coonce played drums, Entner played rhythm guitar and Kenny Fukomoto played bass. The Young Californians recorded a demo and sent it to Dunhill, a new record company headed by Lou Adler.

Producers/songwriters P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri heard the demo and liked it. They needed new band members for a folk rock group that they had created in 1965. The 13th Floor lost their bass player to the draft during this time, and quickly recruited Rob Grill, changing the band's name to the "Grass Roots" for prior name recognition. The group went straight to the Top 10 with the song "Let's Live for Today" in 1967 and toured the United States. Iconic hit songs such as "Midnight Confessions" cemented the group's standing as major contributors to the rock music scene. The Grass Roots had top songwriters offering their best songs to them and wrote many songs themselves. For their major songs, music on the recordings was played by the LA studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. Bratton co wrote the songs "Beatin' Round the Bush", "No Exit" and "Hot Bright Lights", and self composed "Dinner for Eight" and "House of Stone". He sang lead vocals on "This Precious Time" and "Dinner for Eight". Bratton played with the group on its albums Let's Live for Today, Feelings, Golden Grass (a compilation) and Lovin' Things. Three of the albums charted, and Golden Grass received a gold record certification. He took part in ten of the group's singles, eight of which charted; "Midnight Confessions" received a gold record certification. The Grass Roots played at the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival on Sunday, June 11, 1967, during the "Summer of Love" as their top ten hit "Let's Live for Today" was hitting the airwaves. Though the music festival occurred before the Monterey Pop Festival, it was not filmed as was the latter festival (see List of electronic music festivals). On Sunday, October 27, 1968, the group played at the San Francisco Pop Festival and then played at the Los Angeles Pop Festival and Miami Pop Festival in December as the top ten hit "Midnight Confessions" was becoming popular. In April 1969, Bratton became frustrated by Dunhill's refusal to allow the band to write its own songs and play the instruments on its records (although the members did play alone at concerts). After a disastrous appearance at the Fillmore West in April 1969, Bratton was asked to leave the band. On January 18, 2014, Bratton joined his friend Zachary Scot Johnson for a duet for the 500th consecutive day of the thesongadayproject on YouTube.

Bratton began to pursue an acting career in 1975. He has appeared in films such as Mask and Heart Like a Wheel. He was a cast member, playing a fictional version of himself, on NBC's Emmy and SAG award winning The Office. In a deleted scene from the episode "Booze Cruise", he speaks about his time with the Grass Roots. In Season 3 Episode 10 "A Benihana Christmas", Creed sings a karaoke rendition of his song "Spinnin' N Reelin'" during the Christmas party. In a deleted scene from Season 3 Episode 21 "Product Recall", the reporter from the Scranton Times recognizes him as Creed Bratton from the band the Grass Roots and mentions that he wrote his obituary. In the episode "Money", he says "he never goes bankrupt", as all his debt "is always transferred to William Charles Schneider" (which is his birth name), while holding an allegedly fake passport on camera. In the series finale, his character is revealed to be a part of Grass Roots, and was arrested after being a wanted fugitive living at the Dunder Mifflin office. This episode also features Bratton performing his song "All the Faces". In 2008, he appeared in a short film with Kyle Gass titled Just One Of The Gynos, which won an award for best short film at the 2008 Malibu International Film Festival. He appeared in the feature film Labor Pains in 2009. His recent film projects are The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, written, produced and directed by Paul Bunnell; I Am Ben, written, produced and directed by Mathew Brady and Gaelan Connell; and Terri produced by David Guy Levy. Terri was selected by the Sundance Film Festival 2011 to appear in the US dramatic competition. It was one of only 16 films selected from 1,102 submissions to the US dramatic category. In 2012, he appeared as special guest star in Staged with Brandon Olive who appeared with him in Just One Of The Gynos. In 2013, he starred in Saving Lincoln, a biography set during the American Civil War.

Year Title Role Notes 1983Heart Like a Wheel Photographer 1985Mask Carnival Ticket Taker 1987The Wild Pair Dalton 1988Seven Hours to Judgment Subway Worker 1991Neon City Guard at Neon Also worked as a grip 2006The Manual Maj. EdwardsShort film 2008Just One Of The Gynos Dr. Gus Callery2009Remembering NigelHimself2011I Am Ben Dr. Cobb Terri Uncle James2012The Ghastly Love of Johnny X Mickey O'Flynn The Guilt TripSuitorMelvin Smarty 2013Saving Lincoln Senator Charles Sumner 2015Band of Robbers Dobbins The Sound of MagicSRC 2018The Sisters Brothers Quarrel Saloon Guy Town 2 2021 Hero Mode James Tisdale

Year Title Role Notes 1967The Hollywood PalaceHimself (guest) 1967–1969American Bandstand4 episodes 1968With Six You Get Eggroll 1969It's HappeningEpisode: "The Grassroots"Playboy After Dark 1975Kolchak: The Night Stalker Man Entering Lab Episode "Primal Scream" 1977Quincy M. E. Young Man Episode "No Deadly Secret"Eight Is EnoughMerv Episode "Mortgage Burnin' Blues" 1986The Magical World of Disney Court ClerkEpisode: "A Fighting Choice" 1987U. S. Marshals: Waco & Rhinehart Agent JonesTelevision film 1994Secret Sins Of The Father Gas Station WorkerTelevision film 2005–2013The OfficeCreed BrattonRecurring role (seasons 1–3); main cast (seasons 4–9)SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1)Nominated SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (5) 2003–2004; 2006The Bernie Mac Show Various 6 episodes 2007–2008Today Himself (guest) 2 episodes 2008Celebrity Family Feud Himself (guest) Episode: "The Office vs. American Gladiators, Hickeys vs. Camden County" 2010The Forgotten Guy Episode: "Double Doe"Funny or Die Presents Himself 4 episodes2012Liz & DickDarryl ZanuckTelevision film 2014Adventure TimePhlannel BoxingdayEpisode: "Lemonhope Part Two"Franklin & BashJudge Patrick SemmerEpisode: "Kershaw v. Lincecum"Garfunkel and OatesKazoo ManEpisode: "Maturity" 2015 Comedy Bang! Bang! Grandfather Episode: "Ty Burrell Wears a Chambray Shirt & Clear Frame Glasses" Grace and Frankie Seth Episode: "The Bachelor Party" 2017 The New V. I. P.'s Charlie Television film2019Hello Realtor SalEpisode: "Pilot" Into the Dark George Atwood Episode: "Culture Shock"2020UploadRupert TilfordEpisode: "The Funeral"

Year Title Role Notes2008The Office: The OutburstCreed Bratton4 episodes2009The Office: Blackmail2010The Office: The MentorEpisode: "Reimbursements"The Office: The 3rd FloorEpisode: "The Final Product"In Gayle We TrustDenny Potter2 episodes2011The Office: The PodcastCreed Bratton3 episodes2012StagedVillainEpisode: "Gym Class Heroes" 2017The New V. I. P.'sCharlie