- Sometimes confused with fellow character actor William Sanderson, who has sometimes also played the same type of greasy, eccentric Southern lowlifes. Since they have often gone after the same roles, the two actors have actually become friends.
- Although he has made a career out of playing an assortment of rednecks, hillbillies and slow-witted rural Southerners, he was actually born in Jersey City, New Jersey, and raised on the East Coast.
- Was originally considered for the role of the two Darryls' brother Larry on the sitcom Newhart (1982), which went to William Sanderson.
- In 1991, he appeared in films with that year's Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. He played a funeral home director in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and the cook in City Slickers (1991).
- Started his acting career as an apprentice in summer stock and eventually worked his way up as a character actor.
- Was working in a car parts store in Jersey City when he stumbled upon acting and was hit by the bug after seeing an off-Broadway show ("Scuba Duba") in 1967.
- Has a daughter, Polly Walter, who wrote the screenplay to Cat Dragged In (2008), a movie Tracy also starred in.
- He appeared in two Best Picture Academy Award winners: Annie Hall (1977) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
- He was awarded the 1985 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor as the philosopher mechanic Miller in the sci-fi crime comedy Repo Man (1984).
- Compact-looking character actor whose known for his seamy, character roles in over 100 films and television series.
- In the movie Erin Brockovich (2000), he played Charles Embry, the PG&E employee who supplied the title heroine the memo that tied an executive at the PG&E corporate headquarters to knowledge of the Hinkley station water contamination.
- He appeared in the music video "Sleeping Bag" by the blues-rock band ZZ Top (1985).
- Attended and graduated from St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, New Jersey.
- Born on the same date as John Larroquette. Both men appeared in movies with Kim Basinger: Larroquette in Blind Date (1987) and Walter in Batman (1989).
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