David Graf

David Graf basically was Tackleberry, the trigger-happy, baby-faced maniac who treated every traffic stop like a SWAT raid, and he committed to that character across all seven 'Police Academy' movies with total deadpan glee. It's easy to underrate broad comedy like that, but landing a cartoonish role and keeping it funny for over a decade takes real timing, and he had it. Beyond the franchise he was a dependable character actor sprinkled across countless TV shows. He died far too young at 50, and watching those movies now, his gung-ho energy is exactly the kind of thing you can't fake.

David Graf (April 16, 1950 - April 7, 2001) was an American actor from Zanesville, Ohio. He is best known for playing the gun-obsessed Sergeant Eugene Tackleberry throughout all seven 'Police Academy' films. A prolific character actor, he made numerous guest appearances on television series and also worked as a voice actor. He died of a heart attack in 2001, nine days before his 51st birthday.

Name (English)

David Graf

Name (Japanese)

デヴィッド・グラフ

Reading

でゔぃっど・ぐらふ

Born

April 16, 1950 – April 7, 2001

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aries / Tiger

Origin

Zanesville, Ohio, United States

Occupation

Television actor / Film actor / Voice actor / Actor

University

Ohio State University

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%87%E3%83%B4%E3%82%A3%E3%83%83%E3%83%89%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B0%E3%83%A9%E3%83%95

Tags

• From Ohio
• Television actor
• Film actor
• Voice actor

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.