Dan Hedaya (born July 24, 1940) is an American actor. While a student at Tufts University, he began performing at the campus theater. He often plays sleazy villains or uptight, wisecracking individuals; two of his best-known roles are as a cuckolded husband in the Coen brothers' crime thriller Blood Simple, and the scheming Nick Tortelli on the sitcom Cheers.
In Detroit, a lonely pop culture geek marries a call girl, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood. Meanwhile, the owners of the cocaine, the Mob, track them down in an attempt to reclaim it.