Garret Dillahunt -- Talented, versatile and no dim bulb

The whole appeal of acting for Garret Dillahunt is in the variety, in creating new characters and then moving on.

The 46-year-old Selah High School grad has a reputation, as "Deadwood" creator David Milch told the writer of a 2009 Esquire magazine piece, for disappearing into the work. But now here he is co-starring on "Raising Hope," a successful Fox sitcom that looks as if it could go on for years. You'd think he might be getting restless.

"I have felt that before on other shows, even shows I really love," he says in a phone interview last week during a break from shooting. "I just thought, 'When will I be able to do something else?'"

The difference with "Raising Hope" is that the shooting schedule provides 51/2 months off each year for Dillahunt to go do his Dillahunt thing. To "get that fix," as he says. Indeed, he's already shot four films for 2012 release including "Cogan's Trade" a crime drama starring Brad Pitt, Dillahunt's castmate from "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."

Directed by Andrew Dominik, who also did "Jesse James" and the 2000 cult classic "Chopper," "Cogan's Trade" looks to be another in an impressive run of film roles for Dillahunt, who in the past five years has appeared in "No Country For Old Men," "The Road" and "Winter's Bone" alongside dozens of other credits.

It's a resume that speaks not only to his versatility and status as a self-proclaimed workaholic, but to the respect he's earned from his peers. Dillahunt has become one of those actors like Harry Dean Stanton or Judy Greer who, without being a capital-S star, can command attention and elevate a film. He is an actor's actor, in other words, with the implied double-edge being that his biggest fans are not throngs of filmgoers but his peers. And despite a reluctant admission during our conversation that, sure, stardom would be nice in some ways, Dillahunt is content with that.

"I feel like I've made it," he says. "I feel trusted. They know I'm going to work hard and bring something to it."

He may be getting a little more famous anyway, these days. He's already filmed more episodes of "Raising Hope," on which he plays lovably earnest dimwit patriarch Burt Chance, than any of the other eight series he's been featured in. The show, which airs Tuesdays and began its second season in September, has become something of a sleeper hit, earning Emmy nominations for co-stars Martha Plimpton and Cloris Leachman.

"I get recognized a lot," Dillahunt says. "People want their picture taken with Burt, but it's not nearly to the point where I have to change my plans for the day."

His portrayal of Burt, a character who in lesser hands could be a cookie-cutter sitcom buffoon, is compelling for its sincerity. There's no winking at the audience as Burt accepts defeat upon comic defeat with an almost zenlike optimism. He's an easy character to root for.

"He's always described as kind of a dim bulb and, 'Oh, he's so dumb,'" Dillahunt says. "And there is a lot of that on the surface. But I think there's a lot of depth that they've done a good job creating for him."

That's another reason he hasn't gotten restless doing the show. The cast and writers have grown to know each other's capabilities and how to exploit them, he says.

"The plus side is you do kind of get comfortable," Dillahunt says. "The challenge is to keep going deeper. One of the great things about series TV is you get to explore the character and his world much deeper. ... The cast as a whole has brought more to it than might have been expected or hoped for. What's great about this team of writers is that just makes them lick their chops."

* Pat Muir can be reached at 509-577-7693 or pmuir@yakimaherald.com.