Democratic U.S. senator from North Dakota on The West Wing. From 2000 to 2016, Begley was a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 1996, he appeared in a TV movie called The Late Shift, where he portrayed CBS executive Rod Perth. He has guest-starred on shows such as Scrubs, Boston Legal, and Star Trek: Voyager. He had a recurring guest role in season three of Veronica Mars. He appeared in the 2008 HBO film Recount, which profiled the 2000 presidential election and its aftermath, which was decided by Florida's electoral votes after the United States Supreme Court halted the counting of the state's popular vote. Begley also made an appearance on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Season 3, Episode 3, as a spokesman for Cinco. In 2003, Begley wrote and directed the musical Cesar and Ruben. It was performed at the El Portal Theatre in Los Angeles and was revived in 2007. Begley played Dr. Walter Krandall, the protagonist's former marriage counselor and fiancé of his ex-wife in the CBS sitcom Gary Unmarried. Since 2008 he has been in a series of DirecTV commercials as a "Cable Corp Inc." executive. In 2013, he appeared on the reality television show Beverly Hills Pawn. In 2016, he began appearing in Breaking Bad prequel and spinoff Better Call Saul as Clifford Main, senior partner at the Davis & Main law firm. Beginning in 2019, he appeared in Bless This Mess for duration of the two seasons that the show ran. Personal life According to a feature on the Bio channel television program Celebrity Close Calls, Begley nearly died in 1972 after being stabbed multiple times while being mugged by a street gang. His attackers were teenagers who were later apprehended by the police. Begley was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2016. Activism Environmental activism Since 1970, Begley has been an environmentalist, beginning with his first electric vehicle (a Taylor-Dunn, golf cart–like vehicle), recycling, and becoming a vegan. He promotes eco-friendly products like the Toyota Prius, Envirolet composting toilets and Begley's Best Household Cleaner. Begley's former home is in size, using solar power, wind power via a PacWind vertical-axis wind turbine, an air conditioning unit made by Greenway Design Group, LLC., and an electricity-generating bicycle used to toast bread. In 2008 he stated that he was paying around $300 a year in