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While Bradley Whitford is admittedly not much of a costume person when it comes to Halloween, he does enjoy seeing trick-or-treaters donning versions of his popular on-screen characters.
“I always felt like, as an actor, I kind of gave it at the office,” The Diplomat actor, 66, tells PEOPLE about his aversion to dressing up for the holiday at home. “I don’t usually put a costume on.”
However, Whitford does get a kick out of seeing others coming by for candy as one of his many TV or film characters. “It’s been really fun when kids come and you realize that they’re dressed up as a character that you played,” he says.
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So what costumes has he seen? “A really fun character named Dan Stark that I did on a short-lived television show with Colin Hanks. That guy shows up a lot,” the actor says, referring to 2010 Fox action comedy, The Good Guys, which saw him playing a washed up, former big-shot mustachioed detective.
Other favorites include “Dean from Get Out and Eric from Billy Madison,” he says of characters he played in the 2013 Oscar-winning Jordan Peele horror movie and Adam Sandler’s hit 1995 comedy, respectively.
Surprisingly, Josh Lyman from The West Wing — his long-running, Emmy-winning role on the Aaron Sorkin political drama — didn’t make the list. But neither did his first-ever on-screen role in Dead as a Doorman, so they all can’t be winners.
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Despite not dressing up for Halloween, the October holiday does hold a special place in Whitford’s heart — it also the same day his daughter, Frances, was born. In addition to Frances, the actor is a father of three, sharing daughter Mary, 22, and son George, 25, with ex-wife Jane Kaczmarek.
“Halloween happens to be my daughter’s birthday, so it’s always been this kind of amplified, joyous occasion,” he says. “So, it’s always a big deal in our house.”
As for the go-to candy that he hands out, “it has to be Gushers,” Whitford quips, referring to his role in FruitHead, a horror parody of the brand’s iconic ’90s commercials.
