He was known for his roles as Mr. Kruger on Seinfeld, Commandant Edwin Spangler on Malcolm in the Middle, and Chief Grady in Super Troopers.

[4] In 1974, von Bargen made his television debut in Feasting with Panthers, a play about Oscar Wilde's imprisonment at the Reading Gaol, on PBS's Great Performances anthology series.

[5] Von Bargen's film credits included The Silence of the Lambs, London Betty, RoboCop 3, Basic Instinct, Broken Arrow, Truman, The Majestic, Philadelphia, O Brother, Where Art Thou?,[6][7] Snow Falling on Cedars,[5] Thinner, A Civil Action, Disney's The Kid, Super Troopers and Universal Soldier: The Return.

Von Bargen played the maniacal sorcerer Nix in Clive Barker's Lord of Illusions and the Sheriff in The Postman.

[8] Von Bargen had played Mr. Kruger, George Costanza's boss, in the ninth season of Seinfeld, and also played the recurring antagonist Edwin Spangler, the eye patch wearing Commandant in charge of Marlin Academy who’d always clash with Francis Wilkerson in the FOX comedy Malcolm in the Middle for the first three seasons.

Von Bargen's stage career included a long residency with Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island.