Gerald McRaney

One of the small screen’s most reliable heavies during the early 1970’s, veteran television actor Gerald McRaney successfully made the daunting shift from bad guy to good guy roles starting in the early part of the following decade. Best known as street-smart elder brother Richard “Rick” Simon on the popular eighties detective drama, “Simon & Simon” (CBS, 1981-88), this low-key, mustachioed TV actor was a mainstay of primetime series television for thirty plus years, including, into the new millennium, such high profile shows as “Deadwood” (HBO, 2004-06) and the hit nuclear drama, “Jericho” (CBS, 2006- ).

Born on Aug. 19, 1947 in Collins, MS, McRaney began his acting career in junior high school after injuring his knee playing football. Joining the drama club, McRaney found a superb outlet for his pent-up energies and excelled especially in physical roles. Encouraged by his performances in school productions, McRaney enrolled at the University of Mississippi as a drama major. Eager to get his feet wet, however, McRaney dropped out after his freshman year – much to his later regret. Making his bones in a number of small repertory theater productions, McRaney finally broke into television with a small guest appearance on Rod Serling’s anthology series, "Night Gallery" (NBC, 1970-73), in which he played a medical student who faints at an autopsy.

Beginning in the early seventies, McRaney’s career quietly took off, thanks to his knack for playing bad guys. A favorite of television producers, the husky actor became well known for playing rednecked thugs and villains of the week on such television classics as “Gunsmoke” (CBS, 1955-1975), “Police Woman” (NBC, 1974-78), “Barnaby Jones” (CBS, 1973-1980) and “The Incredible Hulk” (CBS, 1978-1982). As the new decade dawned, however, McRaney surprised many viewers by taking on more likeable protagonist roles with equal aplomb. To wit: In 1979, McRaney was seriously considered for the role of good ole’ boy, Luke Duke on the hour-long redneck car chase that was the “The Dukes of Hazzard” (CBS, 1979-1985) – a role which surely would have made his career, had he not ultimately lost it to actor Tom Wopat.

Luckily, McRaney would not sit idle for long. Shortly after losing the Duke role, in 1981, McRaney landed his breakthrough starring role on the long-running hit, “Simon & Simon.” Finding a comfortable groove as the easy-going maverick elder brother, Rick, to co-star Jameson Parker's more straight-laced character, A.J., McRaney quickly became a popular fixture of CBS’s Thursday night line-up. In addition to providing him financial security, “Simon & Simon” also gave McRaney the opportunity to write and direct for the first time – a skill set the actor would subsequently exercise in his next major series, “Major Dad” (CBS, 1989-1993).

Apart from new opportunities offered him with a hit show, McRaney had even more reason to be a happy man, when during a 1987 guest spot on the hit TV sitcom, “Designing Women” (CBS, 1986-1993), the actor met his future wife and one of the show’s four female stars, Delta Burke. Married on May 28, 1989, the happy couple proved doubters wrong with two decades of married bliss – McRaney even standing loyally by his wife’s side during her ugly contract disputes with “Designing” producers and after she became the object of public ridicule for gaining weight.

Following the cancellation of “Simon,” the tall, balding actor continued with his tongue well in cheek as Major John McGillis on the CBS family sitcom, “Major Dad.” A comedy about a conservative marine with three young children who marries a liberal journalist, “Major Dad” was a consistent ratings-getter in the CBS line-up for much of its four-year run. Although not a veteran himself, the conservative Republican had always been very supportive of veterans. During Operation Desert Storm, he made many visits to support the soldiers, personally delivering a message that blessed the troops on winning the war and signing autographs.

In 1995, McRaney joined the cast of the revamped CBS primetime soap, "Central Park West/CPW" (the episodes aired in the summer of 1996) as a hard-nosed businessman. While he and fellow newcomer Raquel Welch (as his scheming ex-wife) brought a much-needed boost to the sagging show, the network had already written the series off before the episodes aired. Not one to worry, the ever employable McRaney’s next starring role was in the highly rated family drama, “Promised Land” (CBS, 1996-99.) A spin-off of the colossal hit “Touched by An Angel” (CBS, 1994-2003), “Promised Land” starred McRaney as a family man named Russell Greene, who, after losing his job, packs his family up in a trailer and travels cross-country. The show’s premise dealt mainly with the Greene family’s search for purpose, as they met people along the way, week after week – typical, bland CBS fare.

After a brief respite, during which the actor was treated for and successfully battled lung cancer in Houston, TX, McRaney made a return to television in 2004 with a major role on the critically lauded western drama “Deadwood” (HBO, 2004-06). Cast as powerful gold prospector George Hearst in the show’s second season, McRaney upped the ante on the menace factor, standing toe-to-toe with “Deadwood” star Ian McShane – no small feat, considering the high levels of testosterone on the show. After HBO’s controversial cancellation of “Deadwood” in 2006, McRaney landed his next project with the role of Mayor Green the post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama, “Jericho” (CBS, 2006- ).