Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Gerald McRaney
Gerald Lee "Mac" McRaney is an American television and movie actor.
McRaney was born in Collins, Mississippi, of Scottish and Choctaw Indian ancestry. He attended college at the University of Mississippi. Before hitting it big as an actor, McRaney worked in the Louisiana oil fields. He also starred in 1969's Night of Bloody Horror, a low-budget slasher film in which he played the lead character Wesley Stuart. Wesley goes out on a killing spree while experiencing the nightmares of his brother, who was murdered 13 years prior.
He holds the distinction of being the last guest star to meet Marshal Matt Dillon in a gunfight on Gunsmoke (1955), in the episode "Hard Labor," which was first broadcast on February 24, 1975 (he lost). He also played a deranged police chief in an episode of The Incredible Hulk, as a receptionist in two different episodes of The Rockford Files as well as a heroin-addicted Vietnam veteran in one episode of Hawaii Five-0. McRaney is perhaps best known as one of the stars of the 1980s television show Simon & Simon. A veteran actor of television, he is also known for starring roles on Major Dad and Promised Land, and a recurring role on Designing Women. McRaney portrayed General Alan Adamle in two episodes of the NBC drama The West Wing. He played a prominent role in the second and third seasons of HBO television series Deadwood, as famed gold prospector George Hearst. McRaney had a starring role in the CBS post-apocalyptic series Jericho as Mayor Green. In addition, he has acted in many television films such as Not Our Son (1995), Going for Broke (2003), as General George S. Patton in Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004), and appeared as Dan's father in One Tree Hill.