Wesley Addy was born in 1913 in Omaha, Nebraska. He had a profilic career on the stage before beginning his movie career. His films include “The First Legion” in 1951, “My Six Convicts”, “The Garment Jungle” with Gia Scala and Kerwin Mathews and James Ivory’s “The Europeans” in 1979. He was long married to actress Celeste Holm. He died in 1996.
Gary Brumburgh’s entry:
Character actor Wesley Addy began his prolific career as a prime player on the classical stage before coming to occasional films and TV in the early 1950s. Known for his intelligent, white-collar demeanor and lean, icy, cultivated menace, the silver-haired performer, who was actually born in Omaha, Nebraska, was often mistaken as British.
Majoring in economics at the University of California in Los Angeles, Wesley switched gears and trained in summer theater on Martha’s Vineyard before trekking to New York City to pursue a professional career. In 1935, the actor made his Broadway stage debut with Orson Welles in Archibald Macleish‘s “Panic”. He continued with roles as both “Marcellus” and “Fortinbras” in Leslie Howard‘s production of “Hamlet”. Other Shakespearean roles during this early period included “Hotspur” in “Henry IV, Part I”, “Benvolio” in “Romeo and Juliet” and “Orsino” in “Twelfth Night”. He often performed the Bard in the company of such legendary interpreters as Orson Welles, Laurence Olivierand, more frequently, Maurice Evans.
World War II interrupted Addy’s early momentum but he eventually returned to the theatre following his tour of duty and played opposite Katharine Cornell in “Antigone” and “Candida”. A continued presence on Broadway, he had strong stage roles in “The Traitor”, “Another Part of the Forest”, “King Lear” and “The Leading Lady”.
Never acquiring a strong footing in the movies, Wesley changed his on-camera focus in the 1960s to TV and also sought out theatre roles, as well. In 1961, Wesley married actress Celeste Holm. Together, they proved a strong stage coupling in both comedies and dramas — “Invitation to a March”, “A Month in the Country”, “Mame”, “Candida”, “Light Up the Sky”, “Mama” and “With Love and Laughter”.
A reliable, durable performer, Wesley played suave gents and villains on TV. A major portion of his work came from daytime soaps — including The Edge of Night (1956), Days of Our Lives (1965), Ryan’s Hope (1975) and Loving (1983). Later films included Seconds(1966), Network (1976), The Europeans (1979) and The Verdict (1982). He continued to act close to the end. His last film role was as a judge in Before and After (1996) starringMeryl Streep and Liam Neeson, which was released in the year of his death. He was 83.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.ne
James Coco was born in 1930 in New York City. He made his name on Broadway acting in the plays of Terence McNally. His films include “Man of La Mancha” with Peter O’Toole and Sophia Loren in 1972, “Such Good Friends”, “The Wild Party” with Raquel Welch and Perry King in 1975. James Coco died in 1987.
Gary Brumburgh’s entry:
Born in New York City of humble means, character player James Coco was the son of Feliche, an Italian shoemaker, and Ida (Detestes) Coco. Shining shoes as a youngster with his father, his interest in acting occurred early on as a child. At age 17 he toured with a children’s theatre troupe for three years portraying Old King Cole and Hans Brinker. Intensive study with acting guru Uta Hagen led to his Broadway debut at age 29 in “Hotel Paradiso” in 1957, but he earned his first acting award, an Obie, for his performance in the 1961 off-Broadway production of “The Moon in Yellow River”. He went on to win a second and third Obie for his performances in the plays “Fragments” (1967) and “The Transfiguration of Benno Blimppie” (1977). Dark, hefty and prematurely balding, he proved to be a natural on the comedy stage and in scores of commercials (notably as Willy the plumber in the Drano ads) throughout the 1960s. Other comedy theater highlights included roles in “Auntie Mame,” “Everybody Loves Opal,” “A Shot in the Dark,” “Bell, Book and Candle” and “You Can’t Take It With You”.
In the late 60s he formed a strong collaboration with playwright Terrence McNally and appeared in an off-Broadway double-bill of his one-act plays (his one-act was entitled “Witness”) in 1968, followed by “Here’s Where I Belong” a failed 1968 Broadway musical variation of the Steinbeck play “East of Eden” that closed on opening night. Their most notable alliance occurred the following year with the play “Next,” which ran more than 700 performances and earned Coco a Drama Desk award. Sixteen years later, and shortly before Coco’s death, the two reunited for the 1985 Manhattan Theatre Club production of “It’s Only a Play”.
Coco also earned kudos for his work in Neil Simon comedies, and “The Last of the Red Hot Lovers” (1969), which was specifically written for him, earned him a Tony Award nomination as Best Actor. The two later joined forces for a Broadway revival of the musical “Little Me” and the hilarious film comedy spoofs Murder by Death (1976) and The Cheap Detective (1978), in addition to his moving support role as Marsha Mason‘s depressed gay actor/friend in Only When I Laugh (1981), which garnered his sole Oscar nomination.
Achieving stardom first on stage, Coco’s other films were a mixed bag with more misses (Ensign Pulver (1964), Man of La Mancha (1972) (as Sancho Panza), The Wild Party(1975), Scavenger Hunt (1979)) than hits (A New Leaf (1971)). On the TV screen, Coco fronted two short-lived 1970s comedy series, Calucci’s Department (1973) and The Dumplings (1976), and also appeared in daytime soaps (“The Edge of Night” and “The Guiding Light”). Throughout his career he played an amusing number of characters on such sitcoms as “Maude” and “Alice” and also played bathos and pathos to great effect, not only winning an Emmy for his dramatic performance on a “St. Elsewhere” episode but appearing opposite Doris Roberts as the brittle Van Daan couple in the TV version of The Diary of Anne Frank (1980). One of his last TV assignments was a recurring role on the sitcom “Who’s The Boss?” in 1986-1987.
In his last years, Coco received attention for his culinary talents and best-selling cookbooks. The James Coco Diet, an educational book which included chapters on menu planning and behavior modification as well as choice recipes), was just one that he promoted on the talk show circuit. It is probably not a coincidence that he often played characters with extreme food issues. Suffering from obesity (5’10”, 250 lbs.) for most his adult life, the talented actor died unexpectedly of a heart attack in New York City in 1987 at the age of 56, and was buried in St. Gertrude’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Colonia, New Jersey.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
William Demerest wasborn in 1892 in St Paul, Minnesota. His fil debut was in 1926 in “When the Wife’s Away”. Among his other film credits are “Rosalie” in 1937, “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm”, “Josette” with Simone Simon and “”The Jolson Story” in 1946 with Larry Parks and Evelyn Keyes. He was in the very popular television series “My Three Sons” with Fred MacMurray. He died in 1983.
TCM Overview:
Prolific character player of the 1930s and 40s, later on TV, typically in cranky but endearing comedy roles. Appeared in all of Preston Sturges’ Paramount films of the 1940s, most memorably as Officer Kockenlocker in “The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek” and as the tough Marine sergeant in “Hail the Conquering Hero” (both 1944). Well known as Uncle Charley on the long-running TV series “My Three Sons.”
Jeffrey Lynn was born in 1909. He made his film debut in 1938 and among his films are “Four Daughters”, “The Roaring Twenties” and “The Fighting 69th”. Jeffrey Lynn died in 1995.
Dennis Gifford’s “Independent” obituary:
Jeffrey Lynn was the tall, stalwart hero of many a Warner Brothers movie made during his seven-year contract span, which began in 1938 and was interrupted by war service. He never quite made it as a regular above- the-title star, but his good looks and sincere playing won him a place in the memories of all film fans of Hollywood’s golden age.
He was born Ragnar Lind in 1909, in Auburn, Massachusetts, and took a BA degree from Bates College, Maine. The stage called, however, and he joined a New York stock company, touring in Brother Rat, a farce about three military school cadets and their flirty girlfriends. Curiously the play was bought and filmed by Warners, but without Lynn, despite the fact that they had tried him out in a Vitaphone short film. Instead he was given a small role in Cowboy From Brooklyn (1938), a Dick Powell musical in which the best song of a sorry bunch was Johnny Mercer’s “Ride Tenderfoot Ride”.
Lynn’s manly presence registered well enough for Warners to award him a seven-year contract, and he was lucky to be cast in a strong supporting role in Four Daughters (1938). This excellent small-town soap opera starred Claude Rains as the musical father, the three Lane sisters (Rosemary, Lola and Priscilla) and Gale Page as the daughters, and a brilliant newcomer to films, John Garfield, as the shabby, self-pitying but fascinating drifter who upsets the hitherto happy family.
The film was Warners’ hit of the season, and called for an immediate sequel. With the basic story exhausted (Sister Act, by Fanny Hurst), a new screenplay was contrived around the same cast, excluding Garfield’s character who had “died”. Entitled Daughters Courageous (1939), this sort- of sequel was another big success, with Lynn’s role suitably enlarged. Warners, never the studio to retire quietly, promptly had the original film adapted once again and came up with Four Wives (1939). They followed this with a fourth film, Four Mothers (1940), each time Lynn’s role becoming more central to the story.
Meanwhile Lynn was kept busy fulfilling his contract which in typical Warner style had him play supporting roles in big pictures – The Roaring Twenties (1939), with James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart in Mark Hellinger’s terrific gangster story – and top roles in “B” pictures. He was the star of The Body Disappears (1941), in which the eccentric Edward Everett Horton makes Jane Wyman’s body disappear – literally. He invented invisibility!
In 1941 Lynn was voted as one of the Top Ten Stars of Tomorrow, an exhibitors’ poll organised by the Motion Picture Herald. He came in seventh, just two places behind Ronald Reagan. Meanwhile his films grew in stature: he supported Bette Davis and Charles Boyer in All This and Heaven Too (1940) and finally attained top billing as co-star of Underground (1942) with Karen Verne.
This was a war film, and with the United States’ entry into the Second World War, Lynn swiftly volunteered for service in the US Army Corps, where he was made a Special Intelligence Officer. He was discharged with the rank of Captain in 1946. His contract was not renewed by Warners, but he did return to the studio in 1949 to appear in Whiplash, a tough boxing film starring Dane Clark. Although he had plenty of film roles in the post-war years, including the all-star A Letter To Three Wives (1949), written and directed by Joseph J. Mankiewicz at Twentieth Century- Fox, it seemed as if Lynn’s heroic heyday was over, at least as far as cinema went. He returned to the stage and starred in many plays, including Two for the Seasaw and a revival of Dinner at Eight.
The hungry new medium of television beckoned, however, and from 1960 Lynn played the part of a rich newspaper editor in a popular daytime serial, The Secret Storm. This live television soap opera ran for five years. Roles in other series followed, including parts in Barnaby Jones and Murder She Wrote, the Angela Lansbury series which made a point of bringing back former favourites in small supporting parts. His last major work was once again for the stage; he produced The Diary of Anne Frank at the Centre Theatre, Los Angeles, in 1986.
Denis Gifford
Ragnar Lind (Jeffrey Lynn), actor: born Auburn, Massachusetts 16 February 1906; thrice married (one son, one daughter); died Burbank, California 24 November 1995.
The above “Independent” obituary can also be accessed online here.
Michael Learned was born in 1939 in Washington D.C. Her films include “Little Mo” in 1978, “Power” with Richard Gere and Julie Christie in 1986 and “For the Love of May”. Her most famous role however is that of Olivia Walton in the classic television series “The Waltons” which was a stable diet for TV fans in the 1970’s.
IMDB entry:
Four-time Best Actress Emmy Award winner Michael Learned was born on April 9, 1939 in Washington, D.C. The oldest of six daughters of a U.S. State Department employee, she was raised on her family’s farm in Connecticut. The family moved to Austria when she was age 11, and it was while attending boarding school in England that she fell in love with the theater and decided to become an actress.
Learned married Oscar winner Robert Donat‘s nephew Peter Donat, a Canadian citizen, when she was 17 years old, a marriage that lasted 17 years and produced three sons. She learned her craft while acting for the Shakespeare Festivals in both Canada and the U.S. while simultaneously raising a family. She and her husband Peter acted together with San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) in the early 1970s. Her breakthrough came when she was appearing in an ACT production of Noel Coward‘s “Private Lives”, where she was spotted by producer Lee Rich, who cast her as Olivia Walton in his new television series about a Depression era family, The Waltons (1971).
Learned won three Emmy Awards playing the role, and another Emmy for her next foray into series TV, Nurse (1981). She escaped typecasting as Olivia Walton (although she re-prised the role that made her famous in a 1995 TV-movie reunion) while appearing on numerous shows and TV movies, including top-drawer, made-for-TV specials such as the 1986 adaptation of Arthur Miller‘s American Playhouse: All My Sons (1987) with co-starJames Whitmore.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C. Hopwood
The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.
Marlyn Mason was born in 1940 in San Fernando, California. She made her film debut in 1960 in “Because They’re Young”. Her other films include “Making It” and in 1969, “The Trouble With Girls” starring Elvis Presley. She has guest starred in nearly all the major television shows of the 1960’s and 70s.
Gary Brumburgh’s entry:
Bright, vivacious leading lady Marlyn Mason was born on August 7, 1940, in San Fernando, California, and began performing at the age of 5. Encouraged and inspired by her parents, she was given singing and piano lessons while young and appeared on the local “Doye O’Dell Show” at age 9. As a young teenager, she was cast in several stage shows with the Players’ Ring Theatre troupe in Hollywood, including musical versions of “Tom Sawyer” and “Heidi,” as well as the legit plays as “Pick Up Girl” and “The Crucible”.
In 1956, the 16-year-old Marlyn moved into TV work with multiple episodes of “Matinee Theatre”. Throughout the 1960s, she would establish herself firmly into in the medium with guest parts on all the popular shows at the time. Blessed with an inviting, effervescent smile, she added spark and sparkle to such lightweight sitcoms as “My Three Sons,” “Father Knows Best,” “Gomer Pyle,” “Hey Landlord” and “Occasional Wife,” while showing off her dramatic mettle on “Burke’s Law,” “Ben Casey” (a seven part story), “Dr. Kildare,” “Laredo,” “Bonanza,” “Run for Your Life,” “The Invaders” and “Perry Mason” (the original series’ final episode). Seldom pigeon-holed, Marlyn offered a palatable range of “good girl” and “bad girl” interps during this productive time — from the sensual and alluring to the offbeat and freewheeling. One of her more notable “bad girl” roles came in the form of a faithless wife who schemes to murder her lover’s wife and set up David Janssen‘s Richard Kimble character in the process.
Marlyn’s early singing lessons paid off later when she was signed to co-star with Robert Goulet, Sally Ann Howes and Peter Falk in a special TV-musical version of Brigadoon(1966), following that with the role of Carrie in Carousel (1967) again with Goulet. This, in turn, led to her casting in the George Abbott Broadway musical production of “How Now, Dow Jones,” which starred Tony Roberts and Brenda Vaccaro. Though it was only moderately received when it opened in December of 1967 (it lasted 220 performances), Marlyn herself walked away with enthusiastic reviews.
Although the actress made her film debut at the beginning of the 1960s with an unbilled role in Because They’re Young (1960) starring Dick Clark and Victoria Shaw, Marlyn would not perk up the large screen again until the very end of the decade when she nabbed her best known cinematic part as Elvis Presley‘s girl in one of his final films. While shootingThe Trouble with Girls (1969), she was given the opportunity to share a duet with the legend on the novelty song “Sign of the Zodiac”.
The early 1970s brought Marlyn a regular role in the short-lived (one season) but critically acclaimed series _”Longstreet” (1972), as a love interest to James Franciscus. It also presented her with a highly revealing change-of-pace movie role in Making It (1971) as a cougar-type housewife who seduces one of her teacher/husband’s students (Kristoffer Tabori), and the second femme lead in the Barbara Parkins mystery Christina(1974). An abundance of guest star parts continued pouring in with roles on “Love, American Style,” “The Odd Couple,” “Vegas” and “Wonder Woman” and others. TV mini-movies became quite the rage as well and Marlyn graced a number of them — A Storm in Summer (1970), Harpy (1971), Escape (1971), the Emmy Award-winning That Certain Summer (1972), Outrage (1973), Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan (1975),Last of the Good Guys (1978), and The New Adventures of Heidi (1978).
Since the 1980s, Marlyn has continued her career with appearances in film and TV, albeit at a slimmer pace. She earned her first grandmother role on the TV movie Fifteen and Pregnant (1998), and, most recently, has been seen in a few short films in which she worked in front and behind the camera: Model Rules (2008) (also writer/producer), Big(2009) and The Bag (2010) (also writer/producer).
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
K.T. Stevens was born in 1919 in Los Angeles. She was the daughter of director Sam Wood. Her films include “The Great Man’s Lady” with Barbara Stanwyck in 1942, “Port of New York” in 1949 with Yul Brynner and in 1950, “Harriet Craig” with Joan Crawford. She died in 1994.
Gary Brumburgh’s entry:
She certainly had the requisite genes for an acting career as her father was the legendary director Sam Wood and her mother was a stage performer. K.T. Stevens wasted no time either. By the time she was 2 years old, she had made her film debut in her father’s silent classic Peck’s Bad Boy (1921), which starred Jackie Coogan. Christened Gloria Wood, she was billed “Baby Gloria Wood” as a toddler. Following high school, she decided to pursue acting full-time, taking drama lessons and apprenticing in summer stock. In 1938, she toured in two productions: “You Can’t Take It with You” and “My Sister Eileen”. The following year, she made her Broadway debut in a walk-on role in “Summer Light”, which was directed by Lee Strasberg. At this point, she was calling herself “Katharine Stevens” (after her favorite actress, Katharine Hepburn), as she did not want to ride on her famous father’s coattails. Eventually, she settled on the initials “K.T.” which she felt added mystery and flair. Although her film career subsided, she flourished on radio (“Junior Miss”) and on the Broadway stage where “The Man Who Came to Dinner” (1940), “Yankee Point” (1942) and “Nine Girls” 1943) helped boost her reputation. K.T. met actor Hugh Marlowe after they appeared together on Broadway in “The Land Is Bright” (1941). Co-starring in a 1944 Chicago production of “The Voice of the Turtle”, they married in 1946. The couple went on to grace more than 20 stage shows together, including a Broadway production of the classic film Laura (1944), in which she played the mysterious title role and he played the obsessed detective. In the 1950s, K.T. moved to TV episodics with Perry Mason (1957), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) andThe Big Valley (1965), just a few of her guest appearances. She possessed an open-faced prettiness and seemed ideal for film noir, but her chance to breakthrough never materialized despite decent roles in Kitty Foyle (1940), which was directed by her father,The Great Man’s Lady (1942) starring Barbara Stanwyck, Port of New York (1949) with Yul Brynner, Vice Squad (1953) featuring Paulette Goddard and the sci-fi film Missile to the Moon (1958). Following her 1967 divorce from Marlowe, K.T. abandoned acting for a time in favor of teaching nursery school. She eventually returned to TV and made some strides in daytime soaps, most notably The Young and the Restless (1973). She also served three terms as President of the L.A. local branch of AFTRA. K.T. had two sons, Jeffrey Marlowe, born in 1948 and Christian, born in 1951, the latter best known these days as sportscaster Chris Marlowe. She died of lung cancer in 1994.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
Dolores Michaels was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to Raymond Roscoe Michaels and his wife Esther Marie Holcomb.). Her father had been a professional baseball player who was acatcher in the Chicago Cubs.He then became a food broker.
She began studying ballet at age five, and went to New York City to study dance and drama before she graduated from Bishop Hogan High School . Her older sister, Gloria Michaels, had gone to New York City and joined the traveling cast of Brigadoon. When the musical came to Kansas City, 16-year old Dolores was inited to join them.
Michaels moved to Laguna Beach, California after she married interior decorator Maurice Martiné in 1953. They separated in 1958.
Michaels was discovered when she was doing a scene in an acting class at 20th Century-Fox‘s talent school. A group of producers and directors were in the audience, and after the scenes were finished, the audience voted on who gave the best performance. She won and got a contract with 20th Century-Fox.
Joanne Woodward was supposed to have the part of “Mildred Pritchard” in The Wayward Bus (1957), but Woodward dropped out to star in The Three Faces of Eve, and the part went to Michaels at the last minute, her first acting role. United Press International said in a review of the film that Michaels’ “torrid” scene, a seduction scene in a hayloft where she makes a pass at the bus driver (Rick Jason), “manages to steal the sexiest scene in the picture,” over better known sirens as Jayne Mansfield and Joan Collins. And also said that Hollywood had not had a scene like this since Jane Russell in The Outlaw. Director Victor Vicas shot the scene twice, an “A” scene and a “B” scene because of the censors.
Michaels wanted to be taken seriously as an actress and not be treated as a sex symbol. When one reporter asked her for her measurements, she responded, “You can go to the wardrobe department and find out.” She also said that she had never been asked to go to the studio photo gallery, stating, “That’s part of the old Hollywood glamor nonsense. Also, it’s in bad taste. I’m not a sexpot, I’m an actress”. Later she told Hollywood columnist Erskine Johnson: “I favor the truly sensual photograph over the coyly teasing garter shots. I’d even rather be posed artistically nude than photographed giggling from behind a Venetian blind. I have never objected to posing. It’s just that I wanted to build a career as an actress first”.
Michaels’ acting career lasted ten years from 1953-1963. Among her final appearances was the role of murderer Jo Sands in the 1962 Perry Mason episode, “The Case of the Playboy Pugilist.” She made her final appearance the following year on an episode of The Lloyd Bridges Show.
After John Duke, she started dating Argentine actor Alejandro Rey, whom she met on the set of Battle at Bloody Beach. She then started dating Novelist-screenwriter Bernard Wolfe (1915-1985), who proposed to her in 1962, but she sent the engagement ring back to him with a note that read, “I don’t wanna”.
Michaels and Wolfe married in Los Angeles on June 1, 1964. The marriage was her second and his first. He was 48 and she was 31. The couple divorced in October 1969.
She and Wolfe had twin daughters, Jordan M. and Miranda I., born in Los Angeles on July 23, 1970.
Dolores Michaels Wolfe died at the age of 68 in West Hollywood, California, of natural causes on September 25, 2001.
The above “Wikipedia” entry can also be accessed online here.
Comment om TCM:
I turned on the tv this morning and Battle at Bloody Beach was on. I started to change the channel, but the name Audie Murphy in the info made me pause and then when I saw Dolores Michaels I got a little more hooked. Something about her look really caught my attention. The name Dolores Michales made me think of the movie “Where the Boys Are”. To me she looked like an older, more world weary Merritt(Dolores Hart). Ms.Michaels character was strong, but she had just realized how strong she was when her husband was reported dead. I believe it was two years later when he showed up very much alive. Her struggle to still be a strong woman and fight for what she belived in and still be his wife was more then she thought she could handle during this time of war. Their fight with others just to survive is the most imortant thing they had to worry about. I really enjoyed this movie and look foward to seeing her in other movies.
Bo Hopkins was born in 1942 in Greenville, South Carolina. An appealing character actor he has featured in mmany Westerns and gang films and television series. Films include “The Wild Bunch” in 1969, “The Getaway” and “Midnight Express”. He had recurring roles in both “The Rockford Files” with James Garner and as Matthew Blaisdale in “Dynasty”.
TCM Overview:
Bo Hopkins’ acting background started at the infamous Desilu Playhouse under the guidance of Uta Hagen. His first major film acting role was in the western classic The Wild Bunch (1969) with acclaimed director Sam Peckinpah playing opposite the likes of a few other Hollywood notables – Ernest Borgnine, William Holden and Edmond O’Brien. From there his career was on the fast track to stardom. He gave a memorable performance in the Universal Pictures film AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973) playing the role as the intimidating leader of the Pharaohs and he continues to amass notoriety for his clever portrayal still today.
With over one hundred acting credits to his name, Bo Hopkins continues to draw in the crowds when he finds time in his active schedule to make it to a select few car shows around the country. Always one to grant a photo op or sign an autograph for admirers of his work, he remains humble in his success.
Bo Hopkins obituary in 20222.
Character actor who specialised in a combination of good ol’ boy affability and latent violence
Bo Hopkins, far left, in The Wild Bunch (1969) as Crazy Lee. Photograph: Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock
Bo Hopkins, who has died aged 84, established his credentials as a character actor early in his film career. But he was already 31 when, in The Wild Bunch(1969), his third film role, he played Crazy Lee, left behind by the gang with their hostages as they escape an ambush. His glee as he marches the terrified captives around at gunpoint singing Shall We Gather at the River? highlighted the violent absurdity of the director Sam Peckinpah’s opening scene. In American Graffiti (1973), directed by George Lucas, he played the leader of a greaser gang, the Pharoahs, who frightens Richard Dreyfuss’s strait-laced Curt into pulling off a spectacular prank on the police. His reward, Hopkins tells him with a wily grin, will be membership of the Pharoahs, complete with “car coat and blood initiation”.
This combination of good ol’ boy affability and latent violence came to define Hopkins’s presence in more than 100 films and television roles, typecasting he escaped only occasionally, most notably perhaps in the soap Dynasty. His recurring part in this, as the geologist Matthew Blaisdel – former lover of Krystle Carrington (Linda Evans), and married to Claudia, who is having an affair with Blake Carrington’s son – was crucial enough for him to be brought back after being written out of the show.
His younger life may have prepared him for such roles. He was born in Greenville, South Carolina, named William, and adopted by Johnnie Hopkins, a mill worker, and his wife. But Johnnie died of a heart attack on the family’s front porch in front of Billy, then aged nine, and his mother, who dragged him inside trying to revive him. He lived with his mother and maternal grandparents, but when his mother remarried, he rebelled against his stepfather and returned to his grandparents. Having learned of his adoption, he met his birth mother and half-siblings.
Hopkins with Richard Dreyfuss in American Graffiti (1973). Photograph: Lucasfilm/Coppola Co/Universal/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock
A delinquent teenager, at 17 he enlisted in the US army rather than be sent to reform school. He served in the 101st Airborne Division and after his discharge returned to Greenville, where he married Norma Woodle and in 1960 had a daughter, Jane.
His wife disagreed with his desire to pursue acting and left, taking their daughter; they divorced in 1962. He played in a local production of The Teahouse of the August Moon and won a scholarship for summer stock at the Pioneer Playhouse in Danville, Kentucky. “I didn’t even know what summer stock was,” he recalled. After his season, he went to New York, and was playing in an off-Broadway production of Bus Stop, when the producer wanted him to change his name. He took the name Bo from his character.
He moved to Los Angeles, attending classes at the Actors Studio, and won another scholarship, to Desilu-Cahuenga Studios (now Red Studios Hollywood), where he studied under Uta Hagen. His first television role came in 1966 on the Phyllis Diller Show, a comedy, followed by three westerns and the Andy Griffith Show. In some ways he resembled Griffith, an easy-going character with a dark side, which Griffith had demonstrated so well in A Face in the Crowd (1957).
His break in The Wild Bunch came not through TV, but because William Holden saw him on stage in Picnic, and recommended him to Peckinpah. His next part was in an underrated war film, The Bridge at Remagen (1969). He went back to South Carolina and took his mother and grandmother to see it, and The Wild Bunch, and recalled how “everyone who said I was gonna end up in prison said they always knew Billy was gonna make something of himself”.
Hopkins with Brad Davis in Alan Parker’s Midnight Express (1978). Photograph: Columbia/Allstar
Parts followed in interesting movies including Monte Walsh (1970), The Moonshine War (1970) and The Culpepper Cattle Co (1972), roles that Slim Pickens or Jack Elam might once have filled. Peckinpah cast him again in The Getaway (1972) as the robber double-crossed by Al Lettieri before Lettieri tries the same on Steve McQueen. In White Lightning (1973) he was the moonshiner whom Burt Reynolds chases.
His turn in American Graffiti landed him a recurring role in the TV series Doc Elliot, and by 1975 he seemed on the verge of a breakthrough, with substantial roles in The Day of the Locust and Peckinpah’s The Killer Elite, an eye-catching part as a would-be gangster dressed as a cowboy in Robert Mulligan’s off-beat Nickel Ride, and playing Pretty Boy Floyd in a TV movie, The Kansas City Massacre. Soon, however, his career’s pattern was set: he played Jim Rockford’s lawyer in The Rockford Files, but his bigger parts were in lesser films or TV movies; his engaging turns came in bigger films, for instance playing the mysterious Tex, who ensures Brad Davis is sent to prison, in Alan Parker’s Midnight Express (1978).
Hopkins became enough of a cult figure that Quentin Tarantino cast him in a leading role as a sheriff in the early straight-to-video From Dusk Till Dawn 2 (1999). His final appearance came in Hillbilly Elegy (2020), directed by his American Graffiti co-star Ron Howard.
Hopkins is survived by his second wife, Sian Green, whom he married in 1989, their son, Matthew, and his daughter, Jane.
Bo (William Mauldin) Hopkins, actor, born 2 February 1938; died 28 May 2022Bo
