Mitchell Ryan
| Mitchell Ryan | |
|---|---|
 Ryan in 1973. | |
| Born |
January 11, 1928 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1958–present |
Mitchell Ryan is an American actor known mostly for playing Burke Devlin in the 1960s gothic soap opera Dark Shadows.
Early life
Ryan was raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War.[1] After the Korean War, he went to the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia. There he went on to make his acting debut in Thunder Road along with the Theatre's founder Robert Porterfield.
Career
A life member of The Actors Studio,[2] Ryan's Broadway theatre credits include Wait Until Dark, Medea, and The Price.
Ryan was an original cast member on the cult TV soap Dark Shadows, playing Burke Devlin until he was fired from the show in June 1967 due to his alcoholism,[3][4][5] and replaced by Anthony George.
He appeared in an episode of Cannon, "Fool's Gold" in 1971, and in ABC's The Streets of San Francisco episode "The Unicorn". In 1973, he played the lead in the NBC adventure show Chase, with co-stars Wayne Maunder and Reid Smith.
In 1976-1977, he portrayed the leading character on Executive Suite and worked with his on-screen wife from Dharma & Greg, Susan Sullivan, in the short-lived series Julie Farr, M.D..
In 1980, Ryan played wagon master Cooper Hawkins in the CBS western miniseries The Chisholms, taking a wagon train of pioneers to California during the 1840s, and becoming the de facto head of the Chisholm family after the death of patriarch Hadley Chisholm.
His other acting credits include, Liar, Liar, Magnum Force playing Dirty Harry's ill-fated despondent best friend and fellow traffic cop Charlie McCoy, Lethal Weapon playing the key villain, General Peter McAllister, Grosse Pointe Blank, Electra Glide in Blue, and Hot Shots! Part Deux playing senator Grey Edwards. And in 1985, he portrayed Tillet Main, the patriarch of the Main family in the first North and South miniseries.
Ryan appeared in NBC's The A-Team episode "Waste 'Em", and as the father of Commander William Riker in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Icarus Factor". (Ryan had earlier been considered for the part of series lead Captain Jean-Luc Picard) He also portrayed the roles of the abusive boyfriend of Blanche Deveraux in The Golden Girls and a police officer in a 1993 episode of NYPD Blue. That same year, Ryan was Dallas Shields in Renegade. In 1995, he appeared in Judge Dredd and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.
He played, what is probably his most notable television role, the straight role of Greg's father Edward Montgomery on the hit show Dharma & Greg, which ran from 1997 to 2002. The following year, Ryan voiced Highfather on Justice League.
References
- ↑ Mitchell Ryan Biography - Yahoo! Movies
- ↑ Garfield, David (1980). "Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980". A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 279. ISBN 0-02-542650-8.
- ↑ mitchellryan.net
- ↑ darkshadowsonline.com
- ↑ Barnabas & Company: The Cast of the TV Classic Dark Shadows, Craig Hamrick & R. J. Jamison: Ryan is quoted as saying "I was so drunk that year, I barely remember what it was about" in a 1976 TV Guide interview
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mitchell Ryan. |
- Official website
- Mitchell Ryan at the Internet Movie Database
- Mitchell Ryan at the Internet Broadway Database
- Mitchell Ryan at the Internet Off-Broadway Database