Lance LeGault

Lance LeGault
Born William Lance Legault
May 2, 1937
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Died September 10, 2012 (aged 75)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Other names W. L. LeGault
Occupation Film, television, and voice actor
Spouse(s) Teresa LeGault (m. 1984–2012)

William Lance LeGault[1][2] (May 2, 1937 – September 10, 2012), sometimes credited as W. L. LeGault, was an American film and television actor, best known as the .44 Magnum wielding U.S. Army Colonel Roderick Decker in the 1980s American television series The A-Team.

Personal life

LeGault was born May 2, 1937[3] in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Mary Jean (née Kovachevich) and Ernest Legault.[4] His father was from Moose Creek in Ontario, Canada. LeGault's father, Ernest, was French-Canadian, while his mother, Mary, was born in Illinois, the daughter of immigrants from the former Yugoslavia and Austria-Hungary. The family was poor. He lived in an orphanage for a time between his dad's death when Lance was 4 and when his mother remarried. He started working at 11, and was fired from the railroad at 13 when they discovered he was not 18 as he'd said.[5] He grew up in Chillicothe, Illinois and graduated from Chillicothe Township High School in 1955,[2] later earning a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from The Municipal University of Wichita, Kansas.[6] He was married and had four children.

Career

LeGault's first three feature films were Elvis Presley movies, Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) in which he was a stunt double for Elvis Presley, Kissin' Cousins (1964), and Viva Las Vegas (1964). He also appeared in Elvis Presley's groundbreaking 1968 NBC television special Elvis (also known as Elvis' 68 Comeback Special), where he sat at the side of the stage playing a tambourine. He also appeared in the Elvis movie "Roustabout" as a carnival barker

In 1969, he appeared as Iago in the UK stage version of Jack Good's Catch My Soul: Rock Othello, and played Iago again in the 1974 Metromedia film version of Catch My Soul.[5]

He starred in television series and in television movies and was known mainly for portraying military personnel, especially officers. His best known television role was in the 1980s series The A-Team as Colonel Roderick Decker, a United States Army colonel who tried to catch the fugitive Vietnam veterans. He played the role of Colonel Decker from 1983 to 1986. He also had a recurring role in the other 1980s hit television series Magnum, P.I. as a United States Marine Corps colonel, Colonel "Buck" Greene.

LeGault was also was on screen in a variety of programs including the short lived series Werewolf in 1987. In 1980, he starred with Kenny Rogers in the television movie The Gambler. He made a few appearances during Dynasty's second season, as Ray Bonning, a henchman for Vegas mobster "Logan Rhinewood" (actually Cecil Colby). He also appeared on another 1980s hit TV series Knight Rider in the pilot episode "Knight of the Phoenix" and appeared (as a different character) in the season 2 episode "Knight in Shining Armor"; and took on the roles of three different bad-guy characters in Airwolf (in To Snare a Wolf, Sweet Britches and Wildfire) as well as doing the voice-overs for the series' 1st Season "saga sell" teasers. He guest-starred on yet another hit 1980s television series Dallas as Al Halliday in 1989.

Often playing stern colonels, the low-pitched, gravelly-voiced actor portrayed Colonel Glass in the 1981 comedy Stripes, starring Bill Murray and John Candy.[7]

He made many guest appearances on television series, his appearances ranged from The Rockford Files (episode "A Deadly Maze"), Gunsmoke, Barbary Coast, Logan's Run, Police Woman, Battlestar Galactica, The Incredible Hulk (episode "The Antowuk Horror"), Wonder Woman, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Dukes of Hazzard (episode "Treasure of Hazzard"), T. J. Hooker, Tales of the Gold Monkey, Voyagers!, MacGyver, Simon & Simon, Sledge Hammer!, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Renegade and Crusade. He appeared on Land of the Giants in the first season episode "Underground" as a police officer.

LeGault's last role was in the 2013 movie Prince Avalanche, and the film is dedicated to him.

Voicework

On the Knight Rider season 1 DVD pilot commentary, creator Glen A. Larson mentioned that Lance LeGault had "a voice that was four octaves lower than God's." This trait helped him obtain roles (often) as a villain or other "tough guy". It also resulted in a side career doing voice-over work. LeGault's trademark voice was at one point featured on self-guided tour cassettes at Elvis Presley's Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.

In the video game world, he was heard as the voice of Major Manson in the 1998 video game Battlezone II: Combat Commander.

He provided the voice of Junior the Buffalo in Disney's Home on the Range (2004). He also voiced Yank Justice in the nine-episode, 30-minute 1985 series Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines, part of Marvel Productions’ Super Sunday block.[7]

From 2009 to 2010, he performed voiceover work for Burger King, with the then-new "Angry Whopper" burger. He did voice-over work on commercials for Dodge and 7-Up as well.[7]

Death

LeGault died on Monday, September 10, 2012, at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 75, survived by his wife of 35 years Teresa and their four children Mary, Teresa, Marcus and Lance.[8]

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PWFAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c1cMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3563,3339286&dq=william-lance-legault&hl=en
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "321 Connections". Chillicothe, Illinois: Illinois Valley Central Unit District 321. Spring 2007.
  3. ↑ "Official Lance LeGault website Biography". LanceLeGault.com. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Pantagraph.com | Archive". Nl.newsbank.com. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Kleiner, Dick (March 23, 1978). "Ask Dick Kleiner (Another Good Villain)". The Prescott Courier 98 (70) (Prescott, Arizona). Newspaper Enterprise Association. p. 5. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
  6. ↑ IMDb trivia section
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Minovitz, Ethan (September 12, 2012). "Lance LeGault was Junior in Home on the Range". Big Cartoon News. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Funeral Services Pending Character Actor Lance LeGault". Bhcourier.com. September 11, 2012. Retrieved September 12, 2012.

External links