Doug McClure | |
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McClure circa 1961 | |
Born | Doug Osborne McClure May 11, 1935 Glendale, California, U.S. |
Died | February 5, 1995 59) Sherman Oaks, California, U.S. | (aged
Alma mater | UCLA |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1956–1995 |
Spouses |
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Children | 2; including Tané McClure |
Douglas Osborne McClure (May 11, 1935 –February 5, 1995) was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s. He is best known for his role as the cowboy Trampas during the entire run from 1962 to 1971 of the series The Virginian and mayor turned police chief Kyle Applegate on Out of this World .
McClure's acting career included such films as Gidget (1959), The Enemy Below , The Unforgiven , and Because They're Young , then he landed the role of Trampas on The Virginian, a role that would make him famous. He also starred:
McClure was in the third episode "Mr. Denton on Doomsday" of CBS's The Twilight Zone .
In 1962, he was cast as Trampas on NBC's The Virginian. His co-stars throughout the series were James Drury, Roberta Shore, Lee J. Cobb, Randy Boone, Gary Clarke, Clu Gulager, Diane Roter, Charles Bickford, Sara Lane, Tim Matheson, Jeanette Nolan, and John McIntire.
In 1965, he appeared in Shenandoah , a movie directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring James Stewart, Glenn Corbett, Patrick Wayne, Katharine Ross, and Rosemary Forsyth.
After The Virginian ended in 1971, McClure was slated to co-star with Bette Davis on a series about a parolee assisting a judge, played by Davis, by doing detective work. The pilot, produced and written by the team of Richard Levinson and William Link, failed to generate interest in the series and was released as a TV movie titled The Judge and Jake Wyler . [1] McClure made another attempt at a television series during the 1972–1973 season by co-starring on SEARCH as a hi-tech investigator, rotating with Anthony Franciosa and Hugh O'Brian, and again in 1975–1976 in The Barbary Coast , co-starring William Shatner (with whom he'd starred in The Virginian episode "The Claim"). He shifted to low-budget science-fiction movies such as At the Earth's Core , The Land That Time Forgot , and The People That Time Forgot , all three based on the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. In 1967, he played the Errol Flynn role in a remake of Against All Flags titled The King's Pirate . He was cast in the lead in three adventures: The Longest Hundred Miles, The Birdmen , and State of Division (also known as Death Race). In 1978, he also starred in Warlords of Atlantis . In the 1970s and 1980s, McClure appeared in commercials for Hamms Beer. [2] McClure also appeared as the blonde slave to Jamie Farr's character in the sequel Cannonball Run II (1984).
He also had a cameo role as a poker player in the 1994 remake of Maverick .
In 1994, McClure was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for television at 7065 Hollywood Blvd. It was unveiled in what was his final public appearance.
On February 5, 1995, McClure died at age 59 from lung cancer in Sherman Oaks, California. On January 8 of that year, the actor was working on an episode of the television series One West Waikiki in Hawaii when he collapsed from an apparent stroke on the set. [3] He was flown to Los Angeles for hospitalization. [3] Doctors discovered that the lung cancer McClure had been battling for more than a year had spread to his liver and bones. [3] [4] McClure was married to his fifth wife at the time of his death. McClure was divorced four times, including twice while he was performing on The Virginian. [5]
The character of Troy McClure on The Simpsons was modeled after McClure and fellow actor Troy Donahue. Mike Reiss, executive producer of The Simpsons, said that Doug McClure's daughter informed him that Doug was a big fan of The Simpsons. She said that while watching an episode Doug saw the character Troy McClure on the show and said, "Are they making fun of me?" Doug said he thought the parody was funny, and his daughters would call him Troy McClure behind his back as a joke. [6]
Troy McClure is a fictional character in the American animated series The Simpsons. He was originally voiced by Phil Hartman and first appeared in the second season episode "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment." McClure is an actor who is usually shown doing low-level work, most notably hosting manipulative infomercials and pointless, often questionable educational films. He appears as the main character in "A Fish Called Selma," in which he marries Selma Bouvier to aid his failing career and quash rumors about his personal life. McClure also "hosts" "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" and "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase."
Lawrence Neville Brand was an American soldier and actor. He was known for playing villainous or antagonistic character roles in Westerns, crime dramas, and films noir, and was nominated for a BAFTA Award for his performance in Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954).
Denver Dell Pyle was an American film and television actor and director. He was well known for a number of TV roles from the 1960s through the 1980s, including his portrayal of Briscoe Darling in several episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, as Jesse Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard from 1979 to 1985, as Mad Jack in the NBC television series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, and as the titular character's father, Buck Webb, in CBS's The Doris Day Show. In many of his roles, he portrayed either authority figures, or gruff, demanding father figures, often as comic relief. Perhaps his most memorable film role was that of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer in the movie Bonnie and Clyde (1967), as the lawman who relentlessly chased down and finally killed the notorious duo in an ambush.
The Virginian was an American Western television series starring James Drury in the title role, along with Doug McClure, Lee J. Cobb, and others. It originally aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971, for a total of 249 episodes. Drury had played the same role in 1958 in an unsuccessful pilot that became an episode of the NBC summer series Decision. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute Western series. Cobb left the series after four seasons, and was replaced over the years by mature character actors John Dehner, Charles Bickford, John McIntire, and Stewart Granger, all portraying different characters. It was set before Wyoming became a state in 1890, as mentioned several times as Wyoming Territory, although other references set it later, around 1898.
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William Martin Gulager, better known as Clu Gulager, was an American television and film actor and director born in Holdenville, Oklahoma. He first became known for his work in television, appearing in the co-starring role of William H. Bonney in the 1960–1962 NBC television series The Tall Man and as Emmett Ryker in another NBC Western series, The Virginian. He later had a second career as a horror film actor, including a lead part in Dan O'Bannon's The Return of the Living Dead (1985). He also was in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985). In 2005 he started acting in his son's horror films — the Feasts films and Piranha 3DD — in his 80s.
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Checkmate is an American detective television series created by Eric Ambler, starring Anthony George, Sebastian Cabot, and Doug McClure. The show aired on CBS Television from 1960 to 1962 for a total of 70 episodes. It was produced by Jack Benny's production company, "JaMco Productions" in co-operation with Revue Studios. Guest stars included Charles Laughton, Peter Lorre, Lee Marvin, Mickey Rooney and many other prominent performers.
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