Gerald Mcraney – TV Star Discusses Disability Casting

Circa 2001

Through the medium of television, Gerald McRaney has been a regular and welcome-visitor in homes across America for the past 18 years. He investigator Rick Simon on “Simon and Simon.” McRaney then went on to become the nation’s favorite U.S. Marine in “Major Dad” and most recently portrayed stalwart family man Russell Green on “The Promised Land,” a series created by Martha Williamson of “Touched By an Angel” fame. All three series were on the CBS Television Network. A further measure of his popularity is that both “Simon and Simon” and “Major Dad” continue to be aired around the world in reruns to this day.

McRaney has managed to avoid the pitfalls of typecasting by paying his dues as a working actor in a myriad of stage productions, TV shows and motion pictures. Over the years, he has excelled in a wide array of characters from farmer to hit man, from vigilante to Vietnam veteran, from Old West gunfighter to a corrupt southern sheriff. He has the uncanny ability to realistically assume the personae of the characters he plays. “I like to mix it up and play roles that go totally against type.” he explains.

The high road to success has not been quick and easy for McRaney. The time he spent in college productions and in repertory theaters prepared him for the challenges he faced during his early years in Hollywood.

McRaney was born in Collins, Mississippi, but lived all over the Magnolia State while growing up. His father Clyde, a contractor and realtor, moved his family-wife Edna, daughter Ann, and older son Buddy-around the state a lot. “Dad built houses and when they were sold. he moved on to a new town, so I know a lot about my native state.” said McRaney.

His interest in acting began when he injured a knee playing football in junior high school and found the only activity openings left were in the drama club. Encouraged by his performances in school productions, he enrolled at the University of Mississippi as a drama major. A year later, he dropped out. “In my freshman year.” he explains, “I was in six out of seven major pro ductions and I really hadn’t learned any more than I knew when I got there, although I knew there was a hell of a lot more to learn.”

Failing an audition for a New Orleans repertory company, he went to work in the Louisiana oil fields and on offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. McRaney’s dream to act persisted, however. A year later, in 1967, The went back to audition in New Orleans and was hired as an assistant stage manager at $125 a week. Eventually he was cast in a few productions and he stayed with the company for four years, until it was forced to shut down because of reduced government funding.

After making some low-budget movies in Louisiana, McRaney moved to Hollywood, where he drove a cab to support his family and to finance his acting classes while he was looking for roles.

His acting coach, actor-director Jeff Corey gave him his first TV role in an episode of “Night Gallery.” Four appearances on “Gunsmoke” led to steady work as a character actor in television movies such as “Where the Ladies Go,” “Women in White,” “The Law,” “Roots II,” and in many series, including “The Incredible Hulk.”

“The Rockford Files” “Police Woman” and “How the West Was Won” McRaney has the distinction of being the last gun fighter to square off against Matt Dillon Games Areas) m the final episode of “Gunsmoke “Th was a child hood fantasy come true” he says. “I got to strap on a six-gun and challenge Matt Dillon. I can’t think of another role that made me feel as good” He was also featured in Wolfgang Petersen’s film, The Never Ending Story”

Having attained a certain measure of success, McRaney began to turn down pilots he did not think he could stay with for five years in the event they became series. “I had to consider that it’s not just a pilot,” he explains. “I had to think ahead. How much would I real ly enjoy committing five or seven years to working on this? When you’re an unemployed actor offered a ‘TV pilot, no matter who you are you’re tempted by the good hunk of change to be made. It keeps you out of the unemployment line.”

His talent and professionalism so impressed highly respected TV producer Philip DeCiuere that he had McRaney test for a series pilot titled “The Clypsy Warriors.” But studio executives insisted that he did not fit the mold of the TV hero. They chose Tom Selleck, instead. Two years later, when DeCluere was making the pilot for “Pirate’s Key,” which later became “Simon and Simon.” someone said, “what about Clerald McRaney DeGuere recalls that McRaney “blow everybody away in the test.”

When “Simon & Simon” came along, McRaney never hesitated. “I was lucky. For the last four or five years, I had been in the position where I didn’t have to take a pilot. I took this one because the script and the people were terrific. It never frightened me. As we were doing the pilot, I could tell that it was working.”

The series gave McRaney the opportunity to direct He is particularly proud of a segment he directed which dealt with adolescent drug abuse. He demonstrated in that show how drug abuse can be deglamorized. He and a group of other film production professionals formed The Entertainment Industries Council for a Drug-Free Society, an organization dedicated to lobbying producers, directors and actors to communicate the dangers and evils of drug abuse through film and television. In that role, he has testified before the Senate Sub committee on Investigations to obtain Senate endorsement of the group’s efforts.

He also co-wrote a segment of “Simon and Simon titled “I Thought the War Was Over” in which Rick Simon suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He directed several episodes of “Major Dad” and a TV movie, “Love and Curses, where he also served as executive produces and co-starred with his wife, actress Delta Burke.

He and his wife live in the Vieux Carre of New Orleans and have a farm in Mississippi near his birth place. McRaney has three children, Jessica, Angus and Katy. An outdoors enthusiast, he is an expert camper. hunter and fisherman.

ABILITY‘s Chet Cooper interviewed Gerald McRaney a few weeks after the annual Media Access Disability Awareness Awards, where the actor served as master of ceremonies for the third time. A longtime supporter of the Media Access Office, he has championed the casting of actors with disabilities in many of the productions with which he has been involved. McRaney’s son Angus is hearing impaired.

Chet Cooper: I didn’t get a chance to talk to you much the evening of the Media Access Awards. What was your impression about that evening, and how did it com pare to the previous times you were the emcee?

Gerald McRaney: When the organization started, it was nowhere near that big. A lot of progress has been made. It’s good to see so many casting people involved in the thing now…and putting people to work. One casting director in particular voiced what has been my opinion from the get-go: if the role says “attorney,” what’s wrong with an attorney in a wheelchair, or on crutches, or with a seeing eye dog? If it wasn’t specifically for a Navy SEAL, what’s the point in assuming that it requires an able-bodied human being to play the role?

CC: It’s still about dealing with those attitudes that seem to persist.

GM: It’s a strange thing that that attitude exists in show business more than it exists out there in the populace. People don’t turn away from an attorney sitting in a wheelchair. If the guy has got the reputation for being the best attorney around, that’s who you go with. But in business, for some reason they’re still reluctant to say an attorney or a physician or an interior decorator can be in a chair, or on crutches, or blind or any of the other things

CC: Didn’t you help start an organization some time ago that dealt with substance abuse?

GM: The Entertainment Industries Council for a Drug Free Society. I was in the founding board, but there were people before me. Ken Reed actually got me involved back when we were doing Simon & Simon.

CC: And what is the mission?

GM: Well, it’s developed over the years. The stated mission at the time was simply to use the influence of the entertainment industry to do an accurate portrayal of drug and alcohol abuse. We all admit that we’re not trying to censor anybody. If you’re going to show someone having five drinks just before they get into a car, point out that they’re not going to be A.J. Foyt at this point. It someone’s going to smoke dope, point out the detriments of that. You know, don’t just have people casually using this stuff with no consequence.

CC: Do you think the organization has been successful?

GM: Oh, I think we were successful right in the beginning. For instance, on Dallas we pointed out to the producers that every time people come back from that ranch, the first thing they do is go to the bar. And they said, “You know, you’re right. And we’d never even thought about that.” It’s not that they were trying to pro mote drinking, it just became a convenient place for people to meet. And when they thought about it, they said “we can do better than that.” It’s no big deal, but it cut the influence, I think, a bit.

CC: Is it still active today?

GM: Oh, yeah. We’re one of the forces that causes actors to fasten seat belts before they take off chasing the bad guy in the car…or removes some of the cigarette smoking on television. Even though I smoke, just because I’m a dumbass doesn’t mean anyone else has to be.

CC: Doesn’t it seem that there is more smoking in movies today?

GM: Isn’t it weird. In Hollywood you can’t even smoke in a bar anymore and yet in the movies they’re always showing people smoking. I don’t get it.

CC: It also seems drug usage in movies is on the rise.

GM: On Showtime, “Rude Awakening” deals with drug abuse and alcohol abuse, but the whole thing is about “what an awful place to find yourself in,” and they do it with humor. So there is still a negative consequence. It’s not glamorized. It’s not fun. You wake up with some body that you could swear you’ve never even met in your life. That’s not a good place to be. So, they are handling it in a way that is different than it was when we started. When we started the organization drugs were still being portrayed in movies as sort of a glamorous part of being young. Now, you are beginning to see more things in movies, and especially in television, of people who aren’t so young anymore and aren’t so glamorous who are still wasted, along with their lives.

CC: So, do you feel the writers and producers are following your message?

GM: Again, like I said, we’re not trying to censor anyone. If you think drugs are cool, fine. Make that movie. We are not going to stop you, or try to stop you, but we would encourage other people to be a bit more responsible about their portrayal of drug usage.

CC: Do you see some overlap between Media Access and this organization?

GM: Well, in a way. The whole idea of both of these groups is to be part of the solution as opposed to part of the problem. With Media Access, the idea is to get people with so-called disabilities more into the main stream media. The original intent of the Entertainment Industries Council was to reach people who willingly sort of handicapped themselves, if you will, through drugs and alcohol and tobacco…to better society instead of keep it at an unacceptable status quo or, even worse, make it go backwards.

CC: You live in Mississippi most of the time. What are some of the biggest differences between there, and when you stay in California?

GM: The thing about Mississippi is that there are no cities in the entire state. It’s very rural and small town based, so everybody is more concerned with their neigh bor. I was reading the other day that Mississippi was the top state, or one of the top states, in charitable contributions. And, I think that’s because it’s a small-town environment and people know their neighbors. For example, if we see a guy in a wheelchair, we probably went to grammar school with him. You know, it’s not like that’s just a random stranger or quote, unquote-“one of those poor people.” We know better. This is a guy that aced us in all the chemistry tests, and we know him. He’s not impersonal to us. There’s a difference that way, I think.

CC: So, when you drive do you just have one hand on the wheel so you can flip your free hand up to say “hi” to everyone you’re passing?

GM: No, we don’t even take our hand off the wheel. Sort of raise a finger. Wave to the guy that way.

CC: I grew up in a small town and I’d keep my hand on the top part of the wheel and just lift my four fingers up.

GM: (laughs) Right. You never actually take your hand off. Where are you from?

CC: It doesn’t sound like a small town area, but it was south Jersey.

GM: No, I’m familiar with southern New Jersey. A lot of farming there…beautiful country.

CC: You have a farm in Mississippi. What do you farm?

GM: Nothing, really. I use it as habitat improvement for the game animals. I like to hunt and fish. I am also very much a conservationist. We’ve got scads of quail around here, deer, wild turkey, all sorts of game animals. That’s mainly what I do. We plant hay and harvest that. And a couple years ago we leased out some of the land to a commercial watermelon farmer. We do things like that. but mainly it’s just a getaway place.

CC: Do you get your own turkey for thanksgiving?

GM: No, we don’t have a fall season now. I can get one in the spring and freeze it, but it’s not exactly the same thing

CC: I’ve heard that you had some involvement with the Tracy Clinic.

GM: Yes, the John Tracy Clinic. My son was born hearing impaired.

CC: What approach did you take?

GM: There are really three schools of thought on this. One is sign language, one is lip reading and oral skills, and the other is what’s called total communication which is, theoretically, a combination of both. It depends on the individual you are dealing with as to which of those is going to be the best one. When my son was four he was diagnosed with a moderate to severe hearing loss. It was neural hearing loss-neural damage that occurs at birth and progressively gets worse. He was fortunate enough to be able to take up lip reading and verbal skills right away to the point where today he will talk your ear off. But, it’s not necessarily right for anybody else. There are a certain number of people that quickly pick up on that. Sign language will help develop language skills quicker for a lot of people. The down side of it is that not everyone in the country or in society is going to go to the trouble of learning sign language, so you have to bring an interpreter with you if you have one. But there are those cases where it’s absolutely necessary. With my son it turned out it was better to go totally with what’s called the oral method.

CC: Does he know sign language?

GM: He knows a bit of sign language. He can communicate with his deaf friends.

CC: Did he go to the Tracy Clinic for this?

GM: Two summer sessions. I didn’t have custody of him until the second summer. My ex-wife decided he’d be better off with me in a program like this, so I wound up with custody.

CC: How many times have you been married?

GM: Three. Third one’s a charm.

CC: That’s what they say. What happens if it goes four?

What’s the saying for the fourth? GM: You shouldn’t have done it to begin with…(laughs)

CC: (laughs)… Are you working on a new project?

GM: No. there’s nothing really to talk about yet. I have two things that are in development right now, but nothing remotely close to going into production.

CC: Simon & Simon, has been in syndication for some time. Do you get revenues from that?

GM: Oh yeah, but it’s not much. It all depends on what the contract was, but you’ll remember James Garner’s case. It probably cost him more money in legal fees than he actually finally made on Rockford Files, because according to Universal’s bookkeeping-Rockford Files has yet to make a profit.

CC: What makes up most of your day when you’re between projects like this?

GM: Well, basically working with other people and writing. Not that I’ll end up being a writer, but I’m always coming up with ideas and writing treatments.

CC: Have you written any shows recently.

GM: Not to the point that I actually got around to writing a treatment…but I helped get Major Dad going, and 1 was one of the executive producers on that. The idea was brought to me by one of the producers on Simon & Simon. We…reworked it and put it together, then pitched it to CBS. Ever since Simon & Simon I’ve been more involved behind the scenes in a lot of stuff-movies of the week and things like that-that my company has wound up producing. Now I’m just waiting for the phone to ring.

CC: Were you in the military?

GM: No. (laughs) A lot of people had gotten that impression after Major Dad especially.

CC: You look like you should have been.(laughs)

GM: Guys have swore that they served with me. They’re remembering some other bald headed guy. (both laugh)

CC: In closing, I’d like to say as a long standing member that I thank you for your support and participation in Media Access.

GM: I was very gratified to see casting people who actually seem to “get it” now. Vis a vis the Media Access Office, directors and producers who are not creating roles necessarily for disabled people…are giving them roles that are written in the script because it doesn’t specifically eliminate someone with a disability. That to me is the idea it’s an equal playing field. You don’t have to go out of your way to tilt it, just make it equal.

Above: Gerald McRaney (r) meets up with actor Charlton Heston while visiting troops during the Gulf war. Right: A bearded Gerald McRaney during the final year of “Promised Land”

Gerald McRaney as Rick Simon in GBS-TV’s, “Simon and Simon.” Right: Gerald McRaney as a peacetime Marine who must adjust to domestic life with his new wife (Shanna Reed) and her three daughters (clockwise from upper left: Marisa Ryan, Nicole Dubuo, Chelsea Hertford) in CBS TV’S “Major Dad.”.