John Anderson

John Anderson
Born	October 20, 1922(1922-10-20) Clayton, Illinois
Died	August 7, 1992 (aged 69) Sherman Oaks, California
Occupation	American actor and director

John Anderson (October 20, 1922 – August 7, 1992) was an American actor.

Biography

Prior to a prolific acting career, Anderson served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II where he met artist Orazio Fumagalli who became one of his best lifelong friends.

He was known for several roles, including his recurring and best known role in MacGyver as Harry Jackson, MacGyver's grandfather. Earlier work included appearances on many Western series, including The Californians, Gunsmoke (twelve times),Robert Culp's Trackdown,The Rifleman (eleven times), The Virginian (six times), Laramie (five times), The Big Valley in various roles, The Outlaws (twice as Simon Shaw), The Rat Patrol (four times, three as the same character), Overland Trail, The Legend of Jesse James, Man Without a Gun, Hawaii Five-0 and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp as Virgil Earp. He portrayed Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the popular TV miniseries Backstairs at the White House (1979). He portrayed the character Kevin Uxbridge in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Survivors". Anderson played the role of Dr. Herbert Stiles in a series arc of CBS's Dallas.

A recurring Twilight Zone actor, he starred in four different episodes, "The Old Man in the Cave", "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville", "The Odyssey of Flight 33", and "A Passage for Trumpet". Standing 6'5½" tall (197 cm), he bore a strong resemblance to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, whom he portrayed twice. He was also the uncredited voice of Mark Twain in the Epcot attraction The American Adventure.

Anderson also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) as "California Charlie", the used car salesman who helps Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), and as Captain Bob Robertson on Emergency! in Season 4, Episode 16 "Smoke Eater".

Anderson also portrayed the Ebonite interrogator in the episode "Nightmare" of the original Outer Limits TV series.

After his death in 1992, he was cremated and his ashes taken out to sea as part of his membership with the Neptune Society.

Partial filmography

• The True Story of Lynn Stuart (1958)
• Psycho (1960)
• Ride the High Country (1962)
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1965) episode "The Second Wife"
• The Satan Bug (1965)
• The Hallelujah Trail (1965)
• Namu, the Killer Whale (1966)
• The Fortune Cookie (1966) (uncredited)
• Welcome to Hard Times (1967)
• Day of the Evil Gun (1968)
• A Man Called Gannon (1968)
• Five Card Stud (1968)
• Massacre Harbor (1968)
• Heaven with a Gun (1969)
• The Great Bank Robbery (1969)
• Young Billy Young (1970)
• Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)
• Soldier Blue (1970)
• Molly and Lawless John (1973)
• Executive Action (1973)
• The Dove (1974)
• Landfall (1975)
• The Specialist (1975)
• The Hancocks (1976)
• The Quest (1976, NBC)
• The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977)
• Zoot Suit (1981)
• Scorpion (1986)
• Eight men out (1988)
• Boris Karloff's Thriller (NBC)

Television

References

• Halliwell, Leslie (1965). The Filmgoer's Companion / with a Foreword by Alfred Hitchcock. Hill and Wang. 

External links

• John Anderson at the Internet Movie Database
• John Anderson at Allmovie
• John Anderson at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)