George Murdock (actor)

George Murdock
Born	George Sawaya, Jr. June 25, 1930 Salina, Kansas, U.S.
Died	April 30, 2012 (aged 81) Burbank, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Cancer
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1961–2012

George Murdock (June 25, 1930 – April 30, 2012) was an American character actor, especially prolific on television.^[1]

Murdock was born George Sawaya, Jr. in Salina, Kansas. He was known for frequently playing judges, (for instance, Judge Julius Hoffman in West Coast and Chicago stage productions of The Chicago Conspiracy Trial and in an adaptation for BBC Radio), he also performed the role of "Big Daddy" in Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with the Arizona Theater Company during the 1988 season. He was also Laszlo Gabo on the 1986-87 sitcom What a Country!.

Among his most famous characters for movies and TV were Lt. Scanlon, the oily NYPD Internal Affairs officer in Barney Miller, Dr. Salik in Battlestar Galactica TV series, "God" in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and as Admiral Hanson in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Best of Both Worlds.

Filmography

• The Twilight Zone (Episode: "The Dummy") (1962) as Willie
• The Untouchables (1962) as Pete Topchinski / Gus Dmytryk
• Pressure Point (1962) as Rally Speaker (uncredited)
• 77 Sunset Strip (1963) as Frank Syden
• Taggart (1964) as Army Scout (uncredited)
• Combat! (1965) as Marcus
• I Spy (1965) as Mariner
• Bonanza (1965-1970) as Luis Getty / Marks / Floyd
• Ben Casey (1965) as Byron B. Davis
• The F.B.I. (1965-1974) as Dirken / Vic Kirby / Al Evans
• Tarzan (1966-1967) as Eric / Damian / Karl
• Gunn (1967) as Archie
• The Wild Wild West (1967) as Luther Coyle
• Gunsmoke (1967-1974) as Luke / Cole Matson / Bret Gruber / Jim Travers
• Ironside (1968-1974) as Sheriff / Phil Wagner / Jim Peters / Lee R. Anderson / FBI Agent Torrence / Capt. Walter Finch / Victor Cramer
• Cimarron Strip (1968) as Bladgey
• Blackbeard's Ghost (1968) as Head Official
• The Virginian (1969) as Barton
• Night Gallery (1969) as 1st Agent
• Hawaii Five-O (1971) as Hank Merrill
• The Mod Squad (1971) as Price
• Adam-12 (1971) as Mr. Williams
• McCloud (1972-1974) as Sergeant Rosovitch / Officer Duncan
• The Mack (1973) as Fatman
• The New Perry Mason (1973) as Sgt. Dave Cook
• The Magician (1973) as Timothy Dunagan
• Willie Dynamite (1974) as Celli
• Thomasine & Bushrod (1974) as U.S. Marshal Bogardie
• The Six Million Dollar Man (1974) as Rossi
• Hangup (1974) as Captain Gorney
• Earthquake (1974) as Colonel
• The Streets of San Francisco (1974-1977) as Harlan Betts / Dempsey / Merle
• The Invisible Man (1975) as Captain Scopes
• Police Woman (1975) as Hogan / Macon
• Barney Miller (1976-1982) as Lt. Ben Scanlon
• Little House on the Prairie (1977) as Jeremy Stokes
• Breaker! Breaker! (1977) as Judge Joshua Trimmings
• Thunder and Lightning (1977) as Jake Summers
• Lou Grant (1977) as Sgt. Irwin Winowsky
• The Rockford Files (1978) as Doc Holliday
• The Dukes of Hazzard (1979) as Big Jim Downey
• The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo (1979-1981) as Mr. Sheldon / Mayor Hawkins
• Any Which Way You Can (1980) as Sgt. Cooley
• Trapper John, M.D. (1981) as Jobo's Dad
• Shoot the Moon (1982) as French DeVoe
• Bosom Buddies (1982) as Elliot Pardo
• T.J. Hooker (1982) as Detective Jackson
• The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) as Quade
• Hill Street Blues (1982) as Buck Remington
• Benson (1982) as Officer Grimsby
• The Winds of War (1983) as Brig. Gen. 'Fitz' Fitzgerald
• I'm Going to Be Famous (1983)
• Knight Rider (1983-1984) as Archibald / Judge Oliver Callan
• Night Court (1984) as Detective Griffin / Sergeant Foster / Hank Mire / Womack
• Fame (1985) as Mr. Pulaski
• Murder, She Wrote (1985) as Officer Kaplan
• Small Wonder (1986) as Mr. Gordon
• Retribution (1987) as Dr. John Talbot
• Dynasty (1988) as Charlie Braddock
• War and Remembrance (1989) as Gen. Leslie Groves
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) as God
• L.A. Law (1989) as Sam
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (1990) as Admiral J. P. Hanson
• Timescape (1992) as Judge Caldwell
• Final Analysis (1992) as Judge Costello
• Batman: The Animated Series (1992) as Boss Biggis (voice)
• Law & Order (1992-1999) as Judge Eric Bertram
• Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993) as Burton Newcomb
• Firepower (1993) as Captain Croy
• Seinfeld (1994) as Testikov
• Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II (1994) as Senator Riley
• Molly & Gina (1994) as Patrick Sweeny
• The Nanny (1995) as Dakota Williams
• Tyson (1995) as Baranski
• The American President (1995) as Congressman
• Crosscut (1996) as Uncle Leo
• Chicago Hope (1996) as Judge John Spencer
• ER (1996) as Mr. Sidowski
• The Gregory Hines Show (1997) as Samuel Lawrence
• Mike Hammer, Private Eye (1997) as Cleve Baxter
• Early Edition (1998) as Dutch Van Drie
• Anarchy TV (1998) as Chief Cochon
• Just Shoot Me! (1998) as Sea Captain
• Phoenix (1998) as Sid
• The X-Files (1998-1999) as Elder #2 / 2nd Elder
• The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998) as 2nd Elder
• Scorpio One (1998) as CIA Director Wilfrid Parlow
• The Adventures of Ragtime (1998) as Captain Murphy
• The Norm Show (1999) as Probation Officer
• Family Tree (1999) as Big Wig
• Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming (1999) as Dr. Salik
• Time Share (2000) as Cedric Templeton
• ''Judging Amy (2000-2002) as Judge Norman Artel
• 2000x (NPR/Hollywood Theater of the Ear radio series)
• Smallville (2001) as Old Harry Bollston
• Orange County (2002) as Bob Beugler
• The Dead Zone (2002) as Arthur Allen
• Legend of the Phantom Rider (2002) as The Judge
• Spider's Web (2002) as Robert Harding
• Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) as Acme VP, Unfairly Promoted
• Serial Killing 4 Dummys (2004) as Detective Ray Berro
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2005) as Stuart Manslow
• One More Round (2005) as Mr. Mack
• Man in the Chair (2007) as Richard Butler
• Say It in Russian (2007) as Warden
• Torchwood: Miracle Day (2011) as Preacher

References

1. "Obituaries: George Murdock, Charles 'Skip' Pitts". latimes.com. 2012-05-04. Retrieved 2012-05-08.

External links

• George Murdock at the Internet Movie Database
• George Murdock at Memory Alpha, The Star Trek Wiki
• Obituary