Bruce McGill

Few moviegoers who enjoyed one of Bruce McGill's earliest film performances - that of the wild-eyed, law-breaking D-Day in "Animal House" (1978) - could have foreseen that the Texas-born actor would later come to embody the face of law enforcement and the legal profession in films and on television series. But McGill's imposing presence and voice placed him among the top echelon of casting agents' choices for police detectives, lawyers, military men, politicians and other authority figures in a vast array of projects, including "My Cousin Vinny" (1992); "Cliffhanger" (1993); three films for Michael Mann, including "The Insider" (1999), "Ali" (2001) and "Collateral" (2004); and Oliver Stone's "W" (2008), in which he played CIA director George Tenet. His versatility also allowed him to tackle numerous sympathetic and comedic parts in such films as "Shallow Hal," (2001) and Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown" (2004), as well as a recurring role as Richard Dean Anderson's roguish pal on "McGyver" (ABC, 1985-1992) during the series mid-1980s run. To say that McGill could play just about any role did not overstate things, as the chameleon-like character actor had proven repeatedly throughout the decades that he was so much more than the man who famously wreaked havoc alongside fellow Delta House hellraiser, John "Bluto Blutarsky" Belushi.