Mitch Ryan
A veteran character player often cast as tough military men or salt-of-the-earth small town Americans, Ryan decided to pursue an acting career after a stint in the special services entertainment unit of the US Navy during the Korean War. He briefly appeared in "Thunder Road" (1958), with Robert Mitchum and then moved to NYC to work for over twenty years on stage and TV. Alternately billed as Mitch or Mitchell Ryan, he made his stage debut in "Whisper to Me" (1960) before joining Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival in 1962. He played the title role in "Baal" and landed a key role opposite Lee Remick in the thriller "Wait Until Dark" (1966). Among his other stage credits are Eugene O'Neill's "A Moon for the Misbegotten" (1968), "Medea" (1982) and appearances with the Arena Stage in Washington, DC (1969-70). Ryan landed a regular TV gig as Burke Devlin on the Gothic daytime drama "Dark Shadows" (ABC, 1966-70). Producer Jack Webb then hired him to play one of the leads in the police drama "Chase" (NBC, 1973-74). Ryan went on to appear in several, mostly short-lived, series: "Executive Suite" (CBS, 1976-77); "Having Babies/Julie Farr, M.D." (ABC, 1978-79); "The Chisholms" (CBS, 1980), replacing Robert Preston as the patriarch; "King's Crossing" (ABC, 1982); and "High Performance" (ABC, 1983). He also made numerous appearances in TV-movies and miniseries since the early 1970s. Among his more notable vehicles are "The Entertainer" (NBC, 1976), with Jack Lemmon, "North and South" (ABC, 1985), "Robert Kennedy and His Times" (CBS, 1985), as Robert McNamara, "Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratton Story" (NBC, 1981), as Hugh Hefner, "Fatal Vision" (NBC, 1979), "Margaret Bourke White" (TNT, 1989), as General Patton, and "Gramps" (NBC, 1995), with Andy Griffith. Ryan returned to the big screen in "Monte Walsh" (1970). Throughout the 1970s, he played small supporting roles in such features as Clint Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter," Peter Yates' "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" and "Magnum Force" (all 1973). After over a decade, he returned to features as a Vietnam veteran whose drug operation is the target of investigation by Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in Richard Donner's "Lethal Weapon" (1987). He gave a strong performance as the patriarch of a mountain family in Ted Kotcheff's "Winter People" (1989) and executed a deft, but rare, comic turn in Jim Abrahams' "Hot Shots! Part Deux" (1993). Ryan offered support to Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones in the late Tony Richardson's "Blue Sky" (filmed in 1990; released in 1994) and was one of the candidates in "Speechless" (also 1994). In 1995, he was featured in both "Malicious" and "Judge Dredd." Mitchell Ryan died March 4, 2022 at the age of 88.
Photos
Mitch Ryan
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Making Contact | Hunter (Character) | - | 1999 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Life of the Party: The Pamela Harriman Story | Averell Harriman (Character) | - | 1998 |
83% |
|
Liar Liar | Mr. Allan (Character) | $181.4M | 1997 |
82% |
|
Grosse Pointe Blank | Mr. Bart Newberry (Character) | $28.1M | 1997 |
37% |
|
The Devil's Own | Chief Jim Kelly (Character) | - | 1997 |
No Score Yet |
|
A Face to Die For | Joe Thomas (Character) | - | 1996 |
8% |
|
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers | Dr. Terence Wynn (Character) | $14.7M | 1995 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Gramps | Oliver (Character) | - | 1995 |
10% |
|
Speechless | Wannamaker (Character) | $19.6M | 1994 |
80% |
|
Blue Sky | Ray Stevens (Character) | $2.5M | 1994 |
7% |
|
The Opposite Sex... and How to Live With Them | Kenneth Davenport (Character) | $525.0K | 1993 |
No Score Yet |
|
Star | Harrison Barclay (Character) | - | 1993 |
14% |
|
Aces: Iron Eagle III | Simms (Character) | $2.5M | 1992 |
No Score Yet |
|
Deadly Game | Unknown (Character) | - | 1991 |
No Score Yet |
|
Judgment | Dave Davis (Character) | - | 1990 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Ryan White Story | Tom (Character) | - | 1989 |
20% |
|
Winter People | Drury Campbell (Character) | $1.3M | 1989 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Margaret Bourke-White | Patton (Character) | - | 1989 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Target: Favorite Son | Unknown (Character) | - | 1988 |
80% |
|
Lethal Weapon | General Peter McAllister (Character) | $61.0M | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Northstar | Col. Even Marshall (Character) | - | 1986 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hostage Flight | Capt. Malone (Character) | - | 1985 |
No Score Yet |
|
Fatal Vision | Paul Strombaugh (Character) | - | 1984 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Uncommon Valor | Chief Tom Riordan (Character) | - | 1983 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Monkey Mission | Keyes (Character) | - | 1981 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Five of Me | Dr. Ralph B. Allison (Character) | - | 1981 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story | Hugh Hefner (Character) | - | 1981 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Choice | Jerry Clements (Character) | - | 1981 |
No Score Yet |
|
Of Mice and Men | Slim (Character) | - | 1981 |
No Score Yet |
|
Angel City | Silas Creedy (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Escape From Bogen County | Ambler Bowman (Character) | - | 1977 |
No Score Yet |
|
Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion | Jethro Lundy (Character) | - | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Christmas Coal Mine Miracle | Mathew Sullivan (Character) | - | 1977 |
29% |
|
Two Minute Warning | The Priest (Character) | - | 1976 |
No Score Yet |
|
A Reflection of Fear | Inspector McKenna (Character) | - | 1973 |
69% |
|
Electra Glide in Blue | Harve Poole (Character) | - | 1973 |
94% |
|
High Plains Drifter | Dave Drake (Character) | - | 1973 |
69% |
|
Magnum Force | Officer Charlie McCoy (Character) | - | 1973 |
98% |
|
The Friends of Eddie Coyle | Waters (Character) | - | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Crime Knows No Age | Capt. Chase Reddick (Character) | - | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Chase | Capt. Chase Reddick (Character) | - | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Casino on Wheels | Capt. Chase Reddick (Character) | - | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Honkers | Lowell (Character) | - | 1972 |
20% |
|
The Hunting Party | Doc Harrison (Character) | - | 1971 |
No Score Yet |
|
Chandler | Kincaid (Character) | - | 1971 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Glory Boy | Sgt. Martin Flood (Character) | - | 1971 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | My Old Man's Place | Sgt. Martin Flood (Character) | - | 1971 |
89% |
|
Monte Walsh | Shorty Austin (Character) | - | 1970 |
75% |
|
Thunder Road | Jed Moultrie (uncredited) (Character) | $146.0K | 1958 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | 90% | The Mentalist | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2013 |
No Score Yet | 68% | One Tree Hill | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2010 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Drew Carey Show | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2004 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dharma & Greg | Edward Montgomery (Character) | 1997-2002 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Aftershock: Earthquake in New York | Unknown (Character) | 1999 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Practice | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1997 |
44% | No Score Yet | Spy Game | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1997 |
67% | No Score Yet | Dark Skies | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1997 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Wings | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1996 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Champs | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1996 |
No Score Yet | 89% | Murder, She Wrote | Senator Brent Renwyck (Guest Star) | 1985 1987 1991 1995 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Walker, Texas Ranger | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1994 |
83% | 95% | NYPD Blue | Jack Hanlan (Guest Star) | 1993 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Civil Wars | Judge Kosarin (Guest Star) | 1992 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Matlock | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1991 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hunter | Tom Reed (Guest Star) | 1991 |
No Score Yet | 94% | The Golden Girls | Rex Huntington (Guest Star) | 1991 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Who's the Boss? | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1990 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Jake and the Fatman | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1989-1990 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Mission: Impossible | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1989 |
92% | 90% | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Kyle Riker (Guest Star) | 1989 |
No Score Yet | 75% | North and South | Tillet Main (Guest Star) | 1985 |
No Score Yet | 71% | The A-Team | Ike Hagen (Guest Star) | 1985 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Riptide | Unknown (Character) | 1985 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Robert Kennedy and His Times | Unknown (Character) | 1985 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hotel | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1984 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hart to Hart | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1983 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Executive Suite | Unknown (Character) | 1976-1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Blue Knight | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Rockford Files | Colonel Hopkins (Guest Star) | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Barnaby Jones | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Cannon | Alexander Roper (Guest Star) | 1971-1972 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Chase | Capt. Chase Reddick (Character) | 1973-1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Streets of San Francisco | Abel Hoffman (Guest Star) | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dark Shadows | Burke Devlin (Character) | 1966 1968-1971 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The High Chaparral | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1970 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dark Shadows: The Beginning | Burke Devlin (Character) | 1966-1967 |