Clu Gulager (born
November
16,
1928) is an American
television and
film
actor. He is particularly noted for appearing in the 1985
horror movie as the
protagonist Burt in
The Return of the Living
Dead,
The Hidden,
The Offspring (aka
From a
Whisper to a Scream) and as Bartender in
Feast.
Early life
Gulager
was born William Martin Gulager in Holdenville
, Oklahoma
, the son of
John Gulager, a cowboy entertainer. His first cousin was
Will Rogers (through his paternal
grandmother). Gulager served in the
United States Marine Corps from
1946 to 1948. He has
Cherokee Native American
ancestry. His nickname was given to him by his father for the
clu-clu birds that were nesting at the Gulager home at the time Clu
was born.
Acting career
In the spring of 1959, Gulager appeared as Tommy Pavlock in the
episode "The Immigrant" of
NBC's
The Lawless Years, a 1920s
crime drama. In the fall of 1959, he appeared in
the episode "The Temple of the Swinging Doll" of NBC's short-lived
espionage drama,
Five Fingers, starring
David Hedison.
He then played
Billy the Kid in the
1960-1962 NBC
series The Tall Man opposite
Barry Sullivan as
Pat Garrett. In 1961, he guest starred on the
NBC western
Whispering
Smith,
Audie Murphy's only
attempt at series television. Gulager portrayed "Emmett Ryker" from
1964 to 1968 on another NBC series
The Virginian starring with
James Drury,
Doug McClure,
Lee J.
Cobb,
Roberta
Shore,
Randy Boone, and
Gary Clarke. He appeared more than sixty times
in other roles in film and television.
He starred with
Lee Marvin,
Ronald Reagan and
Angie Dickinson in the 1964 version of
The Killers.
Gulager is the father of film director
John
Gulager (contest winner in third season of
Project Greenlight), and is the
widower of the actress
Miriam
Byrd-Nethery who died in 2003.
He appeared notably in
The
Last Picture Show along with
Cybil Shepherd and
Ellen Burstyn. In 1977, long after his role on
The Virginian, he appeared in
Rod
Taylor's unsuccessful NBC western series,
The Oregon Trail, in the
episode "The Army Deserter".
He appeared in his son
John Gulager's
film
Feast as a shotgun-toting
bartender.
He was also a featured player in director
John Landis' darkly comedic 1985 film noir
satire,
Into The
Night, a film rife with insider Hollywood cameos, as an
FBI agent, courier of a cache of clandestine funds, which he
grudgingly delivers to secure the safety of the film's two romantic
leads,
Michelle Pfeiffer and
Jeff Goldblum. In an example of the
film's dry humor, the glamorous leading lady and her tall, dark and
nearly handsome hero find they are not in a position to object as
the agent/courier (Gulager) angrily pilfers as many packets of
bills from the treasure trove as he can resentfully stuff into his
pockets in plain sight of them, before leaving the bewildered pair
in a huff.
References
- Clu Gulager Biography (1928-)
- Clu Gulager
- CluGalagher.com
- IMDB profile
External links
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