GW Bailey

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Left to right: GW Bailey, David Graf and Lance Kinsey

George William Bailey (born August 27, 1944 in Port Arthur , Texas ) is an American actor .

He became known for his roles as Staff Sergeant Luther Rizzo in the television series M * A * S * H (1972-1983) and as Captain Thaddeus Harris in the film series Police Academy (1984). From 2005 to 2012 he played Detective Lieutenant Provenza in the series The Closer of the US television channel TNT , from 2012 to 2018 he played the same role in the branch Major Crimes .

biography

Bailey attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur with Janis Joplin . He then started to study at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas , but moved to Texas Tech University in Lubbock , Texas. He left college in the mid-1960s and worked in local theaters before moving to California in the 1970s to play some minor roles on television series of the period - such as Starsky & Hutch and Charlie's Angels .

He made his film debut in A Force of One (1979), a Chuck Norris film. He then landed the role as Rizzo in the television series M * A * S * H .

In the 1980s and 1990s he played with Steve Guttenberg in the Police Academy films a total of five times the "bad" police officer Thaddeus Harris , which made him well known among the generation that grew up after M * A * S * H .

In 1993 he returned to college and attended Texas State University San Marcos in San Marcos and graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Theater. For the 1999/2000 school year he had the title Artist-in-Residence.

On April 2, 1966, he married Eleanor June Goosby. The marriage, which has since been divorced, had two children.

Since 2001, Bailey has been the director of the Sunshine Kids Foundation , which regularly organizes travel and other leisure activities for children with cancer . He has been involved with this organization for over 15 years since he was made aware of it by his goddaughter who suffered from leukemia .

Filmography (selection)

GW Bailey in his Police Academy uniform

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bailey, GW
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bailey, George William (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH August 27, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Port Arthur , Texas