- Richard Dean Anderson
Infobox actor
name = Richard Dean Anderson
caption = Richard Dean Anderson at the Air Force Association's 57th Annual Air Force Anniversary Dinner
birthdate = Birth date and age|1950|01|23
birthplace =Minneapolis, Minnesota ,United States
occupation =Television ,film ,voice actor Richard Dean Anderson (born
January 23 ,1950 , inMinneapolis, Minnesota ) is an American televisionactor . He played the title character in the television series "MacGyver " and, more recently,Jack O'Neill in "Stargate SG-1 ". He lives inMalibu, California , with his family.Biography
Early life
Anderson was born in
Minneapolis, Minnesota to Stuart Jay Anderson and Jocelyn Rhae Carter, and has Scottish , Swedish, Norwegian and Mohawk Native American ancestry. He grew up inRoseville, Minnesota and attended Ramsey High School, thenOhio University in Athens, Ohio andSt. Cloud State University . [Kate Ritter. [http://rdanderson.com/bio/bio.htm "Biography: Life and Career,"] "Richard Dean Anderson Web Site", March 27, 2004]Career
After college, Anderson participated with friends in a cross-country bike ride from Minnesota to Alaska. The adventure opened his mind to what he wanted to do, which was become an actor. He moved to
Los Angeles , where he did many menial jobs such as work as a mime and a stagehand at a marina. He started his acting career appearing on "General Hospital" as Dr. Jeff Webber from 1976 to 1981 . He also starred as Adam in the CBS television series "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (based very loosely on the movie of the same name) from 1982-1983. In the 1983-1984 season, he played a lieutenant, Simon Adams, on the 22-weekDennis Weaver series "Emerald Point NAS " on CBS. In the story line Adams steals away Celia Warren (Susan Dey ), the wife of navallawyer Jack Warren (Charles Frank ).Anderson came to fame with the hit television series "
MacGyver " which lasted from 1985 to 1992 and was highly successful throughout its entire run, with the lead role ofAngus MacGyver .In 1995 he starred in "Legend", a comic series of only twelve episodes about a
dime novel writer within the Wild West who against his will has to play the role of his own fictional character. Originally written as a TV movie, when the decision was made to make "Legend" a series, the original teleplay became the two-hour pilot episode. Although Richard Dean Anderson co-starred withJohn de Lancie in Legend, two 1990 episodes of MacGyver (Serenity (Season 5, Episode 12) andMacGyver's Women (Season 6, Episode 8) ) featured Wild Wild West storylines with a style foreshadowing the quirky style evidenced within Legend.From 1997 to 2005, he starred as Colonel/General Jack O'Neill in "
Stargate SG-1 ", based on the movie "Stargate" starringKurt Russell andJames Spader . In season six, he chose to have a reduced role in the series due to his desire to spend more time with his young daughter. His role was continually reduced until he left as a regular cast member at the end of season eight semi-retiring from acting for personal reasons, [Kate Ritter. [http://rdanderson.com/archives/a4-07-09.htm "RICHARD DEAN ANDERSON: LEAVING?"] "Richard Dean Anderson Web Site", July 9, 2004] preferring instead to make a few guest appearances. He has appeared in two episodes of season nine of SG-1, two episodes of season ten, three episodes of season three ofStargate Atlantis and the second direct-to-DVD filmStargate Continuum .He was presented with an award at the Air Force Association's 57th Annual Air Force Anniversary Dinner in
Washington, D.C. onSeptember 14 2004 because of his role as star and executive producer of "Stargate SG-1", a series which has portrayed the Air Force in a positive light since it first premiered. [cite news |first=Linda |last=Haugsted |title=Through the Wire |url=http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA454258.html |work=Multichannel News |publisher=Reed Elsevier Inc |date=2004-09-20 |accessdate=2008-10-06 ] It was presented by the then-Air Force Chief-of-Staff, General John P. Jumper. The last recipient of the award was James Stewart in 1987.fact|date=October 2008 At the same dinner, Anderson was made an honoraryBrigadier General .Richard Dean Anderson and The Simpsons
Anderson has always been a great fan of the television show "
The Simpsons " and in 2005, he was invited to guest star on the show, which he had continually referenced during his time on "SG-1". He voices himself in an episode called "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore " in which he is kidnapped by Selma andPatty Bouvier ; Anderson's MacGyver character is a longstanding heartthrob for the sisters ofMarge Simpson .Dan Castellaneta , the voice actor who portraysHomer Simpson (among other characters), made a guest appearance on "Stargate SG-1" ("Citizen Joe") and, in describing his unnatural ability to see the life events of Jack O'Neill, made reference to O'Neill's fondness for "The Simpsons".Other appearances
He also appears in the 1997 PC game "Fallout" as the voice of Killian Darkwater, who was the clever head of the city made entirely of post-nuclear junk (Junktown).
Anderson briefly reprised his role as Angus MacGyver in 2006 when he appeared in a MasterCard commercial during
Super Bowl XL . While the plot follows the "MacGyver Formula", it is somewhat satirical of the series, showing unlikely if not impossible solutions to the obstacles faced by Anderson's character (in one shot, he cuts through a thick rope with a pine-scented air freshener). The official MasterCard website for the commercial refers to it as "the Return of MacGyver".Private life
Anderson has never married. He has a daughter from a prior relationship with Apryl Prose, named Wylie Quinn Annarose, born August 2, 1998. He has dated
Dana Delany ,Lara Flynn Boyle ,Sela Ward ,Teri Hatcher ,Deidre Hall , and German ice skaterKatarina Witt .Anderson is an avid
ice hockey player and skier. He is so much of a fan of the sports that he has deliberately appeared playing these sports in several of his TV shows, including MacGyver.Anderson is an advocate of
gun control , a trait he has in common with his role on "MacGyver", as his character mostly avoided using firearms during the series.Filmography
tarring roles
Composer
References
External links
*imdb name|id=0000760|name=Richard Dean Anderson
*amg name|2:1600
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