Lance LeGault
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| Lance LeGault | |
|---|---|
| Born | William Lance Legault May 2, 1935 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Other names | W. L. LeGault |
| Occupation | Film, television, voice actor |
| Spouse | Theresa LeGault (1984–present) |
Lance LeGault (born William Lance Legault;[1][dead link] May 2, 1935), sometimes credited as W. L. LeGault, is an American film and television actor, best known as Colonel Roderick Decker in the 1980s American television series The A-Team.
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[edit] Personal life
LeGault was born in Chicago, Illinois to a French Canadian father and a Slavic Jewish mother. The family was poor. He lived in an orphanage for a time between his dad's death when Lance was 4 and when his mother remarried. He started working at 11, and was fired from the railroad at 13 when they discovered he was not 18 as he'd said.[2] He grew up in Chillicothe, Illinois and graduated from Chillicothe Township High School in 1955,[1] later earning a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from The Municipal University of Wichita, Kansas.[3][unreliable source?] He is married with four children.
[edit] Career
His first three feature films he starred in were three Elvis Presley movies, Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) in which he was a stunt double for Elvis Presley, Kissin' Cousins (1964), and Viva Las Vegas (1964). He also appeared in Elvis Presley's groundbreaking 1968 NBC television special Elvis (also known as Elvis' 68 Comeback Special), where he sat at the side of the stage playing a tambourine.
In 1969, he appeared as Iago in the UK stage version of Jack Good's Catch My Soul: Rock Othello, and played Iago again in the 1974 Metromedia film version of Catch My Soul.[2]
He has starred on some TV shows and in TV movies and is known mainly for portraying military personnel, especially officers. His best known TV role was in the 1980s hit series The A-Team as Colonel Roderick Decker, a United States Army colonel who tried to catch the fugitive Vietnam veterans. He played the role of Colonel Decker from 1983 to 1986. He also had a recurring role in the other 1980s hit TV series Magnum, P.I. as a United States Marine Corps colonel, Colonel "Buck" Greene. His other shows include the short lived series Werewolf in 1987. In 1980, he starred with Kenny Rogers in the TV movie The Gambler. He made a few appearances during Dynasty's second season, as Ray Bonning, a henchman for Vegas mobster "Logan Rhinewood" (actually Cecil Colby). He also appeared in the other hit 1980s hit TV series Knight Rider in the pilot episode "Knight of the Phoenix" and appeared (as a different character) in the season 2 episode "Knight in Shining Armor"; and also played three different bad-guy characters in Airwolf (in To Snare a Wolf, Sweet Britches and Wildfire) as well as doing the voice-overs for the series' 1st Season "saga sell" teasers. He also guest-starred on the hit 1980s TV series Dallas as Al Halliday in 1989.
He has made many guest appearances on TV shows, his appearances range from The Rockford Files episode "A Deadly Maze", Gunsmoke, Barbary Coast, Logan's Run, Battlestar Galactica, The Incredible Hulk, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Dukes of Hazzard (episode "Treasure of Hazzard"), TJ Hooker, Voyagers!, MacGyver, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Renegade and Crusade. He also appeared in Land of the Giants in the first season episode "Underground" as a police officer.
His most recent[when?] role is in the 2005 movie Tugger: The Jeep Who Wanted to Fly.
[edit] Voicework
On the Knight Rider season 1 DVD pilot commentary, creator Glen Larson mentioned that Lance LeGault had "a voice that was four octaves lower than God's." This trait helped him obtain roles (often) as a villain or other "tough guy". It also resulted in a side career doing voice-over work. LeGault's trademark voice was at one point featured on self-guided tour cassettes at Elvis Presley's Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.
In the video game world he appeared as the voice of Major Manson in the 1998 video game Battlezone II: Combat Commander.
He currently does occasional voiceover work for Burger King, lately[when?] with the new "Angry Whopper" burger.
He provided the voice of Junior the Buffalo in Disney's Home on the Range (2004).
[edit] Filmography
- Stuntmen (2009)
- The Legend of Sasquatch (2006) (voice)
- Tugger: The Jeep Who Wanted to Fly (2005)
- Home on the Range (2004) (voice)
- Crusade: Each Night I Dream of Home (1999) (TV)
- Scorpio One (1998)
- Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)
- Executive Target (1997)
- Dark Breed (1996)
- Two Bits & Pepper (1995) (V)
- Columbo: No Time to Die (1992) (TV)
- Shadow Force (1992)
- MacGyver episode "Jack in the Box" (1987) (TV)
- Iron Eagle (1986)
- Airwolf (1984) 1984–1985
- The A-Team (1983) 1983–1986
- Knight Rider (1982 TV series);1982
- Fast-Walking (1982)
- Dynasty (1981–1982)
- Stripes (1980)
- Coma (1978)
- The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) (voice)
- Catch My Soul (1974)
- The Young Runaways (1968)
- The Swinger (1966)
- Roustabout (1964) (uncredited)
- Viva Las Vegas (1964) (uncredited)
- Kissin' Cousins (1964) (uncredited)
- Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) (uncredited)
[edit] References
- ^ a b 321 Connections (Chillicothe, Illinois: Illinois Valley Central Unit District 321). Spring 2007. http://www.ivc.k12.il.us/321Connections/321%20Connection%20spring07.pdf.[dead link]
- ^ a b Kleiner, Dick (1978-03-23). "Ask Dick Kleiner (Another Good Villain)". The Prescott Courier. Newspaper Enterprise Association (Prescott, Arizona) 98 (70): p. 5. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nfsKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VVADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4157,2200654&dq=another-good-villain. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
- ^ IMDb trivia section[unreliable source?]
Magnum PI 1981 - 1987 (Seasons 2-8) as Buck Green, nemesis to Magnum
[edit] External links
- Lance LeGault at the Internet Movie Database
- Lance LeGault at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
