Alan Ruck

Alan Ruck
Ruck in 2019
Born	Alan Douglas Ruck (1956-07-01) July 1, 1956 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (BFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1983–present
Spouse(s)	Claudia Stefany ​ ​ (m. 1984; div. 2005)​ Mireille Enos ​ (m. 2008)​
Children	4

Alan Douglas Ruck (born July 1, 1956) is an American actor. He played Cameron Frye, Ferris Bueller's best friend in John Hughes's Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), and Stuart Bondek, a lecherous, power-hungry member of the mayor's staff in the ABC sitcom Spin City. His other notable films include Bad Boys (1983), Three Fugitives (1989), Young Guns II (1990), Speed (1994), Twister (1996), and Kickin' It Old Skool (2007). In 2016, he co-starred with Geena Davis in an updated Fox TV adaptation of William Peter Blatty's best-selling novel The Exorcist. He also plays the role of the oldest son, Connor Roy, in the HBO series Succession.

Early life

Ruck was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to a schoolteacher mother and a father who worked for a pharmaceutical company. He attended Parma Senior High School located in Parma, Ohio, and graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.F.A. in drama in 1979. He recalled:

After school, I went up to Chicago, because I didn't really know anybody in New York or Los Angeles, and I knew people who were doing plays in Chicago. So I went up there, and I knocked around a little bit. And I guess about a year after I was out of school, I got my first job.

Ruck made his Broadway debut in 1985 in Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues with Matthew Broderick. Early on, Ruck was a prominent stage actor at many theaters around the country, including Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago. In his initial foray into film acting, Ruck appeared in Class and Hard Knocks as well as some television films.

Career

Ruck's first film role was in the 1983 drama film Bad Boys, where he played Carl Brennan, Sean Penn's friend in the film. The same year he played Roger Jackson in Class, with his role as Cameron Frye, Ferris Bueller's hypochondriac best friend in John Hughes' Ferris Bueller's Day Off coming three years later. One of his other film roles was in the 1987 film Three for the Road.

Ruck later appeared in the 1989 comedy film Three Fugitives. Following that, he played a significant role as Hendry William French in Young Guns II, the 1990 sequel to Young Guns. He also played Captain John Harriman of the USS Enterprise-B in the 1994 film Star Trek Generations, a role that he has reprised along with Generations co-star Walter Koenig and other Trek alumni in the fan film Of Gods and Men. Alan also played an annoying tourist named Doug Stephens on an ill-fated bus in the blockbuster Speed. Another supporting role was of the eccentric storm chaser Robert 'Rabbit' Nurick in the 1996 disaster film Twister.

From 1990 to 1991, Ruck starred as Chicago ad man Charlie Davis, in the ABC series Going Places. ABC canceled the series after one season (22 episodes). He appeared in the series Daddy's Girls in 1994, which was canceled after three episodes. From 1996 to 2002, Alan played Stuart Bondek in the sitcom Spin City alongside Michael J. Fox and later, Charlie Sheen. In 2005, he played Leo Bloom in the Broadway version of Mel Brooks' The Producers, a role also played by his Ferris Bueller co-star, Matthew Broderick.

Ruck was then cast in the pilot of the Tim Minear-created Fox Network series Drive, but did not appear in the actual series. He also starred in one episode of the Comedy Central sitcom Stella as Richard, a man looking for work. He later starred in the season two Scrubs episode "My Lucky Day" as a patient, and played reporter Steve Jacobson on the ESPN miniseries The Bronx Is Burning.

In 1998, Ruck guest starred in the fifth episode of the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon as the NASA engineer Tom Dolan.

In 2006, Ruck guest starred in a single episode of Stargate Atlantis called "The Real World" and, in 2007, as unscrupulous property developer Albert Bunford in an episode of Medium.

In the 2007 comedy Kickin' It Old Skool, he appears as Dr. Frye, a possible connection to Cameron Frye; he even mentions still trying to pay off an old Ferrari, a reference to Cameron totaling his dad's Ferrari in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Ruck played the part of a ghost of a family man in the 2008 film Ghost Town starring Ricky Gervais. In 2009, he had a minor role as a married man named Frank in an episode of Cougar Town. In his role, he has problems with his marriage due to a crush he had long ago on Jules, played by Courteney Cox.

Ruck also has a small role in the 2008 M. Night Shyamalan film The Happening. He recently played the role of Dean Bowman in the college fraternity drama Greek. He appeared in a guest role as a manic geologist in an episode of Eureka. Additionally, he plays Mr. Cooverman in the film I Love You, Beth Cooper. In 2009, Ruck filmed the medical drama Extraordinary Measures in Portland, Oregon, with star Harrison Ford.

Ruck then appeared as a bank robber in a season three episode of the USA Network series Psych, and as a lawyer in season five of the ABC series Boston Legal. He recently guest starred as Martin, a magazine reporter, on an episode of Ruby & the Rockits entitled "We Are Family?".

In 2010, Ruck was cast as a lead character in the NBC mystery-drama, Persons Unknown. He also guest-starred on the television show Fringe as a scientist turned criminal, in the NCIS: Los Angeles season two episode "Borderline", and guest-starred as ex-money laundering accountant turned dentist, on an episode of Justified entitled "Long in the Tooth". He also appeared in the Grey's Anatomy season five episode "In The Midnight Hour".

In 2012, Ruck was cast in the ABC Family series Bunheads as the husband to Sutton Foster's character, Michelle. In 2013, he appeared in NCIS, guest-starring in the season 11 episode, "Gut Check".

In autumn 2016, Ruck began a 10-episode run on The Exorcist as Henry Rance, the husband (who has suffered mild brain damage in a vaguely explained accident) of Angela Rance (Geena Davis), better known as the adult Regan MacNeil, the tortured girl (played by Linda Blair) who is possessed by a demon in the 1973 hit film The Exorcist. This Fox TV adaptation is "inspired by" the 1971 William Peter Blatty best-selling novel. In this update, the demon that tortured Regan/Angela as a girl did not die as it did at the end of the feature film, and it now inhabits one of Angela and Henry's daughters. Once again, they must turn to exorcism-practicing priests (Alfonso Herrera and Ben Daniels) for help. Regan/Angela's mother, Chris MacNeil (played by recurring guest star Sharon Gless and Ellen Burstyn in the feature film), is welcomed by the rest of the family but utterly scorned by her own daughter.

Personal life

Ruck married Claudia Stefany in 1984, and they had two children: a daughter, Emma, and a son, Sam. They divorced in 2005. He married actress Mireille Enos on January 4, 2008. They met in 2005 while co-starring in the Broadway revival of Absurd Person Singular. Mireille gave birth to their daughter Vesper in 2010. Their son Larkin was born in July 2014.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Bad Boys	Carl Brennan
1983	Class	Roger Jackson
1986	Ferris Bueller's Day Off	Cameron Frye
1987	Three for the Road	T.S.
1988	Shooter	Stork O'Connor
1989	Bloodhounds of Broadway	John Wangle
1989	Three Fugitives	Inspector Tener
1990	Young Guns II	Hendry William French
1994	Star Trek Generations	John Harriman
1994	Speed	Doug Stephens
1995	Born to Be Wild	Dan Woodley
1996	Twister	Robert "Rabbit" Nurick
1998	Walking to the Waterline	Duane Hopwood
1998	The Ransom of Red Chief	Ambrose Dorset
2003	Cheaper by the Dozen	Bill Shenk
2007	Kickin' It Old Skool	Dr. Frye
2008	Ghost Town	Ghost Dad
2008	Eavesdrop	Casper
2008	The Happening	School Principal
2008	InAlienable	Dr. Proway
2008	Star Trek: Of Gods and Men	John Harriman
2009	I Love You, Beth Cooper	Mr. Cooverman
2009	Don't You Forget About Me	Himself
2010	Extraordinary Measures	Pete Sutphen
2012	Goats	Dr. Eldridge
2012	Shanghai Calling	Marcus Groff
2015	Deathly	Richard	Short
2016	Carnage Park	Sheriff Wyatt Moss
2016	Dreamland	Walter
2017	War Machine	Lt. Gen. Pat McKinnon
2018	Gringo	Jerry
2018	Sierra Burgess Is a Loser	Stephen Burgess
2019	Captive State	Charles Rittenhouse
TBA	Untitled Christopher Landon project		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Hard Knox	Frankie Tyrone	Television film
1989	The Famous Teddy Z	Sheldon Samms	Episode: "Teddy Sells the House"
1990–1991	Going Places	Charlie Davis	19 episodes
1993	Picket Fences	Patrick Gatwood	Episode: "Unlawful Entries"
1994	Daddy's Girls	Lenny	3 episodes
1995	Muscle	Dr. Marshall Jones	13 episodes
1995–1996	Mad About You	Lance Brockwell	4 episodes
1996	The Outer Limits	Howard Sharp	Episode: "Unnatural Selection"
1996–2002	Spin City	Stewart Bondek	Main cast; 140 episodes
1998	From the Earth to the Moon	Tom Dolan	Episode: "Spider"
1998	The Ransom of Red Chief	Ambrose Dorset	Television film
2002	Scrubs	Mr. Bragin	Episode: "My Lucky Day"
2006	Stargate Atlantis	Dr. Fletcher	Episode: "The Real World"
2007	Drive	John Ashton	Episode: "Unaired Pilot"
2007	Medium	Albert Bunford	Episode: "Second Opinion"
2007	Ghost Whisperer	Steve Sinclair	Episode: "Bad Blood"
2007–2011	Greek	Dean Bowman	6 episodes
2008	Eureka	Dr. Hood	Episode: "Best In Faux"
2008	Boston Legal	Wayne Davidson	Episode: "Kill, Baby, Kill!"
2008-2014	Psych	Phil Stubbins/ Ruben Leonard	Episodes: "Gus Walks Into a Bank" “Remake A.K.A. Cloudy... With a Chance of Improvement”
2009-	Ruby & the Rockits	Martin Wexler	Episode: "We Are Family?"
2010	Numbers	Arnold Winslow	Episode: "Growin' Up"
2009	Cougartown	Frank Miller	Episode: "Two Gunslingers"
2010	CSI: Miami	Dr. Allan Beckham	Episode: "Show Stopper"
2010	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Buddy Mills	Episode: "Unshockable"
2010	Persons Unknown	Charlie Morse	13 episodes
2010	Rules of Engagement	Dr. Greenblatt	Episode: "The Four Pillars"
2010	Justified	Roland Pike	Episode: "Long in the Tooth"
2010	NCIS: Los Angeles	Donald Wexling	Episode: "Borderline"
2011	Fringe	Dr. Krick	Episode: "Os"
2011	Five	Sam Jarente	Television film
2012–2013	Bunheads	Hubbell Flowers	3 episodes
2012	Ben and Kate	Principal Geoff Feeney	Episode: "Bad Cop/Bad Cop"
2012	Hawaii Five-0	Brian Slater	Episode: "Ohuna"
2013	Burn Notice	Max Lyster	Episode: "Reckoning"
2013	NCIS	Ward Davis	Episode: "Gut Check"
2013	Hot in Cleveland	Reverend Lare	Episode: "Magic Diet Candy"
2013	Zombie Night	Joseph	Television film
2014	Intelligence	Jonathan Cain	Episode: "Cain and Gabriel"
2015	Hindsight	Harry Lavigne	Episode: "…Then I’ll Know"
2015	The Whispers	Alex Myers	4 episodes
2015	Major Crimes	Special Agent Jerry Shea	Episode: "Hostage to Fortune"
2016	The Middle	Mr. Kershaw	2 episodes
2016	Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life	Mark Barrett	Episode: "How to Survive Your Parents' Visit"
2016	The Catch	Gordon Bailey	2 episodes
2016	The Exorcist	Henry Rance	10 episodes
2016	The Loud House	Lord Tetherby, Cop (voices)	Episode: "Out on a Limo"
2018–present	Succession	Connor Roy	Main cast; 20 episodes
2018	My Dinner with Hervé	Stu Chambers	Television film
2018	Dirty John	John Dzialo	Episode: "One Shoe"
2019	One Day at a Time	Lawrence Schneider	Episode: “The Man”

External links

• Alan Ruck at IMDb
• Alan Ruck at the TCM Movie Database
• Alan Ruck at AllMovie