Jim McMullan(1936-2019)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
McMullan grew up in Long Beach, Long Island during the 1950s, where he was always creating something, inventing something, building something. That explains why he went off to college to learn more about art, design and architecture.
He studied Industrial Design at New York University and Parsons School of Design for a year before enrolling in Kansas University's School of Architecture. For five years he involved himself in the arts: design, sculpture, art history and even theatre. After a girlfriend coaxed him into playing the lead in a college production of "Desire Under the Elms" by Eugene O'Neill, he spent much of his free time learning the craft of acting.
He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1961 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. On a whim he went to Hollywood in 1961 to visit a friend and, through a chance meeting with playwright William Inge, he was given a screen test for Sam Peckinpah's Coups de feu dans la Sierra (1962) (Peckinpah also directed the screen test). The test was sent to Universal Pictures, which put him under a seven-year contract, the start of a successful 30-year film career. During his four-year stay at Universal he made many TV pilots and starred opposite James Stewart as his son in the classic Les prairies de l'honneur (1965).
After leaving Universal he was given the co-lead for eight weeks opposite Vince Edwards in the series Ben Casey (1961). Jim has had the lead in a few series, such as S.O.S. hélico (1974), Beyond Westworld (1980), Les feux de l'amour (1973) and most notably had a recurring role on the popular nighttime soap Dallas (1978) as Senator Dowling (a part that lasted for 18 weeks). In 1970, he co-starred with Robert Redford and Gene Hackman in La descente infernale (1969).
For more than 40 years, he appeared in hundreds of TV series, movies and commercials. His many feature film credits include The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) and Extreme Close-Up (1973). He guest-starred in over 150 TV shows including MacGyver (1985), Docteur Doogie (1989), L'homme qui valait 3 milliards (1974), Sur la piste du crime (1965), Deux cent dollars plus les frais (1974), Pour l'amour du risque (1979), L'agence tous risques (1983), Comment se débarrasser de son patron (1982), Passagers vers la Lune (1975), Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas (1977), Colorado (1978), and Le détournement du vol 847 (1988).
His career expanded into book writing with his highly acclaimed coffee-table book (co-written with Dick Gautier) "Actors As Artists", a tribute to 77 stars of stage and screen who are gifted visual artists.
In France, he played the role of Buffalo Bill from 1998 to 2002 in the "Buffalo Bill Wild West Show", a 1000-seat dinner theater production, just outside of Disneyland Paris.
McMullan retired to a small town on the New Jersey shore with his wife, Helene, until the onset of his illness, which claimed his life in California in 2019.
He studied Industrial Design at New York University and Parsons School of Design for a year before enrolling in Kansas University's School of Architecture. For five years he involved himself in the arts: design, sculpture, art history and even theatre. After a girlfriend coaxed him into playing the lead in a college production of "Desire Under the Elms" by Eugene O'Neill, he spent much of his free time learning the craft of acting.
He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1961 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. On a whim he went to Hollywood in 1961 to visit a friend and, through a chance meeting with playwright William Inge, he was given a screen test for Sam Peckinpah's Coups de feu dans la Sierra (1962) (Peckinpah also directed the screen test). The test was sent to Universal Pictures, which put him under a seven-year contract, the start of a successful 30-year film career. During his four-year stay at Universal he made many TV pilots and starred opposite James Stewart as his son in the classic Les prairies de l'honneur (1965).
After leaving Universal he was given the co-lead for eight weeks opposite Vince Edwards in the series Ben Casey (1961). Jim has had the lead in a few series, such as S.O.S. hélico (1974), Beyond Westworld (1980), Les feux de l'amour (1973) and most notably had a recurring role on the popular nighttime soap Dallas (1978) as Senator Dowling (a part that lasted for 18 weeks). In 1970, he co-starred with Robert Redford and Gene Hackman in La descente infernale (1969).
For more than 40 years, he appeared in hundreds of TV series, movies and commercials. His many feature film credits include The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) and Extreme Close-Up (1973). He guest-starred in over 150 TV shows including MacGyver (1985), Docteur Doogie (1989), L'homme qui valait 3 milliards (1974), Sur la piste du crime (1965), Deux cent dollars plus les frais (1974), Pour l'amour du risque (1979), L'agence tous risques (1983), Comment se débarrasser de son patron (1982), Passagers vers la Lune (1975), Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas (1977), Colorado (1978), and Le détournement du vol 847 (1988).
His career expanded into book writing with his highly acclaimed coffee-table book (co-written with Dick Gautier) "Actors As Artists", a tribute to 77 stars of stage and screen who are gifted visual artists.
In France, he played the role of Buffalo Bill from 1998 to 2002 in the "Buffalo Bill Wild West Show", a 1000-seat dinner theater production, just outside of Disneyland Paris.
McMullan retired to a small town on the New Jersey shore with his wife, Helene, until the onset of his illness, which claimed his life in California in 2019.
