J. Edward McKinley was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 character actor

Character actor

A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...

. He frequently played authority figures, including lawmen or medical personnel.

McKinley was born in Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

. He got his early break in Hollywood in the late 1950s, when he began appearing in episodes of many television series. His film work included The Angry Red Planet

The Angry Red Planet

The Angry Red Planet is a 1959 science fiction film starring Gerald Mohr and directed by Ib Melchior. The director was given only 10 days to shoot the movie and a budget of $200,000 with which to make it.The movie was made with a CineMagic technique which was applied for all of the scenes on the...

, A Thunder of Drums

A Thunder of Drums

A Thunder of Drums is a 1961 Western directed by Joseph M. Newman, starring Richard Boone, George Hamilton and Luana Patten.-Plot:1st Lieutenant Curtis McQuade , a cavalry officer without field experience, is assigned to a remote, understaffed post where he attempts to adjust to this new life...

, the abortion drama The Case of Patty Smith, and Blake Edwards' comedy The Party

The Party (film)

The Party is a 1968 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for Sellers's improvisational comedy talents...

, in which he played Fred Clutterbuck, the studio head and party host.

Television roles included parts on The Donna Reed Show

The Donna Reed Show

The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the upper middle class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz appears as her pediatrician husband Alex, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC at 10 pm from September...

, Surfside 6

Surfside 6

Surfside 6 was an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered around a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat and featured Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield, II; Van Williams as Kenny Madison ; and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne...

, Sugarfoot

Sugarfoot

Sugarfoot is the title of a TV western that aired from 1957 to 1961. The series featured Will Hutchins as fledgling frontier lawyer Tom Brewster and Jack Elam as sidekick Toothy Thompson...

, Ben Casey

Ben Casey

Ben Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, *, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph...

, 77 Sunset Strip

77 Sunset Strip

77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....

, Ironside

Ironside

-Entertainment and literature:*Ironside , an American television series starring Raymond Burr*Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale, an urban fantasy novel by Holly Black-People:...

, Marcus Welby, M.D.

Marcus Welby, M.D.

Marcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical drama television program that aired on ABC from September 23, 1969, to July 29, 1976. It starred Robert Young as a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, and was produced by David Victor and David J. O'Connell...

, The Rockford Files

The Rockford Files

The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...

, Eight Is Enough

Eight Is Enough

Eight Is Enough is an American television comedy-drama series which ran on ABC from March 15, 1977 until August 29, 1981. The show was modeled after syndicated newspaper columnist Thomas Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book with the same name...

, Bret Maverick

Bret Maverick

Bret Maverick is an American Western series starring James Garner in the role that made him famous in the 1957 series Maverick: a professional poker player traveling alone year after year through the Old West from riverboat to saloon...

, Little House on the Prairie

Little House on the Prairie

Little House is a series of children's books by Laura Ingalls Wilder that was published originally between 1932 and 1943, with four additional books published posthumously, in 1962, 1971, 1974 and 2006.-History:...

, and Highway to Heaven

Highway to Heaven

Highway to Heaven is an American television drama series which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989.- Season 1 :- Season 2 :- Season 3 :- Season 4 :- Season 5 :...

. McKinley died in Beverly Hills, California

Beverly Hills, California

Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...

.