Kenneth McMillan was an American actor. McMillan was usually cast as gruff, hostile and unfriendly characters due to his rough image. However, he was cast in some lighter roles that highlighted his more benign side.

Personal life

McMillan was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Margaret and Harry McMillan, a truck driver.
Prior to becoming an actor, McMillan was a manager at Gimbels Department Store. At age 30 McMillan decided to pursue an acting career. He attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is a high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, located near Lincoln Center and the Juilliard School in the Lincoln Center district of Manhattan, on Amsterdam Avenue...

 and took acting lessons from Uta Hagen

Uta Hagen

Uta Thyra Hagen was a German-born American actress and drama teacher. She originated the role of Martha in the 1963 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee...

 and Irene Dailey

Irene Dailey

Irene Dailey was an American actress, perhaps best known for her work on Broadway and on daytime television.Dailey was born in New York City, the daughter of Helen Theresa and Daniel James Dailey...

. He was married to Kathryn McDonald (20 June 1969 - 8 January 1989) (his death) with whom he had one child, actress Alison McMillan.

Career

McMillan made his film debut at age 41 with a small role in Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...

's police drama Serpico

Serpico

Serpico is a 1973 American crime film directed by Sidney Lumet. It is based on the true story of New York City policeman Frank Serpico, who went undercover to expose the corruption of his fellow officers, after being pushed to the brink at first by their distrust and later by the threats and...

. The actor played a borough commander in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, but often was cast as characters such as a cowardly small town sheriff in Tobe Hooper

Tobe Hooper

Tobe Hooper is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in the horror film genre. His works include the cult classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , along with its first sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 ; the three-time Emmy-nominated Stephen King film adaptation...

's 1979 TV mini-series Salem's Lot

Salem's Lot (1979 TV mini-series)

Salem's Lot is a 1979 American television adaptation of the novel of the same name by Stephen King...

, a similar law enforcement officer in the 1987 Burt Reynolds

Burt Reynolds

Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...

 film Malone

Malone (1987 film)

Malone is a 1987 movie, starring Burt Reynolds and written by Christopher Frank. It is based on a novel by William P. Wingate. Reynolds stars as ex-CIA agent Richard Malone. Cliff Robertson and Lauren Hutton also star.-Plot:...

, William Hurt

William Hurt

William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...

's bitter paraplegic father in Eyewitness, a wily safe cracker in The Pope of Greenwich Village

The Pope of Greenwich Village

The Pope of Greenwich Village is a 1984 American film starring Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Daryl Hannah, Geraldine Page, Kenneth McMillan and Burt Young. Page earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her two-scene role. The film was adapted by screenwriter Vincent Patrick...

and a racist fire chief in Ragtime

Ragtime (film)

Ragtime is a 1981 American film based on the historical novel Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow. The action takes place in and around New York City, New Rochelle, and Atlantic City in the first decade of the 1900s, and includes fictionalized references to actual people and events of the time. The film was...

who is memorably told off by the New York police commissioner, James Cagney

James Cagney

James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...

.

He portrayed the vile and grotesquely obese Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Dune

Dune (film)

Dune is a 1984 science fiction film written and directed by David Lynch, based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name. The film stars Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides, and includes an ensemble of well-known American and European actors in supporting roles. It was filmed at the Churubusco...

, the pathetic drunken pop of Aidan Quinn

Aidan Quinn

-Early life:Quinn was born in Chicago, Illinois to Irish parents. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic and raised in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly in Ireland. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of...

 in Reckless

Reckless (1984 film)

Reckless is a 1984 love story shot in the Appalachian Mountains and Rust Belt of Steubenville, Ohio, Weirton, West Virginia and Mingo Junction, Ohio. Starring Daryl Hannah and Aidan Quinn. Directed by James Foley and written by Chris Columbus. Soundtrack by INXS, Romeo Void, Bob Seger and Thomas...

and a sleazy high roller gambler in "The Ledge

The Ledge

"The Ledge" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the July 1976 issue of Penthouse, and later collected in King's 1978 collection Night Shift.-Plot summary:...

," an episode of the horror anthology film Cat's Eye. Yet he did sometimes end up on the right side of the law, playing Robert Duvall

Robert Duvall

Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....

's detective partner in True Confessions

True Confessions

True Confessions is a confession magazine targeted at young women readers. It wasoriginally published by Fawcett Publications, beginning in 1922....

and a judge who must rule whether Richard Dreyfuss

Richard Dreyfuss

Richard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...

 has the right to die in Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Whose Life is it Anyway?

Whose Life Is It Anyway? is a play by Brian Clark adapted from his 1972 television play of the same title. The play premiered at the Mermaid Theatre in London's West End in 1978 starring Tom Conti as Ken.-Plot:...

.

McMillan was also adept at comedy, giving performances as a baseball club manager in Blue Skies Again

Blue Skies Again

Blue Skies Again is the ninth studio album from country music artist John Anderson. It was released in November 1987.-Track listing:#"Blue Skies Again" - 3:26#"There's Nothing Left for Me to Take for Granted" - 3:01#"Quittin' Time" - 3:57...

, Meg Ryan

Meg Ryan

Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra , professionally known as Meg Ryan, is an American actress and producer. Raised in Bethel, Connecticut, Ryan began her acting career in 1981 in minor roles, before joining the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns in 1982...

's corrupt security guard captain dad in Armed and Dangerous and a dotty senile veterinarian in Three Fugitives

Three Fugitives

Three Fugitives is a 1989 comedy film starring Nick Nolte, Martin Short, Sarah Rowland Doroff and James Earl Jones and written and directed by Francis Veber. It is a remake of Les Fugitifs, a 1986 French comedy starring Gerard Depardieu and Pierre Richard and also directed by Veber.- Plot :Lucas ...

.

McMillan had a recurring role as Valerie Harper

Valerie Harper

Valerie Harper is an American actress, known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on the 1970s television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and for her starring roles on the sitcoms Rhoda and Valerie.-Early life and career:Harper was born at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, Rockland County,...

's irate boss Jack Doyle on the TV sitcom "Rhoda

Rhoda

Rhoda is an American television sitcom, starring Valerie Harper, which ran for five seasons, from 1974 to 1978 airing in 109 episodes. The show was a spin-off from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in which Harper between the years 1970 and 1974 had played the role of Rhoda Morgenstern, a spunky,...

." Among the TV shows McMillan did guest spots on are Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows is a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements...

, Ryan's Hope

Ryan's Hope

Ryan's Hope is an American soap opera, revolving around 13 years of trials and tribulations within a large Irish American family in the Riverside district of New York City. It aired from July 7, 1975 to January 13, 1989 on ABC...

, as a 53rd precinct lieutenant on Kojak

Kojak

Kojak is an American television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, bald New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak. It aired from October 24, 1973, to March 18, 1978, on CBS. It took the time slot of the popular Cannon series, which was moved one hour earlier...

, Starsky and Hutch

Starsky and Hutch

Starsky and Hutch is a 1970s American cop thriller television series that consisted of a 90-minute pilot movie and 92 episodes of 60 minutes each; created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30, 1975 and May 15, 1979 on the ABC...

, 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...

, Moonlighting

Moonlighting (TV series)

Moonlighting is an American television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 66 episodes...

, Lou Grant

Lou Grant (TV series)

Lou Grant is an American television drama series starring Ed Asner in the titular role as a newspaper editor. Unusual in American television, this drama series was a spinoff from a sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Aired from 1977 to 1982, Lou Grant won 13 Emmy Awards, including "Outstanding Drama...

, Magnum, P.I.

Magnum, P.I.

Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....

and Murder, She Wrote

Murder, She Wrote

Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...

.

Outside of his film and TV credits, McMillan also frequently performed on stage at the New York Shakespeare Festival

New York Shakespeare Festival

New York Shakespeare Festival is the previous name of the New York City theatrical producing organization now known as the Public Theater. The Festival produced shows at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of its free Shakespeare in the Park series, at the Public Theatre near Astor Place...

. He acted in the original Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 productions of Streamers

Streamers

Streamers is a play by David Rabe. After premiering at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut in 1975, the production transferred to Broadway, opening on April 21, 1976 at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, where it ran for 478 performances...

and American Buffalo

American Buffalo (play)

American Buffalo is a 1975 play by American playwright David Mamet which had its premiere in a showcase production at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago. After two more showcase productions, it opened on Broadway on February 16, 1977...

. He won an Obie

Obie Award

The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...

 for his performance in the Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway

Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 play Weekends and Other People.

McMillan died of liver disease

Liver disease

Liver disease is a broad term describing any single number of diseases affecting the liver.-Diseases:* Hepatitis, inflammation of the liver, caused mainly by various viruses but also by some poisons , autoimmunity or hereditary conditions...

 at age 56.

External links

• Kenneth McMillan Biography at Hollywood.com