Clu Gulager

Early life

Gulager was born in Holdenville in Hughes County in east central Oklahoma, the son of John Delancy Gulager, who had been an actor before settling down to practice law in Muskogee, Oklahoma. His paternal grandmother, Martha Schrimsher Gulager, was a sister of Mary Scrimshaw, the mother of the noted Oklahoma entertainer and newspaperman, Will Rogers, making Gulager and Rogers first cousins, once removed. He has Cherokee Native American ancestry. His nickname was given to him by his father for the clu-clu birds (known in English as martins, like his middle name) that were nesting at the Gulager home at the time Clu was born. From 1946-48 Gulager served in the United States Marine Corps. After attending Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Gulager transferred to Baptist-affiliated Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He won a one-year scholarship to study abroad, where he worked under Jean Louis Barrault, an internationally known French actor and director. In 1952 he returned to Baylor. That same year he married a young singer named Miriam Nethery.

Acting career

In 1958 Gulager appeared as Roy Carter in the episode "The Return of Roy Carter" (written by Gene Roddenberry of Star Trek fame) in the western television series Have Gun-Will Travel starring Richard Boone. In the spring of 1959 Gulager appeared as Tommy Pavlock in the episode "The Immigrant" of NBC's series The Lawless Years, a 1920s crime drama. In the fall of 1959 he appeared in the episode "The Temple of the Swinging Doll" of NBC's short-lived espionage drama Five Fingers, starring David Hedison.

On June 3, 1959, Gulager guest-starred as the unscrupulous photographer Elliott Garrison in "The Andrew Hale Story" on NBC's Wagon Train, with John McIntire in the lead in this episode before he was named two years later as Ward Bond's successor on the popular series. This Andrew Hale is a minister mistakenly on the run who is found dying in the desert. He soon displays great knowledge of healing and spiritual matters and restores the faith of many on the Wagon Train. James Best also appears in this episode in the role of Garth English.

On October 11, 1959, Gulager appeared as a U.S. Navy sailor in the "Appointment at Eleven" episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and again as an escaped convict in "Pen Pal" on November 1, 1960. On The Untouchables, he played the role of real-life vicious mob killer Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll. Gulager was hailed for his utterly chilling performance as the psychopathic Coll.

Late in 1959 he was cast as Beau Chandler in the episode "Jessie Quinn" of the NBC western series Riverboat, starring Darren McGavin and Burt Reynolds. The episode is a tale of intrigue involving the Texas Revolution. Capt. Holden attempts to send weapons to Sam Houston, but forces of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna in Mexico threaten to blow up Holden's vessel, the Enterprise. Mercedes McCambridge is cast in the title role, with Kevin Hagen as John Hollister.

From 1960-62 Gulager played Billy the Kid in The Tall Man opposite Barry Sullivan as Sheriff Pat Garrett. The episodes portray Billy as a sympathetic character without resorting to the "misunderstood young man" theme used in such films as The Outlaw and The Left Handed Gun. In 1961 Gulager guest-starred in another NBC western, Whispering Smith, Audie Murphy's only attempt at series television.

Gulager portrayed Deputy Sheriff Emmett Ryker from 1964-68 on The Virginian, the 90-minute western series in which he starred with James Drury, Doug McClure, Lee J. Cobb, Roberta Shore, Randy Boone, Gary Clarke and Diane Roter. Gulager appeared more than 60 times in other roles in film and television, including the film Winning and the CBS series Three for the Road. He also appeared several times on NBC's Bonanza. He starred with Lee Marvin, Ronald Reagan, John Cassavetes and Angie Dickinson in The Killers, teaming with Marvin as a pair of ruthless hit men.

Gulager is the father of film director John Gulager (contest winner in third season of Project Greenlight). His wife, actress Miriam Byrd Nethery, died in Los Angeles in 2003.

He appeared notably in The Last Picture Show (1971), along with Cybill Shepherd and Ellen Burstyn. In 1977, long after his role on The Virginian, he appeared in Rod Taylor's unsuccessful NBC western series, The Oregon Trail, in the episode "The Army Deserter". Gulager also played the boss of Susan Sarandon in a 1977 film drama, The Other Side of Midnight. In 1981, he co-starred opposite Oscar Award-winner Jane Wyman, along with some newer younger actors Lorenzo Lamas, William R. Moses and Jamie Rose, in the pilot episode of The Vintage Years (which was retooled as the prime-time soap opera: Falcon Crest) for the male lead role of Angela Channing's long-suffering nephew, Chase Gioberti, when he wasn't rehired to continue with his role, hence, Robert Foxworth, took over the role, until his firing in 1987. He also appeared in his son John Gulager's Feast series of films as a shotgun-toting bartender, and had a role in the 2012 film Piranha 3DD. He was also a featured player in director John Landis' darkly comedic 1985 film noir satire, Into The Night, a film rife with insider Hollywood cameos, as an FBI agent, courier of a cache of clandestine funds, which he grudgingly delivers to secure the safety of the film's two romantic leads (Michelle Pfeiffer and Jeff Goldblum). In an example of the film's dry humor, their characters find they are not in a position to object as the agent/courier (Gulager) angrily pilfers as many packets of bills from the treasure trove as he can resentfully stuff into his pockets in plain sight of them, before leaving the bewildered pair in a huff.

He was cast as Burt Wilson in the Dan O'Bannon-directed 1985 cult classic, The Return of the Living Dead.

Awards and nominations