Steve Kanaly

Life and career

Kanaly was born in Burbank, California and grew up in the San Fernando Valley. He attended California State University, Northridge. Kanaly served in the Vietnam War as a radio operator with the First Air Cavalry Division. He provided details of his experiences to John Milius for the Colonel Kilgore character scenes in Apocalypse Now (1979).

Kanaly is best known for his role as Ray Krebbs, foreman of the Southfork Ranch, on the prime-time soap opera Dallas from 1978 to 1989. He reprised the role for the final episode of the series in 1991, and again for the made-for-TV reunion movie Dallas: War of the Ewings (1998). He reprised the role again in the 2012 TNT revival attending his nephew Christopher's wedding.

In 2013, Kanaly reprised the role of Ray Krebbs to attend the funeral of J. R. Ewing.

During Dallas' run, he also guested in other series, including Time Express in 1979. From 1994-95, he also had a role on the ABC daytime drama series All My Children as Seabone Hunkle, the father of Dixie Cooney Martin (played by Cady McClain). Kanaly has also guest starred on numerous other television series. In film, he collaborated frequently with writer-director John Milius, appearing in, among others, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, Dillinger, The Wind and the Lion and Big Wednesday. Milius befriended Kanaly when they attended the same shooting range in California, and turned him to acting by recommending him to John Huston for Roy Bean. Other film roles include The Terminal Man, My Name is Nobody and Midway. He also starred as J.T. Fuller in an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger titled "Widow Maker".

In 1992, Kanaly and his former Dallas screen wife, actress Susan Howard, were featured in NRA advertisements promoting responsible firearms ownership. He and his wife live on a ranch in Ojai, California. He is a highly regarded watercolor artist.