, and George L. Gleason, a restaurateur, professional boxer, iron worker, and roofing manufacturer. Gleason was raised in Uleta, Florida (which has since been annexed into the City of North Miami Beach). At the age of 16, he ran away from home and hitchhiked across the east coast, sleeping on beaches and playing baseball. He attended
. He signed a professional baseball contract with the
, but played just briefly in two minor league seasons between 1959 and 1960. Gleason later moved to New York City and eventually to Los Angeles.
Gleason starred in many movies, and became well-known initially as Dr. David Thornton on
, playing the role from 1976 to 1978. He guest-starred in "The Trouble with Harry" and "Fire", two episodes of
. Gleason was known to
. He played the villainous Clarence Beeks, the Duke brothers' inside trader, in the 1983 comedy
. He also played Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T Robinson, the blowhard police official in
He is perhaps best remembered for his role as Richard Vernon, the gruff disciplinarian in the seminal
. He reprised versions of that character several times, including in an A*Teens music video, on the television show
. Gleason played a tough yet forgiving and nurturing professor - that of Professor McDoogle - to the lead character in
during its sixth season as Larry Newman, the chief of a movie studio obsessed with sex and violence reflected on the kind of films the studio produces.
. He also appeared in an episode of
's boss's brother, a crazy old drunk. His final appearance before his death was in an independent film called
hunting experts to mingle with fans and sign autographs during these golf tournaments. He was married to Susan Kehl and is survived by his wife, two daughters, Shannon and Kaitlin, and one granddaughter, Sofia.
, which he is thought to have contracted from asbestos exposure on building sites while working for his father as a teenager. He was 67 years old. Gleason was buried near the southeast corner of the
| Year |
Title |
Role |
Notes |
| 1962 |
Panic in Year Zero! Panic in Year Zero! , sometimes known as End of the World, is a science fiction film directed by and starring Ray Milland. The original music score was composed by Les Baxter...
|
Gas Station Owner |
Acting and Film Debut; Uncredited |
| 1965 |
Winter A-Go-Go |
Ski Resort Guest |
|
| 1967 |
It's About Time |
Man |
Television Debut; One Episode |
| The Green Hornet The Green Hornet is a television show on the ABC US television network. It aired for the 1966–1967 TV season, and starred Van Williams as the Green Hornet/Britt Reid and Bruce Lee as Kato.- Episodes:...
|
Paul Garrett |
Television; One Episode |
| C'mon, Let's Live a Little C'mon, Let's Live a Little is a 1967 film directed by David Butler. It stars Bobby Vee and Jackie DeShannon.-Cast:*Bobby Vee as Jesse Crawford*Jackie DeShannon as Judy Grant*Eddie Hodges as Eddie Stewart*Suzie Kaye as Bee Bee Vendemeer...
|
Frat Boy |
Unncredited |
The InvadersThe Invaders, a Quinn Martin Production , is an ABC science fiction television program created by Larry Cohen that ran in the United States for two seasons, from January 10, 1967 to March 26, 1968...
|
Alien |
Television; One Episode |
| 1968 |
The F.B.I. |
Officer Dan Ryan |
Television; One Episode |
| 1969 |
Then Came BronsonThen Came Bronson is a short-lived adventure/drama television series that aired on NBC from 1969 to 1970, and was produced by MGM Television. The series, created by Denne Bart Petitclerc, began with a movie pilot on Monday, March 24, 1969. The series was greenlit for one year and began its first...
|
Deputy |
Television; One Episode |
| 1971 |
Private Duty Nurses |
Dr. McClintock |
|
| 1971 |
Adam-12Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
|
Smitty |
Television; One Episode |
| 1972 |
Where Does It Hurt? Where Does it Hurt? is a 1972 American comedy film directed by Rodney Amateau, and starring Peter Sellers, Jo Ann Pflug, and Rick Lenz....
|
|
Role Unspecified |
Mission: ImpossibleMission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
|
Blair |
Television; One Episode |
BanacekBanacek is a short-lived, light-hearted detective TV series starring George Peppard on NBC from 1972 to 1974. It alternated in its timeslot with several other shows but was the only one to last beyond its first season...
|
Border Guard |
Television; One Episode |
Adam-12Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
|
Patrolman Arnold |
Television; One Episode |
| Hit Man Hit Man is a 1972 American Crime film directed by George Armitage and starring Bernie Casey, Pam Grier and Lisa Moore. It is based on the Ted Lewis's novel Jack's Return Home, more famously adapted as Get Carter, with the action relocated from Britain to the United States.-Plot :Tyrone Tackett, ...
|
Cop |
Unncredited |
Adam-12Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
|
Instructor Chuck Williams |
Television One Episode |
| 1973 |
Little Laura and Big John |
Sheriff |
|
| 1974 |
Adam-12Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
|
John Suntor |
Television; One Episode; As Paul Xavier Gleason |
| 1975 |
Doc Savage: The Man of BronzeDoc Savage: The Man of Bronze is a 1975 camp action film starring Ron Ely as pulp hero Doc Savage. This was the last film completed by pioneering science-fiction producer George Pal.- Plot :...
|
Maj. Thomas J. "Long Tom" Roberts |
|
| Columbo |
Parsons |
Television; One Episode |
| 1976 |
Vigilante ForceVigilante Force is a 1976 American action film concerning a Vietnam War veteran and his buddies, who are hired by his brother and others in a small California town for protection from rowdy oil-field workers....
|
Michael J. Loonius |
As Paul X Gleason |
| 1976-78 |
All My Children All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
|
Dr. David Thornton |
Television |
| 1979 |
Women at West Point |
Major James T. Kirk |
TV Movie |
| Ike Ike is a 1979 television miniseries about the life of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The screenplay by Melville Shavelson was based on Kay Summersby's 1948 memoir Eisenhower Was My Boss and her 1975 autobiography, Past Forgetting: My Love Affair. Directed by Boris Sagal and Melville Shavelson, the...
|
Capt. Ernest "Tex" Lee |
Television Miniseries |
| The Great Santini The Great Santini is a 1979 film which tells the story of a Marine officer whose success as a military aviator contrasts with his shortcomings as a husband and father. The film explores the high price of heroism and self-sacrifice...
|
Lt. Sammy |
|
| 1980 |
Ike: The War Years |
Capt. Ernest "Tex" Lee |
TV Movie |
| He Knows You're Alone He Knows You're Alone is a 1980 American horror film directed by Armand Mastroianni, written by Scott Parker and edited by George Norris. It was one of the first horror films to be influenced by the success of 1978's Halloween and shares a number of similarities with that previous hit.-Plot:A young...
|
Det. Frank Daley |
|
| 1981 |
Fort Apache the Bronx |
Detective |
|
| Arthur |
Executive |
|
| The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper |
Remson |
|
| Another Life Another Life is an American television soap opera produced and broadcast by the Christian Broadcasting Network from June 1, 1981 to October 5, 1984...
|
Lee Carothers #1 |
Television |
| 1982 |
MysterDisc: Murder, Anyone |
Stewart Cavanaugh |
Direct-to-Video Film |
| 1983 |
MysterDisc: Many Roads to Murder |
|
Direct-to-Video Film |
Tender MerciesTender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay by Horton Foote focuses on Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music singer who seeks to turn his life around through his relationship with a young widow and her son in rural Texas...
|
Reporter |
|
| Trading Places Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film, of the satire genre, directed by John Landis, starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. It tells the story of an upper class commodities broker and a homeless street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unknowingly made part of an elaborate bet...
|
Clarence Beeks |
|
| 1984 |
The A-TeamThe A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
|
Roy Kelsey |
| Scarecrow and Mrs. King Scarecrow and Mrs. King is an American television series that aired from October 3, 1983, to May 28, 1987 on CBS. The show starred Kate Jackson and Bruce Boxleitner as divorced housewife Amanda King and top-level "Agency" operative Lee Stetson who begin a strange association, and eventual romance,...
|
Edson Ballon |
Television; One Episode |
| Remington Steele Remington Steele is an American television series, co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. The series blended the genres of romantic...
|
Sheriff Jeff 'Jed' Nebbins |
Television; One Episode |
Cagney & LaceyCagney & Lacey is an American television series that originally aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from October 8, 1981 to May 16, 1988...
|
Detective Crespi |
Television; One Episode |
| Call to Glory Call to Glory was an American television series that aired 23 episodes during the 1984-1985 TV season on the ABC-TV network. Starring Craig T. Nelson as a USAF pilot, Colonel Raynor Sarnac. In the course of its production run, it drifted away from its original reasonably authentic setting and...
|
Marty Colby |
Television; One Episode |
| Hardcastle and McCormick Hardcastle and McCormick is a 1980s action/drama television series from Stephen J. Cannell Productions, shown on ABC from 1983–1986, starring Brian Keith as Judge Milton C. Hardcastle and Daniel Hugh Kelly as ex-con and race car driver Mark "Skid" McCormick.The show's premise involves the...
|
Jack Fish |
Television; One Episode |
RiptideRiptide is a TV detective series that ran on NBC from 1983 to 1986, starring Perry King, Joe Penny, and Thom Bray. Riptide was created by Frank Lupo and Stephen J. Cannell, and produced by Stephen J. Cannell Productions. The main theme was composed by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter...
|
Detective Commander Phillip Hallins Everitt |
Television; Two Episodes |
| Hill Street Blues Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
|
Biff Lowe |
Television; Two Episodes |
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....
|
Ronnie Meeder AKA Jacques Arnot |
Television; One Episode |
| 1985 |
Doubletake |
Howie Henley |
TV Movie |
The Breakfast ClubThe Breakfast Club is a 1985 American teen drama film written and directed by John Hughes. The storyline follows five teenagers as they spend a Saturday in detention together and come to realize that they are all deeper than their respective stereotypes.-Plot:The plot follows five students at...
|
Principal Richard Vernon |
|
| Challenge of a Lifetime Challenge of a Lifetime is a 1985 television film directed by Russ Mayberry. Starring Penny Marshall and Jonathan Silverman, the film focuses on a 35-year-old woman entering a Triathlon.- Plot :...
|
John Schoonover |
TV Movie |
| Dallas Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
|
Lt. Lee Spaulding |
Television; Three Episodes |
| Anything for Love |
Larry Worth |
TV Movie |
Ewoks: The Battle for EndorEwoks: The Battle for Endor is a 1985 made-for-TV movie set in the Star Wars galaxy. A sequel to Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, it focuses on Cindel Towani, the little girl from the first film, who, after being orphaned, joins the Ewoks in protecting their village and defeating the evil...
|
Jeremitt |
TV Movie |
| 1986 |
Superior Court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases...
|
Attorney |
Television |
Kate & AllieKate & Allie is an American television situation comedy which ran from March 19, 1984 to May 22, 1989. Kate & Allie first aired on CBS as a midseason replacement series and only six episodes were initially commissioned, but the favorable response from critics and viewers alike easily convinced CBS...
|
Tom Fitzgerald |
Television; One Episode |
The A-TeamThe A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
|
Harry Sullivan |
Television; One Episode |
Miami ViceMiami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
|
Bunny Berrigan |
Television; One Episode |
Gimme a Break!Gimme a Break! is an American sitcom which aired on NBC from October 29, 1981, until May 12, 1987. The series stars Nell Carter as the housekeeper for a widowed police chief and his three daughters.-Premise:...
|
Mr. Kimball |
Television; One Episode |
The EqualizerThe Equalizer is an American television series that ran for four seasons, initially on CBS, between 1985 and 1989. It starred Edward Woodward as an aging New York vigilante with a mysterious past...
|
Greenleaf |
Television; One Episode |
| 1994 |
SeinfeldSeinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
|
Cushman |
Television; One Episode |
| 2001 |
Not Another Teen MovieNot Another Teen Movie is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Joel Gallen, released on December 14, 2001 by Columbia Pictures. It is a parody of teen movies which have accumulated in Hollywood over the last few decades...
|
Principal Richard "Dick" Vernon |
|
| 2002 |
National Lampoon's Van WilderNational Lampoon's Van Wilder is a 2002 comedy film directed by Walt Becker that stars Ryan Reynolds as the main character. The film also stars Kal Penn, Tara Reid, and Daniel Cosgrove. It features Sophia Bush's acting debut...
|
Professor McDougal |
|
Voisin, Scott, "Character Kings: Hollywood's Familiar Faces Discuss the Art & Business of Acting." BearManor Media, 2009. ISBN 9-781593-933425.