Pete Thornton is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 in the MacGyver

MacGyver

MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles...

television series played by Dana Elcar

Dana Elcar

Dana Elcar was an American television and movie character actor. Although he appeared in about 40 films, his most memorable role was on the 1980s and 1990s television series MacGyver as Peter Thornton, an administrator working for the Phoenix Foundation...

. He is Angus MacGyver

Angus MacGyver

Angus MacGyver, known as just MacGyver or Mac until the final season of the American spy television series MacGyver, is the highly intelligent, optimistic action hero played by Richard Dean Anderson. He prefers non-violent conflict resolution wherever possible and refuses to carry or use a gun...

's best friend and boss at both the Department of External Services (DXS) and the Phoenix Foundation. Along with MacGyver, Thornton is the only regular character in the series.

Little is revealed about Pete's youth and background before the show starts, but he has been married to Connie Thornton with whom he has a son, Michael Thornton. It is also clear that he has extensive background working for the U.S. government. He was a war veteran with service in Vietnam. At an unknown time, he left the military and joined the Department of External Services (DXS), a U.S. government agency involved in intelligence and black ops work. He met MacGyver there in 1980 while tracking the international assassin Murdoc

Murdoc

Murdoc is a fictional character in the television series MacGyver played by Michael Des Barres. Murdoc is an assassin working for the Homicide International Trust, an international group of assassins...

, and was so impressed that he recruited him into the DXS. He reaches the position of Deputy Chief of the Department in 1986 before leaving later that same year. He then goes to work for the Phoenix Foundation as Director of Operations

Director of Operations

Director of Operations can refer to any of the below.* Chief operating officer in business* Director of Operations The Director of Operations can also be referred to as the "Operations Director". The role can have a wide range of responsibilities within an organization...

, and takes MacGyver with him as a troubleshooter. Pete settles down with a desk job, but still is involved in many field operations along with MacGyver.

In 1991, actor Dana Elcar began to develop glaucoma

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is an eye disorder in which the optic nerve suffers damage, permanently damaging vision in the affected eye and progressing to complete blindness if untreated. It is often, but not always, associated with increased pressure of the fluid in the eye...

, a degenerative condition of the eyes that causes blindness

Blindness

Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...

. This condition was written into the show, and Elcar's character also develops the disease.