Richard Bradford (actor)
| Richard Bradford | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Richard Edwin Bradford November 10, 1934 Tyler, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | March 22, 2016 (aged 81) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1953–2016 |
| Spouse(s) | Eileen Elliott (m. 1965; div. 1980) |
| Partner(s) | Millie Perkins |
Richard Edwin Bradford (November 10, 1934 – March 22, 2016) was an American actor, known for his lead role as former CIA agent turned private eye McGill in the British television adventure series Man in a Suitcase, made by ITC in 1967.
Bradford was born in Tyler, Texas, the son of Rose and Richard Edwin Bradford. His stepfather was a wholesale grocer. Raised by his grandparents in Conroe, Bradford received his schooling in San Antonio, before attending Texas A&M on a football scholarship.
When an injury short-circuited Bradford's budding athletic career, and a subsequent switch to baseball at Texas State University was stymied due to insufficient semester hours, Bradford finally decided to seriously pursue a long-contemplated career in acting. To this end he made his way to New York.
Supporting himself by waiting tables, Bradford studied acting, first with Frank Corsaro, and finally, in 1962, was admitted to the The Actors Studio, where he worked for two years, leading to roles in Studio productions such as Mother Courage (1963), June Havoc's Marathon '33 (1963), and Blues for Mister Charlie (1964). Also, he understudied Rod Steiger in the touring production of A.E. Hotchner's Hemingway-based A Short, Happy Life (1961), an ostensibly Broadway-bound show which folded out of town.
Eventually, Bradford's work caught the eye of another Actors Studio member, director Arthur Penn, who cast Bradford in The Chase (1966), where he held his own alongside Janice Rule, Martha Hyer and a host of Studio veterans, including Marlon and Jocelyn Brando, E.G. Marshall, and Clifton James, as well as newcomers Jane Fonda and Robert Redford and future member Robert Duvall. This work, in turn, attracted the attention of media impresario Lew Grade, who would bring Bradford to Great Britain in 1967 for Man in a Suitcase.
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