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Part of the work is determining through what instrument you are playing. Actors are physical, olympian storytellers and we should be able to create entire landscapes with nothing.
Ajay Naidu
Along with Troy Donahue, Doug McClure was the inspiration for the "Troy McClure" character on "The Simpsons" (1989).
Doug McClure
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Douglas Osborne McClure
11 May 1935, Glendale, California
5 February 1995, Sherman Oaks, California
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Douglas Osborne "Doug" McClure (May 11, 1935 – February 5, 1995) was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s. Born in Glendale, California, to Donald Reed McClure and the former Clara Clapp, he is best known for his appearances as Trampas in the NBC western series The Virginian.
McClure's The Virginian co-stars were James Drury, Roberta Shore, Lee J. Cobb, Randy Boone, Gary Clarke, and Tim Matheson in the later seasons. Before The Virginian, McClure costarred in two other series: (1) as Frank "Flip" Flippen on NBC's western, Overland Trail (1960), with co-star William Bendix, and (2) as Jed Sills on the CBS detective series Checkmate (1960–1962) opposite Anthony George as Don Corey and Sebastian Cabot as Dr. Carl Hyatt. In 1958 and 1959, McClure appeared in three episodes of the syndicated western series 26 Men, stories of the Arizona Rangers. He appeared as Adam Davis in 1959 in the episode "The Court Martial of Trooper Davis" of the syndicated series Mackenzie's Raiders starring Richard Carlson. He was in the third episode of The Twilight Zone, "Mr. Denton on Doomsday".
He starred in science fiction films such as At the Earth's Core, The Land That Time Forgot and The People That Time Forgot, all three based on the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. In 1967, he played the Errol Flynn role in a re-make of Against All Flags titled The King's Pirate. He played the lead in two World War II adventures, The Longest Hundred Miles and The Birdmen, set in the Philippines and at Colditz Castle respectively.
He co-starred on the sitcom Out of This World later in his career.
In the 1970s and 80s McClure appeared in commercials for Hamms Beer.
On February 5, 1995, McClure died from lung cancer in Sherman Oaks, California. He was 59 and is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery. In addition to his fifth wife, he was survived by three daughters, Valerie and Tane McClure, who is an actress.
McClure has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 7065 Hollywood Blvd. That star was unveiled in what proved to be his final public appearance in 1994.
The character of Troy McClure on The Simpsons was designed after him along with Troy Donahue. Mike Reiss, executive producer of The Simpsons, said that Doug McClure's daughter informed him that Doug was a big fan of The Simpsons. She said that while watching an episode Doug saw the character Troy McClure on the show and said, "Are they making fun of me?" Doug said he thought the parody was funny and his kids would call him Troy McClure behind his back as a joke.
Educated at UCLA, this blond leading man long made a career of apparent agelessness. He played one young sidekick after another through numerous movies and one TV series after another, playing 20ish roles into his late 40s. Although he made more than 500 appearances in his career (counting TV episodes separately), he is undoubtedly best remembered as Trampas in the series "The Virginian" (1962) and Backtrack! (1969).
McClure was fighting cancer the last couple of years before his death; despite this, he continued working, appearing in Maverick (1994) as one of the gamblers, as well as in Riders in the Storm (1995) and episodes of "Burke's Law" (1994) and "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues" (1993) which didn't appear until after his death. McClure got a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame shortly before his death.
Father of Tane McClure and Valerie.
Played the Errol Flynn role in a re-make of Against All Flags (1952) titled The King's Pirate (1967). Ironically, both men died prematurely: Flynn at age 50 and McClure at age 59.
Ex-father-in-law of Jonathan Cain.
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