David Ackroyd

Veteran stage and TV actor 'David Ackroyd' (qv) was born on May 30, 1940 in Orange, New Jersey, the son of Arthur, an insurance adjuster, and Charlotte (nee Henderson) Ackroyd. He studied at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania where he received his BA in 1962 as an ROTC student. Following his graduation he appeared in community theater productions while serving in Arizona with the military. He then focused on the arts as a career after enrolling at the Yale Drama School where he earned his Masters of Fine Arts in 1968.David gathered early professional credits at the Yale Repertory Theatre (for three seasons) and Williamstown Theatre Festival (for six seasons). He also found challenging and varied stage work outside the U.S. in Taiwan, Russia, Poland, Germany, France, and the Czech Republic.Dark-haired with a serious handsomeness to him, he was able to extend his all-stage career into film and TV in the early 1970s, beginning with daytime leading man outings in "The Secret Storm" and "Another World". He progressed to prime time work as Gary Ewing in _Dallas (1978)_ (qv) until 'Ted Shackelford' (qv) successfully took over the role when the character moved front and center with the spin-off drama _Knots Landing (1979)_ (qv).A durable guest star on a slew of popular TV series including "Lou Grant," "The Paper Chase," "Knot's Landing," "The Facts of Life," "Dynasty," "St. Elsewhere," "The A Team," "Cagney and Lacey," "Highway to Heaven," "Doogie Howser, M.D.," "Murder, She Wrote," "Walker, Texas Ranger" and "Xena: Warrior Princess," David also provided strong co-star support opposite a number of female stars in their vehicles as he did in the mini-series _The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978)_ (qv) starring 'Bette Davis' (qv) and numerous TV movies.Such TV movie offerings included _And I Alone Survived (1978)_ (qv), _Women in White (1979)_ (qv), _Deadly Lessons (1983)_ (qv), _When Your Lover Leaves (1983)_ (qv), _The Children of Times Square (1986)_ (qv), _Hell Hath No Fury (1991)_ (qv), _The Fear Inside (1992)_ (qv), and _Against the Wall (1994)_ (qv), in addition to four exceptional mini-series (_The Word (1978)_ (qv), _Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder (1987)_ (qv), _Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987)_ (qv) and _Windmills of the Gods (1988)_ (qv)), plus a recurring role as Dr. Boyer in _AfterMASH (1983)_ (qv) and Dr. Bart Langley in the series _A Peaceable Kingdom (1989)_ (qv) starring 'Lindsay Wagner' (qv).He would also play a number of supporting roles in such movies as _The Mountain Men (1980)_ (qv), _The Sound of Murder (1984)_ (qv), _Wrestling with God (1990)_ (qv), _Dark Angel (1990)_ (qv), _Love, Cheat & Steal (1993)_ (qv), _Dead On (1994)_ (qv), _Raven (1996)_ (qv), _No Strings Attached (1997)_ (qv). His last to date was the lead role in an existential motorcycle movie inspired by "Easy Rider" entitled _The Best Bar in America (2009)_ (qv).Prone to playing intelligent, upscale types or white-collar professionals (senators, doctors, lawyers, etc.), David continued to prevail on the stage with potent performances in "Unlikely Heroes", his 1971 Broadway debut, "The Rivals", "Juno and the Paycock", "Hamlet" (as Rosencrantz), "Private Lives," "Children of a Lesser God" (replacing original star 'John Rubinstein' (qv)), "A Soldier's Play", "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," "Six Characters in Search of an Author", and an 2003 off-Broadway appearance in "It Just Catches". A well-seasoned narrator in documentary stories for the History Channel, he has sometimes utilized his well-modulated vocals for such animated cartoons as "Johnny Quest" and "Captain Planet and the Planeteers." Most of his work of late comes in the form of voice work.Long married to wife Ruth Liming, a college admissions officer, the couple has two daughters, Jessica and Abigail. Living in Montana where he is a professor of drama at Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell, David is also one of the founding members of the Alpine Theatre Project which produces plays for the Whitefish Theatre Company.::Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net