MacGyver's Boss Dana Elcar dies at 77
06-11-05, 11:15 AM
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MacGyver's Boss Dana Elcar dies at 77
'MacGyver' actor dies at 77
Dana Elcar played boss on adventure show
Friday, June 10, 2005 Posted: 3:19 PM EDT (1919 GMT)
VENTURA, California (AP) -- Dana Elcar, the round-faced, balding actor whose real-life struggle with blindness was written into his role on the TV adventure series "MacGyver," has died. He was 77.
He died Monday of complications from pneumonia at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, his family said.
"MacGyver" ran on ABC from 1985 to 1992. Elcar played the best friend and boss of the crime-fighting title character, played by Richard Dean Anderson.
"At a time when I had very little business being called an actor, he made things so easy for me," Anderson said. "It was a learning experience that was very warm and loving for all seven years."
Dana Elcar played boss on adventure show
Friday, June 10, 2005 Posted: 3:19 PM EDT (1919 GMT)
VENTURA, California (AP) -- Dana Elcar, the round-faced, balding actor whose real-life struggle with blindness was written into his role on the TV adventure series "MacGyver," has died. He was 77.
He died Monday of complications from pneumonia at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, his family said.
"MacGyver" ran on ABC from 1985 to 1992. Elcar played the best friend and boss of the crime-fighting title character, played by Richard Dean Anderson.
"At a time when I had very little business being called an actor, he made things so easy for me," Anderson said. "It was a learning experience that was very warm and loving for all seven years."
06-11-05, 03:22 PM
#3
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Didn't he have glaucoma too?
06-13-05, 02:55 AM
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Elcar always came across as a very sincere man in his performances and his interviews. He's been out of the mainstream for a long while now, so I can't say I'll miss him. But even so, I have only recently been re-introduced to his work with the release of the MacGyver and Black Sheep Squadron DVD sets. I hope wherever he is, he has lifted out of the darkness and into the light. R.I.P.
06-13-05, 10:48 AM
#7
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In the 70s & 80s he was nearly everybody's boss, it seems... From the yahoo story:
Before becoming a can-do symbol for the vision-impaired, Elcar simply was a busy actor. Though never a leading man, his sturdy, compact build made him the perfect authority figure to a host of exasperating charges in the 1970s and 1980s. He was Richard Dean Anderson's superior on MacGyver, Robert Blake's original lieutenant on Baretta and Robert Conrad's commanding officer on Baa Baa Black Sheep.
In network TV's golden age of the episodic drama, Elcar was ubiquitous. The Internet Movie Database lists 109 guest-starring credits. The Rockford Files, B.J. and the Bear, Eight Is Enough, Knight Rider, Hart to Hart, Hardcastle and McCormick, The A-Team, Trapper John, M.D. --Elcar did them all, and more.
Elcar stood in for the late Edward Platt to play--what else?-- Don Adams' boss in the 1980 Get Smart movie, The Nude Bomb. Other big-screen credits included The Sting and 2010.
In network TV's golden age of the episodic drama, Elcar was ubiquitous. The Internet Movie Database lists 109 guest-starring credits. The Rockford Files, B.J. and the Bear, Eight Is Enough, Knight Rider, Hart to Hart, Hardcastle and McCormick, The A-Team, Trapper John, M.D. --Elcar did them all, and more.
Elcar stood in for the late Edward Platt to play--what else?-- Don Adams' boss in the 1980 Get Smart movie, The Nude Bomb. Other big-screen credits included The Sting and 2010.
