David Ackroyd

Veteran stage and TV actor David Ackroyd 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 a 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. Ackroyd garnered early credits at 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 former Czechoslovakia. Dark and handsome, he extended his stage career onscreen in the early 1970s, beginning with the daytime soap operas The Secret Storm (1954) and Another World (1964). He progressed to prime-time work as Gary Ewing in Dallas (1978) until Ted Shackelford successfully took over the role when the character moved front and center with the spin-off drama Knots Landing (1979). A durable guest star for decades on such popular TV series as Lou Grant (1977), Trapper John, M.D. (1979), St. Elsewhere (1982), Cagney & Lacey (1981), MacGyver (1985), Highway to Heaven (1984), Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989), Murder, She Wrote (1984), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), and Xena: Warrior Princess (1995), Ackroyd had recurring roles as Dr. Boyer in AfterMASH (1983) and Dr. Bart Langley in A Peaceable Kingdom (1989). He provided strong support in the two-part TV special The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978) (starring Bette Davis) as well as such made-for-television movies as And I Alone Survived (1978), Women in White (1979), Deadly Lessons (1983), When Your Lover Leaves (1983), The Children of Times Square (1986), Hell Hath No Fury (1991), The Fear Inside (1992), and Against the Wall (1994) and four exceptional mini-series (The Word (1978), Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder (1987), Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987), and Windmills of the Gods (1988)). Ackroyd also appeared in feature films, including The Mountain Men (1980), The Sound of Murder (1984), Wrestling with God (1990), Dark Angel (1990), Love, Cheat & Steal (1993), Dead On (1994), Raven (1996), and No Strings Attached (1997). 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), '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'. Much of his most recent professional work has been voice work. Long married to wife Ruth Liming, a college admissions officer, the couple has two daughters, Jessica and Abigail. He is a professor of drama at Flathead Valley Community College (Kalispell, Montana) and a founding member of the Alpine Theatre Project which produces plays for the Whitefish Theatre Company.