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IMDbPro

Clu Gulager(1928-2022)

  • Actor
  • Director
  • Writer
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Clu Gulager
Meeting by chance when they return to their tiny California hometown, two former high-school sweethearts reflect on their shared past.
Play trailer2:20
Blue Jay (2016)
9 Videos
43 Photos
Clu Gulager was born William Martin Gulager in Holdenville, Hughes County, Oklahoma. His nickname was given to him by his father for the clu-clu birds (known in English as martins, like his middle name) that were nesting at the Gulager home at the time Clu was born. He grew up on his uncle's ranch as a cowhand and when he was old enough he joined the United States Marine Corps for a stint from 1946-1948. He got the acting bug being in army plays so when he left he used the GI Bill of Rights to study acting. During this time he met his wife, actress Miriam Byrd-Nethery. They wed in 1952 and had two children: John (born 1957) and Tom (born 1965) The couple was married for more than 50 years until her death in 2003 from cancer.

Gulager's career started off as bit parts on popular western shows usually playing the heavy. Shows like Wanted Dead or Alive, Have Gun Will Travel, Laramie, Riverboat. He scored big with The Untouchables as "Mad Dog Coll", which led to him being offered the role of "Billy the Kid" on The Tall Man from 1960-1962, which also starred Barry Sullivan as "Pat Garrett". The show was pulled after two seasons reportedly because the powers that were didn't like kids seeing Billy the Kid as a hero.

His next big break was playing Deputy Emmett Ryker on The Virginian from 1964-1968. During this time he also fared very well as Lee Marvin's sidekick in the 1964 TV film The Killers, which was considered too violent for TV so it went to theaters. Having being burned out being a TV star he tried to break into films, mostly as a character actor. His stand out films were The Last Picture Show (1971, playing Ellen Burstyn's lover), McQ (1974) with John Wayne, and A Force of One (1979) with Chuck Norris, with whom he would later work in the 1990s on Walker, Texas Ranger.

Gulager was also cast in San Francisco International Airport, with Lloyd Bridges, which failed big time. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s he was in almost every show around, playing bit parts. Then the unthinkable happened: he found a second career as a horror film actor; he followed the footsteps of other TV actors who were stuck in TV hell, like Doug McClure (his costar from The Virginian) and Christopher George. Both men found new careers in B-movies and late night horror films. Gulager finally got a lead part in Dan O'Bannon's cult classic The Return of the Living Dead (1985). He also was in A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985).

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he appeared in TV and in the occasional horror flick. In 2005 he started acting in his son's horror films -- the Feasts movies and Piranha DD in his 80s. Not letting age get in his way, he was a horror fan favorite and still showed up at conventions at almost 90.
BornNovember 16, 1928
DiedAugust 5, 2022(93)
BornNovember 16, 1928
DiedAugust 5, 2022(93)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Awards

Photos43

Clu Gulager in McCloud (1970)
Roger Cudney and Clu Gulager in McCloud (1970)
Angie Dickinson, Lee Marvin, and Clu Gulager in The Killers (1964)
Clu Gulager in The Killers (1964)
Norman Fell, Lee Marvin, and Clu Gulager in The Killers (1964)
Clu Gulager in The Killers (1964)
Clu Gulager and Harlan Warde in The Virginian (1962)
Clu Gulager in The Virginian (1962)
Conlan Carter and Clu Gulager in The Virginian (1962)
Clu Gulager and Lisabeth Hush in The Virginian (1962)
Clu Gulager in The Virginian (1962)
Clu Gulager and John Hoyt in The Virginian (1962)

Known for

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
The Return of the Living Dead
7.3
  • Burt
  • 1985
Feast (2005)
Feast
6.2
  • Bartender
  • 2005
Kim Myers and Mark Patton in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
5.4
  • Mr. Walsh
  • 1985
Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, Ellen Burstyn, Cloris Leachman, Cybill Shepherd, and Ben Johnson in The Last Picture Show (1971)
The Last Picture Show
8.0
  • Abilene
  • 1971

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Give Till It Hurts (2022)
    Give Till It Hurts
  • Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Pacino, Quentin Tarantino, Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Damon Herriman, Timothy Olyphant, Harley Quinn Smith, Kansas Bowling, Madisen Beaty, Mike Moh, Josephine Valentina Clark, Sydney Sweeney, Michaela Sprague, Margot Robbie, Kayla Radomski, Ryan Ramirez, Margaret Qualley, and Julia Butters in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
    Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  • Sara Moore in Children of the Corn: Runaway (2018)
    Children of the Corn: Runaway
  • Sarah Paulson and Mark Duplass in Blue Jay (2016)
    Blue Jay
  • Terror of Frankenstein (1977)
    Director's Commentary: Terror of Frankenstein
  • Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez in Tangerine (2015)
    Tangerine
  • Momo in Piranha 3DD (2012)
    Piranha 3DD
  • Nico Vega: Gravity (2010)
    Nico Vega: Gravity
    • (uncredited)
  • Jenny Wade, Chelsea Richards, and Melissa Reed in Feast III: The Happy Finish (2009)
    Feast III: The Happy Finish
  • Thus to Tyrants
  • Diane Ayala Goldner, Clu Gulager, Tom Gulager, Martin Klebba, Johanna Putnam, Cassie Shea Watson, and Chelsea Richards in Feast II: Sloppy Seconds (2008)
    Feast II: Sloppy Seconds
  • Vic (2006)
    Vic
  • Feast (2005)
    Feast
  • Gabriella Hall and Blythe Metz in Jacqueline Hyde (2005)
    Jacqueline Hyde
    • (uncredited)
  • Gunfighter (1999)
    Gunfighter

Director

  • Moments
  • A Day with the Boys (1969)
    A Day with the Boys

Writer

  • A Day with the Boys (1969)
    A Day with the Boys

Videos12

The Getaway
Clip 1:01
The Getaway
Tapeheads
Clip 1:37
Tapeheads
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:08
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:46
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:11
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:23
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:20
Official Trailer
From a Whisper to a Scream
Trailer 2:06
From a Whisper to a Scream
Out of Print
Trailer 2:35
Out of Print
The Return of the Living Dead
Trailer 2:44
The Return of the Living Dead
McQ
Trailer 2:14
McQ
Director's Commentary: Terror of Frankenstein Trailer
Trailer 0:45
Director's Commentary: Terror of Frankenstein Trailer

Personal details

Edit
    • November 16, 1928
    • Holdenville, Oklahoma, USA
    • August 5, 2022
    • Los Angeles, California, USA(natural causes)
    • Miriam Byrd-NetheryJune 21, 1952 - January 6, 2003 (her death, 2 children)
    • John Gulager
    • Clu Mosha Gulager(Grandchild)
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Interview

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Given the script for M*A*S*H (1970). He turned down the offer because he hated it. He says that was one of his biggest career mistakes.
  • Quotes
    I don't have fun acting. I don't enjoy acting. I think acting is very painful. There may be those joy boys and joy girls who claim that acting is the stuff of life, but I think most artists find that their art is very painful and very laborsome and very difficult under the best of circumstances, almost a killing kind of process. You can have fun during a picture but there's also a great deal of creative pain involved in something like this for me. There's not much happiness in the creative process.

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