Michael McGreevey

Michael McGreevey (born February 7, 1948) is an American actor and screenwriter. He starred in several Walt Disney films as a young actor and later became a writer for the Fame TV series. He is the son of Emmy Award-winning television and film screenwriter John McGreevey.

Michael McGreevey

Career

Michael McGreevey's first major role was as young cabin boy Chip Kessler in the 1959–61 TV series Riverboat.[1] It starred Darren McGavin as the captain of a riverboat on the Mississippi River during the 1830s. In a 2015 interview, McGreevey confirmed the rumored friction between McGavin and his co-star Burt Reynolds: "They were just two very different personalities. I think that Burt was insecure. It was his first job in Hollywood and Darren was a very polished actor. It was Darren's show really--he was Captain Holden. I think Burt was a little jealous of Darren and they clashed quite a bit. What finally happened was that Burt left the show. But I loved them both. Darren was very much a father figure for me and Burt was like a big brother. He had been a football player at Florida State and I was impressed with that because I was into football. The first football I ever got--in fact, I've still got it--he got me. We used to play catch. I still see Burt every once in awhile [sic]. He still says: "Don't tell people you were only 11 years old when we were on Riverboat.'"[2]

Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, McGreevey appeared in numerous episodes of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color[3] and in the Disney theatrical film trilogy: The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975). Set at fictional Medfield College, these three films featured Kurt Russell as college student Dexter Riley and McGreevey as his friend Richard Schulyer.[4] McGreevey also appeared as a different character in the Disney films Snowball Express (1972) and The Shaggy D.A. (1976).

In addition to his Disney roles, McGreevey appeared as guest star in numerous television series, such as The Virginian, Bonanza, and Route 66. He also starred opposite Sally Field, Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, and Richard Widmark in the 1967 western The Way West, which was based on an A. B. Guthrie, Jr. novel. He played a young pioneer named Brownie Evans, who marries Sally Field's character.[5]

In 1978, after studying film at UCLA, Michael McGreevey collaborated with his father, John McGreevey, on the script for the 1978 made-for-TV movie Ruby and Oswald: "In reality, the movie, although it's called Ruby and Oswald, is a three-way depiction of those four days in Dallas where we cut back and forth between the documentary footage of Kennedy and the recreated story with Ruby and Oswald. Dad and I both knew a man named Alan Landsburg, who had done a lot of documentaries. We went to him with the project first and he knew Mel Stuart, who had done an Academy Award-winning documentary called Four Days in November (1964). So, Mel was attached to direct it and we went into CBS and sold it right away as a three-hour special event movie. I was very proud of that movie; it was very well done."[2]

McGreevey subsequently wrote episodes of TV series such as The Waltons, Quincy, M.E., and Fame. He eventually became a script editor and then creative consultant for Fame.[6] In 1984, he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing in Children's Programming for co-writing the ABC Afterschool Special "The Celebrity and the Arcade Kid".[7] In 2015, he co-wrote the feature-length documentary Earl Hamner Storyteller, which focused on the life and career of The Waltons creator Earl Hamner, Jr.[2]

Filmography

Film appearances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958	The Girl Most Likely	Red Headed Indian Boy	Uncredited
1959	The Man in the Net	Buck Ritter
1959	Day of the Outlaw	Bobby – Vic's Son
1960	Toby Tyler	Concession Worker	Uncredited
1960	Chartroose Caboose	Joey James
1961	The Clown and the Kid	Shawn
1967	The Way West	Brownie Evans
1968	The Impossible Years	Andy McClaine
1969	Death of a Gunfighter	Dan Joslin
1969	The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes	R. Schuyler
1972	Now You See Him, Now You Don't	Richard Schuyler
1972	Snowball Express	Wally Perkins
1975	The Strongest Man in the World	Richard Schuyler
1976	The Shaggy D.A.	Sheldon
2014	A Lesson of Love	Reverend	(final film role)

Television appearances

1977	‘’Family’’	Sam Wilkes	Episodes: Part 1 & 2 Jury Duty	Episodes: Part 1 & 2 Jury Duty
1959	Black Saddle	Tad Murdock	Episode: "Murdock"
1959-1961	Lassie	Mike / Joey	2 episodes
1959-1960	Riverboat	Chip Kessler	17 episodes
1960	The Donna Reed Show	Gordie	Episode: "Someone Is Watching"
1961	Dr. Kildare	Tommy Adams	Episode: "Hit and Run"
1961	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Freddy	Episode: "Texas John Slaughter: Frank Clell's in Town"
1961	Wagon Train	Sonny Sherman / Boy	2 episodes
1961	Bonanza	Jeremy Paster	Episode: "Gabrielle"
1962	Route 66	Davey Selman	Episode: "Shoulder the Sky, My Lad"
1962	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Arthur Loomis	Episode: Sammy, the Way-Out Seal: Part 1 Episode: Sammy, the Way-Out Seal: Part 2
1964	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	J.D. Gray	Episode: "For Love of Willadean: A Taste of Melon" Episode: "For Love of Willadean: Treasure in the Haunted House"
1969	The Mod Squad	Edward Timmers	Episode: "A Place to Run, a Heart to Hide In"
1970	The Virginian	Toby Wheeler	Episode: "Experiment at New Life"
1972	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Ralph	Episode: "The Wacky Zoo of Morgan City: Part 1" Episode: "The Wacky Zoo of Morgan City: Part 2"
1971-1972	Room 222	Rudy	2 episodes
1972	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Norman	Episode: "Michael O'Hara the Fourth: Part 1" Episode: "Michael O'Hara the Fourth: Part 2"
1973	Harry O	Bobby	Epísode: "Such Dust as Dreams Are Made On"
1973	The Waltons	Hobart 'Hobie' Shank	Episode: "The Braggart"
1977	Charlie's Angels	Ted Blain	Episode: "Terror on Ward One"

References

1. Kotar, S.L. and J.E. Gessler (2015). Riverboat: The Evolution of a Television Series 1959-1961. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-505-4.
2. Rick29 (March 26, 2015). "An Interview with Michael McGreevey: The Actor-Writer Discusses Riverboat, Disney, the Fame TV Series, and The Waltons". Classic Film & TV Cafe. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
3. Cotter, Bill (1997). The Wonderful World of Disney Television: A Complete History. Disney Editions. ISBN 978-0786863594.
4. Armstrong, Richard B. and Mary Willems Armstrong (October 1, 2000). Encyclopedia of Film Themes, Settings and Series. McFarland & Co., Inc. Publishers. p. 169. ISBN 9780786408931.
5. Gasca, Melissa (July 3, 2010). "Michael McGreevey: A Local's 'Dramatic' Comeback". The Santa Clarita Valley Signal. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
6. Hoey, Michael A. (2010). Inside Fame on Television: A Behind-the-Scenes History. McFarland & Co., Inc. Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7864-4665-0.
7. "Daytime Emmy Awards (1984)". Internet Movie Database.

External links

• Michael McGreevey at IMDb
• Michael McGreevey at the TCM Movie Database