Kent McCord

Kent Franklin McWhirter (born September 26, 1942), known by his stage name Kent McCord, is an American actor, best known for his role as Officer Jim Reed on the television series Adam-12.

Kent McCord
McCord at right with Martin Milner in 1970
Born	Kent Franklin McWhirter (1942-09-26) September 26, 1942 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1964–2005
Spouse(s)	Cynthia Lee Doty ( m. after 1962)
Children	3

Life and career

McCord was born Kent Franklin McWhirter in Los Angeles, California to Bert and Laura McWhirter. Using the stage name Kent McCord, he first appeared on television in 1962 in The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet. He became a close friend of Rick Nelson and made a total of 44 appearances on the program over the next few years. He also landed small parts in three Elvis Presley films. He also appeared as a motorcycle courier in McHale's Navy in the episode titled "Monkey Business 007" under the name Kent McWhirter.[1] McCord also appeared in the first episode (air date 14 September 1967) of Raymond Burr's Ironside series, titled "Message from Beyond", as motorcycle cop Kellogg.

After working in a variety of secondary roles, he got his big break in 1968 when he was given a lead role next to Martin Milner as rookie police officer James A. "Jim" Reed on Adam-12, a police drama television series created by Jack Webb. The popular show ran on NBC from 1968 to 1975. In the first season of Jack Webb's Dragnet 1967, he appeared three times. The first appearance was an extra as an patrol officer, the second in the episode "The Big Explosion", saw him credited under his legal name.

In the third episode, "The Interrogation", McCord was credited under his stage name. He played the role of a police officer who has been accused of robbing a store while working an undercover narcotics detail fresh out of the police academy. McCord went on to appear five additional times in the second season, three times as unnamed officers and twice as his eventual Adam-12 character Jim Reed. He appeared one more time on Dragnet as Reed before the character became exclusive to Adam-12.

In 1972, McCord was elected to the national board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild and served on the board for 11 years. He served as the first national vice president[2] while on the National Board of Directors.[3]

McCord appeared as a downed fighter ace on the 1970s series Baa Baa Black Sheep. In 1980, he played Troy on the short-lived television series Galactica 1980. Two years later, Webb tabbed him for a new Dragnet series he was ready to launch, with McCord to play the partner to Webb's Joe Friday. Webb died suddenly in December 1982, however, before any of the episodes he wrote could be produced. In 1982, McCord played Mr. Unger on Airplane II: The Sequel, his only comedy role to date.[4]

In 1989, he co-starred on the short-lived crime drama Unsub. He re-teamed with Martin Milner, his co-star in Adam-12, in the cable TV-movie Nashville Beat (1990), originally shown on The Nashville Network (now Paramount Network). In 1990, McCord appeared in the film Predator 2 as Captain Pilgrim. He appeared as Jack in Out for Justice (1991) and played John Reynolds in Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993).[4]

From 1994 to 1995, McCord played the recurring role of Scott Keller on seaQuest DSV. He appeared in three episodes of JAG, and more recently, became a semi-regular guest star on Farscape, where he played two versions (one human and one alien appearing in the physical form of the human) of the same character, Jack Crichton, as well as Deputy U.S. Marshall Jack Hendricks on the series Renegade.[4]

Other

In 2003, he ran for president of the Screen Actors Guild, but lost to Melissa Gilbert by a tally of 50% to 42%.

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1964	Seven Days in May	Presidential Aide	Uncredited
1964	Kissin' Cousins	Extra	Uncredited
1964	Viva Las Vegas	Casino Patron	Uncredited
1964	The Americanization of Emily	Soldier	Uncredited
1964	Roustabout	Carnival Worker	Uncredited
1964	The Disorderly Orderly	Pre-Opening Credit Hospital Intern	Uncredited
1965	John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!	Football Player	Uncredited
1965	Girl Happy		Uncredited
1965	Billie	Student in Bleachers	Uncredited
1965	The War Lord	Extra	Uncredited
1966	Frankie and Johnny	Man in audience	Uncredited
1967	The Young Warriors	Lieutenant
1968	Jigsaw
1968	Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady?
1982	Airplane II: The Sequel	Unger
1990	Predator 2	Captain Pilgrim
1991	Out for Justice	Jack
1992	Illicit Behavior	Dr. Halperin
1993	Return of the Living Dead Part III	Colonel John Reynolds
1995	With Criminal Intent
2000	Woman's Story	Buckley Warner
2001	Megiddo
2002	Run Ronnie Run!	Rescue Show Announcer

References

1. "The Official Kent McCord Biography". www.kentmccord.com. Retrieved Apr 1, 2020.
2. Screen Actors Guild National Vice Presidents, sag.org; accessed July 17, 2015.
3. Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors official website, sag.org; accessed July 17, 2015.
4. Kent McCord on IMDb

External links

• Kent McCord on IMDb