Michael Ontkean

Michael Leonard Ontkean (born January 24, 1946) is a Canadian retired actor.[1] Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Ontkean relocated to the United States to attend the University of New Hampshire on a hockey scholarship before pursuing a career in acting in the early 1970s.

Michael Ontkean
Ontkean in The Rookies (1973)
Born	Michael Leonard Ontkean (1946-01-24) January 24, 1946 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Alma mater	University of New Hampshire
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1955–2011
Spouse(s)	Frances E. Knight ( m. 1971⁠–⁠1980) Jamie Smith-Jackson ( m. 1987⁠–⁠2019) Susan Sennett Nash ( m. 2019)
Children	2

He initially came to prominence portraying Officer Willie Gillis on the crime drama series The Rookies from 1972 to 1974, followed by lead roles in the hockey sports comedy film Slap Shot (1977) and the romantic comedy Willie & Phil (1980). In 1982, he had a starring role opposite Harry Hamlin and Kate Jackson in the drama Making Love, in which he portrayed a married man who comes to terms with his homosexuality. Ontkean continued to appear in films, such as Clara's Heart (1988) and Postcards from the Edge (1990) before being cast as Sheriff Harry S. Truman on David Lynch's Twin Peaks (1990–1991), the role for which he is probably best known.

Early life

Ontkean was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of Muriel (née Cooper), an actress, and Leonard Ontkean, a boxer and actor.[2] He was a child actor in Vancouver, appearing on the Canadian television series Hudson's Bay (1959).[3] His family later relocated to Toronto, where he attended St. Michael's Choir School and Holy Rosary Catholic School before attending St. Michael's College School. He grew up playing hockey and he earned a hockey scholarship to the University of New Hampshire, a Division I program playing in the ECAC. In his three years on the varsity program, Ontkean scored 63 goals and 111 points in 85 games played.[4] He led the team in goal scoring his junior year with 30 goals, and was second behind fellow Canadian Louis Frigon his senior year.

Career

Ontkean began in Hollywood by guest starring in The Partridge Family in 1971, and he was a television guest player on such shows as Ironside and Longstreet, but his break was in the ABC series The Rookies (1972–1976),[1] in which he played Officer Willie Gillis for the first two seasons. Ontkean's hockey skill played a large role in his landing the role of Ned Braden in Slap Shot (1977),[1] as he performed all of his on-ice shots himself. In 1979, he appeared in the first episode of Tales of the Unexpected.

Other early movie roles included Necromancy (1972) with Orson Welles; Voices (1979) with Amy Irving; Willie & Phil (1980) with Margot Kidder; The Blood of Others (1984); The Allnighter and Maid to Order (both 1987) (the latter with Ally Sheedy); Clara's Heart (1988) with Whoopi Goldberg, and Bye Bye Blues (1989).[5]

Making Love

Making Love (1982) is about a married man who discovers his homosexuality. Ontkean was not the director's first choice for the film: Arthur Hiller had previously approached Tom Berenger, Michael Douglas, Harrison Ford, William Hurt and Peter Strauss to play the lead, before finally approaching Ontkean. According to Hiller, the reaction of most actors was to tell him not to even consider them for the role.[6] The film reunited Ontkean with Kate Jackson; the two had previously co-starred together in The Rookies. Many years later, Ontkean tried to prevent clips from the film from being included in The Celluloid Closet, a 1996 documentary about LGBT characters in film, but he was unsuccessful.[7]

Twin Peaks

Ontkean appeared as Sheriff Harry S. Truman in David Lynch and Mark Frost's Twin Peaks (1990).[8] He filmed scenes for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me but, like many others from the original TV series, his scenes were deleted from the final film.[9]

After Twin Peaks

Ontkean subsequently appeared in many film and television productions including Kids Don't Tell (1985) with JoBeth Williams; The Right of the People (1986); In Defense of a Married Man (1990); In a Child's Name (1991) with Valerie Bertinelli; Legacy of Lies (1992); Rapture and Vendetta II: The New Mafia (both 1993); Swann: A Mystery and The Stepford Husbands (both 1996); Summer of the Monkeys and A Chance of Snow (both 1998; the latter again with JoBeth Williams); Bear with Me (2000), and Mrs. Ashboro's Cat (2003).

Ontkean had a recurring role on Fox's short-lived series North Shore in 2004, and also appeared in the 2008 comedy TV show Sophie.

Final Role To Date: The Descendants

He had a very small role in the 2011 film The Descendants, which was his last role to date before he decided to retire from acting.[10] The movie was filmed in Hawaii, where he lives.

Twin Peaks: The Return

Ontkean was approached to reprise his role as Sheriff Truman for the 2017 revival of Twin Peaks. At first, Ontkean was excited about returning to the role, and enlisted Twin Peaks authority Brad Dukes to help him find the jacket which his character once wore on the show. Dukes located a suitable replica, bought it and sent it to Ontkean. However, in 2015, Ontkean officially dropped out of the Twin Peaks revival, for reasons which were never made public. Dukes recalled: "We last spoke in August and he informed me he wasn’t going to Washington after all. I told him I was heartbroken to hear that. Aside from being heartbroken, I am puzzled. Twin Peaks is not Twin Peaks without Michael Ontkean as Sheriff Harry S. Truman."[11]

Ontkean's role was replaced by Robert Forster, playing Sheriff Truman's brother Frank. Forster was initially David Lynch's first choice to play Harry Truman in 1990.[12]

Personal life

Michael was married to Jamie Smith-Jackson, an actress and design director and owner of Jamie Jackson Design. The couple later divorced, they have two daughters, Jenna Millman and Sadie Sapphire Ontkean.[13][14][15]

Michael Ontkean remarried Susan Sennett Nash and the two now live together in Hawaii.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	The Peace Killers	Jeff
1972	Necromancy	Frank Brandon
1972	Pickup on 101	Chuck
1972	Girls on the Road	Will
1977	Slap Shot	Ned Braden
1979	Voices	Drew Rothman
1980	Willie & Phil	Willie Kaufman
1982	Making Love	Zach
1984	The Blood of Others	Jean
1984	Just the Way You Are	Peter Nichols
1985	Kids Don't Tell	John Ryan	Television film
1986	The Right of the People	Christopher Wells	Television film
1987	The Allnighter	Mickey
1987	Maid to Order	Nick McGuire
1987	Street Justice	Curt Flynn
1988	Clara's Heart	Bill Hart
1989	Bye Bye Blues	Teddy Harper
1989	Cold Front	Derek McKenzie
1990	Postcards from the Edge	Robert Munch
1990	In Defense of a Married Man	Robert	Television film
1992	Legacy of Lies	Zach Resnick	Television film
1992	Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me	Sheriff Harry S. Truman	Scenes deleted. Later featured in Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces.
1993	Rapture	Jeff Lisker	Television film
1993	Whose Child Is This? The War for Baby Jessica	Jan DeBoer	Television film
1993	Bride of Violence 2	Hank Parnell	Television film
1996	The Man Next Door	Eli Cooley	Television film
1996	The Stepford Husbands	Mick Davison	Television film
1996	Swann	Stephen
1998	Summer of the Monkeys	John Lee
1998	A Chance of Snow	Matthew Parker	Television film
1998	Nico the Unicorn	Tom Gentry
1999	Just a Little Harmless Sex	Jeff
2000	Bear with Me	Greg Bradley
2000	Green Sails	John Scott	Television film
2002	A Killing Spring	Tom Keaton	Television film
2004	Ghost Cat	Wes Merritt	Television film
2011	The Descendants	Cousin Milo	Final Role (to date)
2014	Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces	Sheriff Harry S. Truman	Scenes originally filmed for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992).

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	Hudson's Bay	Jeremy Warrant	Episode: "Pierre's Three Evils"
1970	Ironside	Man	Episode: "Noel's Gonna Fly"
1970	Dan August	Mike Foschke	Episode: "The Soldier"
1971	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Alcide	Episode: "The Boy from Dead Man's Bayou"
1971	The Partridge Family	Lester Braddock	Episode: "Not With My Sister, You Don't!"
1971	Longstreet	David De Carie	Episode: "So, Who's Fred Hornbeck?"
1972–1974	The Rookies	Officer Willie Gillis	47 episodes
1979	Tales of the Unexpected	Tommy	Episode: "The Man from the South"
1989	The Hitchhiker	Gordon Brooks	Episode: "Square Deal"
1990–1991	Twin Peaks	Sheriff Harry S. Truman	30 episodes
1991	In a Child's Name	Kenneth Taylor	Miniseries
1994	Family Album	Ward Thayer	Miniseries
1999	PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal	John Doe / Wesley Addison	Episode: "John Doe"
1997–2000	The Outer Limits	Dr. Field / Dr. Charles McCamber	2 episodes
2004–2005	North Shore	Gordon Matthews	4 episodes
2008	Sophie	Victor Hearst	3 episodes (Final television role to date)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Production	Result
1990	Genie Award	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role	Bye Bye Blues	Nominated
1991	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Hero: Prime Time	Twin Peaks	Nominated

References

1. "Michael Ontkean". The New York Times.
2. "Michael Ontkean Biography". Filmreference.
3. "CTVA Canada – "Hudson's Bay" (1959–60)". Archived from the original on 25 December 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
4. "Michael Ontkean profile". HockeyDB. 28 January 2019.
5. Holden, Stephen (24 August 1990). "Review/Film; Balladlike Wartime Tale Of Maturing". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
6. Rutledge, Leigh (1996). The Book of Lists. Boston: Alyson Publications. p. 135. ISBN 978-1555833596.
7. Baker, Robin; Hanson, Briony (1996). Celluloid Icons. London, UK: Channel 4. p. 17. ISBN 978-1851441723.
8. O'Connor, John J. (6 April 1990). "TV WEEKEND; A Skewed Vision of a Small Town In 'Twin Peaks'". The New York Times.
9. "'Twin Peaks': Watch 'Fire Walk With Me' lost scenes before entire series hits Blu-ray -- EXCLUSIVE". Entertainment Weekly. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
10. "Michael Ontkean Filmography". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
11. https://welcometotwinpeaks.com/news/michael-ontkean-not-new-twin-peaks/
12. Testa, Yohana (4 May 2017). "Who's Missing from This Spine-Tingling Twin Peaks Teaser?". Vanity Fair.
13. "Mildred Smith". Marshall Democrat-News. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
14. "Jamie Jackson Design Director and Owner". Jamie Jackson Design. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
15. "FASHION I". Sadie Sapphire. Retrieved 5 August 2018.

External links

• Michael Ontkean on IMDb
• Michael Ontkean career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database