# Dana Elcar

Ibsen Dana Elcar (October 10, 1927 – June 6, 2005) was an American television and film character actor. He appeared in about 40 films as well as in the 1960s television series Dark Shadows as Sheriff George Patterson and the 1980s and 1990s television series MacGyver as Peter Thornton, MacGyver's immediate supervisor at the Phoenix Foundation. Elcar had appeared in the pilot episode of MacGyver as Andy Colson before assuming the role of Thornton.

## Early life

Elcar was born in Ferndale, Michigan, the son of Hedwig (née Anderberg) and James Aage Elcar, a carpenter and butcher. He was an alumnus of the University of Michigan where he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. At age 18, Elcar enlisted and served a tour of duty in the United States Navy at the end of World War II. He moved to New York in the 1950s to become a professional thespian. He was a student of legendary acting coach Sanford Meisner. He brought this education to bear when in 1986, with fellow character actor William Lucking, he formed the Santa Paula Theater Center. Elcar sat as artistic director for six years.

## Career

In 1962, he created the role of the hitman Ben in the U.S. premiere of Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter at the Cherry Lane Theater in Greenwich Village, New York City. That same year he was cast on the long running CBS daytime drama The Guiding Light as Andrew Murray, the District Attorney of Los Angeles County. Later in 1962 and 1963, due to his stint on The Guiding Light, he was cast in three episodes of the NBC sitcom Car 54, Where Are You?, and two segments of the ABC crime drama Naked City, both set in New York City. In 1966-67, Elcar played Sheriff George Patterson on the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows He played Inspector Shiller, the supervisor, in the crime drama, Baretta, starring Robert Blake. As a character actor, Elcar guest-starred in many television shows, including Gunsmoke; Mannix; Ironside; Columbo; Cannon; Benson; Newhart; The Fall Guy; Scarecrow and Mrs. King; Hill Street Blues; The A-Team; Trapper John, M.D.; Matlock; Law and Order; and ER.
Elcar guest starred on Get Smart as KAOS Agent Kruger in the two-part 1969 episode of entitled "And Baby Makes Four".. In 1970, he appeared on CBS's Mission: Impossible and Storefront Lawyers. In 1971, he was a guest star on Ironside. He appeared on The Waltons and Kung Fu in 1973. Elcar had a regular role as Colonel Lard in the 1976–78 television military drama, Baa Baa Black Sheep, starring Robert Conrad, and he also directed four episodes of the series. He appeared in TV disaster movies such as Heatwave! (1974) and Crisis in Mid-Air (1979). He also appeared in The Sting (1973).
In 1979, Elcar played judges in Centennial and B. J. and the Bear. In 1980, he was cast in the role of "Chief" (previously played in the TV series by Edward Platt, who died in 1974) in the Get Smart feature film entitled The Nude Bomb (a.k.a. The Return of Maxwell Smart). He also co-starred in two episodes of The A-Team in 1984 and 1985. In 1987, he was cast on Matlock.
Elcar and his stunt/photography double Don S. Davis were often mistaken for each other. Elcar appeared in the hit series Knight Rider in the 1983 episode "Merchants of Death"; as a corrupt sheriff in The Incredible Hulk episode "Escape from Los Santos" (1978), in which Banner is headed to Phoenix;
In 1991, Elcar began to develop glaucoma. This condition was written into the MacGyver plot-line, beginning with the sixth season, seventeenth episode "Blind Faith" and continuing through the remainder of that season and the entire seventh season, with Elcar's character developing the disease. The sixth-season finale, "Hindsight", was a clip show using Pete Thornton's upcoming eye surgery as a framing device. After MacGyver, Elcar made a guest appearance in "Virus", a 1993 episode of Law & Order, in which he played a man who blamed his diabetes-caused blindness on his former physician, and whose son murdered other patients as revenge.
Elcar also played a blind character on episodes of The Magic School Bus and ER. Once blind, Elcar accepted the challenge of playing Vladimir in Waiting for Godot on stage, complete with white cane. This was his theatrical swan song, and he retired in 2002 after his ER performance.

## Personal life

Elcar married Katherine Frances Mead in 1948 and divorced her in 1950. He married Peggy Romano in 1954 and divorced her in 1970. Elcar had 4 children: Marin Elcar, Nora Elcar Verdon, Dane Elcar, and Chandra Elcar. His long-time partner was Thelma Garcia.

### Death

On June 6, 2005, Elcar died at the Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, California from pneumonia at age 77.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1964 | Fail Safe | Foster | |
| 1965 | The Fool Killer | Mr. Dodd | |
| 1968 | A Lovely Way to Die | Layton | |
| 1968 | The Boston Strangler | Luis Schubert | |
| 1969 | Pendulum | Detective J.J. "Red" Thornton | |
| 1969 | The Maltese Bippy | Sergeant Kelvaney | |
| 1969 | The Learning Tree | Kirky | |
| 1970 | Zig Zag | Harold Tracey | |
| 1970 | Soldier Blue | Captain Battles | |
| 1970 | Adam at 6 A.M. | Van Treadly | |
| 1971 | Mrs. Pollifax-Spy | Carstairs | |
| 1971 | A Gunfight | Marv Green | |
| 1972 | The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid | Allen | |
| 1973 | The Sting | FBI Agent Polk | Caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters, directed by George Roy Hill. |
| 1973 | Dying Room Only | The Sheriff | Television film directed by Philip Leacock, adapting Richard Matheson's 1953 short story of the same name. |
| 1975 | Report to the Commissioner | Chief Perna | |
| 1976 | W.C. Fields and Me | Agent Dockstedter | American biographical film directed by Arthur Hiller and screenplay by Bob Merrill. Based on a memoir by Carlotta Monti, mistress of legendary actor W.C. Fields for the last 14 years of his life. |
| 1976 | Baby Blue Marine | Sheriff Wenzel | |
| 1976 | St. Ives | Lieutenant Charles Blunt | |
| 1979 | The Champ | Hoffmaster | |
| 1979 | Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff | Principal Havermeyer | |
| 1980 | The Nude Bomb | Chief | |
| 1980 | The Last Flight of Noah's Ark | Benchley | |
| 1981 | Buddy Buddy | Captain Hubris | |
| 1981 | Condorman | Russ | Adventure comedy superhero film directed by Charles Jarrott, produced by Walt Disney Productions. Inspired by Robert Sheckley's The Game of X, the movie follows comic book illustrator Woodrow Wilkins' attempts to assist in the defection of a female Soviet KGB agent. |
| 1982 | Breach of Contract | Unknown | |
| 1983 | Blue Skies Again | Lou | |
| 1984 | Jungle Warriors | D'Antoni | |
| 1984 | All of Me | Burton Schuyler | Fantasy comedy film directed by Carl Reiner. |
| 1984 | 2010 | Dimitri Moisevitch | |
| 1986 | Inside Out | Leo Gross | Drama film directed by Robert Taicher. |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1954 | A Time to Live | Dr. Clay | Contract role |
| 1956 | The Big Story | Oscar | Episode: "Zeke Scher and George MacWilliams of The Denver Post" (S 8:Ep 11) |
| 1957 | The Big Story | Bernie | Episode: "Charley Wigle of The Denver Post aka Young Lovers" (S 8:Ep 26) |
| 1957 | The Big Story | Cashmore | Episode: "Malcolm Glover of The San Francisco Examiner aka Car 83" (S 8:Ep 36) |
| 1958 | The Big Story | Lieutenant Alameda | Episode: "Until Proven Guilty" |
| 1959 | Brenner | The Bartender | Episode: "False Witness" (S 1:Ep 1) |
| 1959 | The Play of the Week | Friend Ed | Episode: "Burning Bright" (S 1:Ep 3) |
| 1960 | Sunday Showcase | Newspaperman | Episodes: "The Sacco-Vanzetti Story: Part 1" (S 1:Ep 29) "The Sacco-Vanzetti Story: Part 2" (S 1:Ep 30) |
| 1960 | Omnibus | Guest | Episode: "He Shall Have Power" (S 8: Ep 1) |
| 1961 | Armstrong Circle Theatre | Guest | Episode: "The Medicine Man" (S 12: Ep 7) |
| 1962 | The DuPont Show of the Week | Dennis Wilcox | Episode: "Big Deal in Laredo" (S 2:Ep 4) |
| 1962 | Guiding Light | District Attorney Andrew Murray | Recurring |
| 1963 | Naked City | Al Boris | Episode: "Man Without a Skin" (S 4:Ep 20) |
| 1963 | The Armstrong Circle Theatre | Carl Rogers | Episode: "The Embezzler" (S 14:Ep 15) |
| 1963 | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Jacob | Episode: "The Patriots" (S 13:Ep 2) |
| 1966–1967 | Dark Shadows | Sheriff George Paterson | Recurring |
| 1967 | The Borgia Stick | Craigmeyer | Made for TV movie |
| 1968 | The Name of the Game | Hood | Episode: 1x02 "Witness" |
| 1968 | Mannix | Shérif Viewcola | Season 2 Episode 12 : "Fear I to Fall" |
| 1969 | Get Smart | Kruger | Episode: "And Baby Makes Four: Part 2" |
| 1970 | Room 222 | Everett Stiles | Episode: "The Lincoln Story" (S 2:Ep 3) |
| 1970 | Mission: Impossible | C.W. Cameron | Episode: "Flip Side" |
| 1972–1975 | Cannon | Lieutenant Sam Levaca / Walter Ryan / John 41 | 1x25 "Cain's Mark", 2x07 "A Long Way Down", 5x13/14 "The Star" |
| 1973 | Hawkins | Dr. Aronson | Episode: "Death and the Maiden" |
| 1973 | Columbo | Falcon | Episode: "Any Old Port in a Storm" |
| 1973 | The Partridge Family | Mr. Felcher | Episode: "Trial of the Partridge One" (Season 3, Episode 16) |
| 1976 | Law of the Land | Reverend Endicott | TV movie |
| 1976-1978 | Baa Baa Black Sheep | Colonel Thomas A. Lard | Actor: 36 episodes Director: 4 episodes |
| 1978 | The Incredible Hulk | Sheriff Harris | Episode "Escape From Los Santos" (S 2:Ep 10) |
| 1979 | Centennial | Judge Hart | Episode "The Winds of Death" (Ep 11) |
| 1980 | Galactica 1980 | Mr. Steadman | Episode "Space Croppers" (S 1:Ep 9) |
| 1981 | Benson | Senator Chapman | S.3, Ep.1 "Benson's appointment |
| 1983 | Trapper John, M.D. | Jared Vennemar | Episode: "Pasts Imperfect" (S 4:Ep 18) |
| 1983 | Knight Rider | Strock | Episode 26: "Merchants of Death" |
| 1984 | The A-Team | George Olsen | Episode: "Double Heat" (S 3:Ep 6) |
| 1985 | Scarecrow and Mrs. King | Mitch Larner | Episode: "Spiderweb" (S 2:Ep 13) |
| 1985 | Hill Street Blues | Lieutenant Mel Taber | Episode: "Washington Deceased" (S 5:Ep 16) |
| 1985 | Riptide | Harry Silverman | Episode: "Arrivederci, Baby" (S 2:Ep 21) |
| 1985 | The A-Team | Judge Leonard Mordente | Episodes: "Judgement Day: Part 1" (S 4:Ep 1) "Judgement Day: Part 2" (S 4:Ep 2) |
| 1985 | There Were Times, Dear | Don Mason | Made-for-TV-Movie directed by Nancy Malone. |
| 1985 | Toughlove | Max Wiley | Made-for-TV-Movie directed by Glenn Jordan. |
| 1985 | Trapper John, M.D. | Howard Bowman | Episode: "Billboard Barney" (S 7:Ep 9) |
| 1985–1992 | MacGyver | Pete Thornton | Appeared in 85 episodes (but credited in a further 40 episodes; also appeared in the 1985 pilot as character Andy Colson) |
| 1986 | Murder in Three Acts | Dr. Strange | Made-for-TV-Movie based on Agatha Christie's book Three Act Tragedy and directed by Gary Nelson. |
| 1987 | Matlock | Arthur Hughes | Episode: "The Court-Martial: Part 1" (S 1:Ep 18) |
| 1993 | For Their Own Good | Sally's Father | Made-for-TV-Movie directed and co-written by Ed Kaplan. Uncredited |
| 1993 | Law & Order | Robert Cook | Episode: "Virus" |
| 1995 | The Magic School Bus | Mr. Terese | Episode: "Going Batty" (S 2:Ep 4) |
| 2002 | ER | Manny Kendovich | Episode: "Damage Is Done" (S 8:Ep 13) (final appearance) |