Pat Corley

Pat Corley (June 1, 1930 – September 11, 2006) was an American actor who portrayed bar owner Phil on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown from 1988 to 1996. He also had a recurring role as Chief Coroner Wally Nydorf on the television drama Hill Street Blues (1981–87) and supporting roles in a number of films, including Night Shift (1982), Against All Odds (1984), and Mr. Destiny (1990).
Early life
Corley was born Cleo Pat Corley in Dallas, Texas, the son of Ada Lee (née Martin) and R.L. Corley. He got his start in the entertainment business as a teenage ballet dancer for the Stockton Ballet where he performed for three seasons. While serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, Corley helped put on entertainment shows for the brass while stationed in France. After his honorable discharge, he entered Stockton College on the G.I. Bill where he met his future second wife, Iris Carter, a younger student, champion debater and a locally acclaimed actress.
Career
After moving to New York City he worked as a waiter, attended the American Theatre Wing, studied under Uta Hagen and auditioned for plays. Corley and his wife toured in summer stock in Indiana and New Jersey with his young daughter Troy in tow. His first Broadway appearance was in James Baldwin's Blues for Mr. Charlie, a production by the Actors Studio, where Corley had been accepted as a member. Early in his career he shared the stage with future stars Al Pacino and James Earl Jones in the Off-Broadway play The Peace Creeps. In the 1970s, Corley appeared in several Broadway productions including Of Mice and Men with James Earl Jones and Sweet Bird of Youth with Christopher Walken.
Corley's Hollywood career began in 1969 in TV with a small role in N.Y.P.D. and a few television commercials. His first feature film roles were in Gordon Parks' The Super Cops and the comedy Law and Disorder with Carroll O'Connor and Ernest Borgnine. He also appeared in Coming Home and in an early Oliver Stone feature, The Hand, with Michael Caine.
Corley appeared on dozens of TV shows, among the earliest of which were: The Wackiest Ship in the Army, Get Christie Love and Kojak. Other series on which Corley has guest-starred include Starsky and Hutch, Barnaby Jones, Hill Street Blues, Hart to Hart, St. Elsewhere, Simon & Simon, Murder, She Wrote, Magnum, P.I., Cagney & Lacey, Night Court, Moonlighting, L.A. Law, and Hey Arnold!. Corley also had roles in two mini-series, Roots and Fresno. He provided the voice of Sheriff McGee in Tom Sawyer (2000).
Death
Corley died of heart failure in September 2006 at age 76 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. His wife, actress Iris Corley, had died the year prior.
Filmography
The Super Cops (1974) as Captain Bush
Law and Disorder (1974) as Ken
Get Christie Love! (1974, TV Series, Episode: Highway to Murder)
Kojak (1974, TV Series, Episode: "Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die") as Mr. Miller
Delvecchio (1976, TV Series, episode "Numbers") as Manny
The Blue Knight (1974, TV Series, episode: "Throwaway") as The Man
Roots (1977, TV Mini-Series) as Referee
Audrey Rose (1977) as Dr. Webster
Martinelli, Outside Man (1977, TV Movie) as Sally
Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn (1977, TV Movie) as Marty
The Quinns (1977, TV Movie) as Eugene Carmody
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977) as Morrie Slaytor
The Betty White Show (1977, TV Series, Episode: "Mitzi's Cousin") as TV Repairman
The Night They Took Miss Beautiful (1977, TV Movie) as Roman
Barnaby Jones (1977-1980, TV Series) as Sid Markham / Sam Powell
Coming Home (1978) as Harris
A Death in Canaan (1978, TV Series) as Judge Vincent
Starsky and Hutch (1978, TV Series, Episode: "Moonshine") as Ben Meadows
The Paper Chase (1978, TV Series, Episode: "The Seating Chart") as Plumber
The Amazing Spider-Man (1978, TV Series, Episode: "The Con Caper") as IFMM receptionist
And I Alone Survived (1978, TV Movie) as Kaminsky
Family (1979, TV Series) as "Driver" / "Umpire"
The Best Place To Be (1979, TV Movie)
Nightwing (1979) as Vet
The Onion Field (1979) as Jimmy's Lawyer #2
Diary of A Teenage Hitchhiker (1979, TV Movie)
Flesh and Blood (1979, TV Movie)
The Last Word (1979) as Chief Norris
The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan (1979, TV Movie) as Realtor
The Rose (1979) as Police Chief Morrison
The Gift (1979, TV Movie)
The Waltons (1980, TV Series, Episode: "The Idol") as The Bartender
Lou Grant (1979-1980, TV Series) as Organizer
The Black Marble (1980) as Itchy Mitch
City In Fear (1980, TV Movie) as Supermarket Manager
On the Nickel (1980)
Loving Couples (1980) as Delmonico Clerk
Act of Love (1980, TV Movie) as Sgt. Waterson
Mark, I Love You (1980, TV Movie) as Bucky Sims
The Hand (1981) as Sheriff
The Best Little Girl in the World (1981, TV Movie) as Store Manager
True Confessions (1981) as Sonny McDonough
Callie and Son (1981, TV Movie) as Deputy Sheriff
Mr. Merlin (1981, TV Series, Episode: "The Cloning of The Green") as Roy Oakland
Of Mice and Men (1981, TV Movie) as Carlson
Darkroom (1981, TV Series, Episode: "Siege of 31 August") as Colonel / Sheriff
Hart To Hart (1981, TV Series, Episode "The Hartbreak Kid") as Monty
Flamingo Road (1982, TV Series, Episode: "Old Friends")
McClain's Law (1982, TV Series, Episode: "What Patrick Doesn’t Know")
House Calls (1982, TV Series, Episode: "Ducks of Hazzard")
Hanky Panky (1982) as Pilot
Kiss My Grits (1982) as Sheriff Joe Cozy
Night Shift (1982) as Edward Koogle
The Executioner's Song (1982, TV Movie) as Val Conlan
Cagney & Lacey (1982-1988, TV Series) as Sheriff Craddock / Tom
Hill Street Blues (1982–1986, TV Series) as Coroner Wally Nydorf
The Powers of Matthew Star (1983, TV Series, Episode: "Matthew Star D.O.A") as Donzelli
St. Elsewhere (1983, TV Series, Episode: "Release") as Norman Wyler
The Fall Guy (1983, TV Series, Episode: "Spaced out") as Sheriff Nick Baker
Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land (1983, TV Movie) as Joe Pedowski
I Want To Live (1983, TV Movie) as Bartender
Curse of the Pink Panther (1983) as Lt. Palmyra
Bay City Blues (1983-1984, TV Series) as Ray Holtz
Against All Odds (1984) as Ed Phillips
Calendar Girl Murders (1984, TV Movie) as Lt. Tony
Domestic Life (1984, TV Movie) as Coach
Scorned And Swindled (1984, TV Movie) as Ty Jenkins
Hawaiian Heat (1984, TV Series, Episode: "Missing In Hawaii") as Charlie
Simon & Simon (1984-1987) as Sheriff Brian McKenzie / Don Burton / Mayor K.K. Drinkman
Robert Kennedy & His Times (1985, TV Mini-Series) as Andy McLaughlin
Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1985, TV Series, Episode "A Little Sex, A Little Scandal") as Detective Tuggey
Moonlighting (1985, TV Series) as Farley Wrye / Frankie Tate
Stormin' Home (1985, TV Movie) as Broker
Stark (1985, TV Movie) as Wichita Police Chief Waldron
Hardcastle and McCormick (1985, TV Series, Episode: "She Ain't Deep But She Sure Runs Fast") as Buzz Bird
Silent Witness (1985, TV Movie) as Brad Huffman
Murder, She Wrote (1986, TV Series, Episode: "Powder Keg") as Frank Kelso
Magnum, P.I. (1986, TV Series, Episode: "A Little Bit of Luck...A Little Bit of Grief") as Dennis Mackenzie
Joe Bash (1986, TV Series, Episode: "Tour of Duty") as Ernest Janowitz
Stark: Mirror Image (1986, TV Movie) as Wichita Police Chief Waldron
Falcon Crest (1986, TV Series, Episode: "The Stranger Within") as James Saunders
Fresno (1986, TV Mini-Series) as Earl Duke
A Year in the Life (1986, TV Mini-Series) as George Bilzarian
The Christmas Gift (1986, TV Movie) as Bud Sawyer
He's the Mayor (1986, TV Series) as Chief Walter Padget
The Stepford Children (1987, TV Movie) as Sheriff Weston
L.A. Law (1987, TV Series, Episode: "Pigmallion") as Uncle Willard Sabrett
Poker Alice (1987, TV Movie) as Mccarthy
CBS Summer Playhouse (1987, TV Series, Episode: "Day to Day") as Bob
Mr. Belvedere (1988, TV Series, Episode: "Commentary") as Mr. Franklin
J.J. Starbuck (1988, TV Series, Episode: "Cactus Jack’s Last Call") as Cactus Jack
Night Court (1988, TV Series, Episode "Another Day in the Life") as Otis Edwards
Murphy Brown (1988-1998, TV Series) as Phil the Bartender
Mr. Destiny (1990) as Harry Burrows
In Defense of a Married Man (1990, TV Movie) as Det. Brendan Bradley
Carol Leifer: Gaudy, Bawdy, and Blue (1992, TV Movie) as Lucky Herb
Saved By The Bell: Wedding In Las Vegas (1994, TV Movie) as Sheriff Myron Thorpe
Murder One (1995, TV Movie, Episode: "Chapter Four") as Marvin Siegalstein
All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996) as Officer McDowell (voice)
Coach (1997, TV Series, Episode: "It’s a Swamp Thing") as Jeb
When Time Expires (1997, TV Movie) as TV car salesman, Becks Interface
Walking Across Egypt (1999) as Sheriff Tillman
Tom Sawyer (2000) as Sheriff McGee (voice)
Hey Arnold! (2002, TV Series, Episode: On the Lam/Family Man) as Mr. Camacho (voice)
Purgatory Flats (2003) as Roy
Come Early Morning (2006) as Papa (final film role)
References
External links
Pat Corley at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection
Obituary at ABC News
1930 births
2006 deaths
American male film actors
American male voice actors
American male television actors
Male actors from Dallas
20th-century American male actors