Richard Bradford as McGill
One of the most overlooked actors of all time — Richard Bradford. star of Man in a Suitcase, a 1967/68 British television import broadcast on ABC. Bradford was a Texan who had a football scholarship to Texas A&M before injuring himself. He then tried baseball at Texas State but he didn’t attend enough classes to stay on the team, so he decided to try New York.
He was admitted to the Actors Studio which led to his first big break, a great role in a bad movie, The Chase with Marlon Brando. He was 31 when he first played the role of McGill, the U.S. intelligence officer based in London, in Man in a Suitcase. He was very much an anti-hero. He got beat up a lot.
The gun he carried, a Smith and Wesson Model 39, a double-action semi-automatic 9mm pistol, was rejected by the U.S. Army to replace the Colt Model 1911, a single-action .45. But some special forces members used it in Viet Nam. This hinted that the mysterious McGill was ex-special forces.
After the show went off the air, Bradford never achieved stardom. He would show up in small, yet memorable, roles on American television and movies — such as Goin’ South with Jack Nicholson, The Untouchables, and The Trip to Bountiful.
Man in a Suitcase theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxbmoNOZzWc
