William Ragsdale
Encyclopedia
Robert William Ragsdale (born January 19, 1961) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor.

Life and career

Ragsdale was born in El Dorado, Arkansas
El Dorado, Arkansas
El Dorado , a multi-cultural arts center: South Arkansas Arts Center , an award-winning renovated downtown, and numerous sporting, shopping, and dining opportunities. El Dorado is the population, cultural, and business center of the 7,300 mi² regional area...

. He attended Hendrix College
Hendrix College
Hendrix College is a private liberal arts college located in Conway, Arkansas. The student body averages around 1,400 and currently represents forty-three states and fourteen foreign countries. In US News and World Report's America's Best Colleges, Hendrix is ranked annually in the top tier of...

, where he appeared in plays with Sling Blade
Sling Blade
Sling Blade is a 1996 American drama film set in rural Arkansas, written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, who also stars in the lead role. It tells the story of a mentally impaired man named Karl Childers who is released from a psychiatric hospital, where he has lived since killing his mother...

actress and fellow Arkansan Natalie Canerday
Natalie Canerday
Natalie Suzanne Canerday is an American actress.Canerday is a native of Russellville, Arkansas. After attending Hendrix College , she began her motion picture career as a production secretary for the television feature The Tuskegee Airmen, then made minor appearances in films such as...

.

He gained attention as the young hero of Fright Night
Fright Night
# "Fright Night" – 3:45# "You Can't Hide from the Beast Inside" – 4:14# "Good Man in a Bad Time" – 3:41# "Rock Myself to Sleep" – 2:57# "Let's Talk" – 2:52# "Armies of the Night" – 4:34...

and Fright Night II
Fright Night II
Fright Night Part II is the 1988 sequel to Fright Night. William Ragsdale and Roddy McDowall both reprised their roles from the first movie. The sequel was directed by Tommy Lee Wallace. Composer Brad Fiedel also returned with another distinct synthesizer score...

, a series of classic vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...

 films co-starring Roddy McDowall
Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...

. He also performed in theatre productions of Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...

 plays Biloxi Blues
Biloxi Blues
Biloxi Blues is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon. The second chapter in what is known as his Eugene trilogy, it follows Brighton Beach Memoirs and precedes Broadway Bound....

and Brighton Beach Memoirs
Brighton Beach Memoirs
Brighton Beach Memoirs is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon, the first chapter in what is known as his Eugene trilogy. It precedes Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound.-Characters:*Eugene Morris Jerome, almost 15...

.

Ragsdale has had a sporadic career on prime-time television. He starred for three years in the Fox Network sitcom Herman's Head
Herman's Head
Herman's Head is an American sitcom that aired on the Fox network from 1991 to 1994. The series stars William Ragsdale as the titular character, Herman Brooks.-Synopsis:...

. He had a brief recurring role in Judging Amy
Judging Amy
Judging Amy is an American television drama that was telecast from September 19, 1999, through May 3, 2005, on CBS-TV. This TV series starred Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly...

as the obnoxious son of Richard Crenna
Richard Crenna
Richard Donald Crenna was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid...

's character. He played a TV producer on Grosse Pointe
Grosse Pointe (TV series)
Grosse Pointe is an American television parody series which aired on the WB Network during the 2000-2001 television season. Created by Darren Star, it was a satire depicting the behind-the-scenes drama on the set of a television show, and was inspired in large part by Star's experiences as the...

, which lasted one season. He was cast in the pilot for Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...

, but turned down the series to star in the short-lived sitcom Brother's Keeper
Brother's Keeper (TV series)
Brother's Keeper is an American television series that was originally broadcast from 1998 to 1999 on ABC. It was produced by Axelrod-Widdoes Productions and Donald Todd Productions in association with Studios USA Television....

. He appeared on Ellen as a boyfriend of the character Ellen Morgan (Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American stand-up comedienne, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and was also a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season....

), before Morgan (and DeGeneres herself) came out of "the closet" as a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

. He played bit roles in numerous movies and television series, including a four-episode stint on Less Than Perfect
Less Than Perfect
Less Than Perfect is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from October 1, 2002, to June 6, 2006. The show was about a young female office employee and her co-workers...

.


In 1991, William also starred in the sequel to the movie Mannequin, Mannequin Two: On the Move. He portrayed Jason Williamson/Prince William, opposite to Kristy Swanson
Kristy Swanson
Kristen Nöel "Kristy" Swanson is an American actress best known for playing Buffy in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she also played Catherine "Cathy" Dollanganger in the movie version of the V.C...

.

He plays Gary in the television series Justified
Justified (TV series)
Justified is an American television drama series created by Graham Yost. It is based on Elmore Leonard's novels Pronto and Riding the Rap and his short story "Fire in the Hole". Its central character is Raylan Givens, a deputy U.S. Marshal. The series is set in the city of Lexington, Kentucky...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK