Gerald McRaney

With his imposing frame and commanding presence, this mustachioed TV actor started out playing villains but shot to fame as a good guy on the lighthearted '80s action series Simon & Simon. Boasting a Southern amiability and a deadpan drawl, he charmed audiences and Designing Women star Delta Burke, who became his third wife after they guest-starred on their respective series. His next show, the family sitcom Major Dad, was a moderate success and firmly established him as a stern yet lovable patriarch, a role he continued to embody on his subsequent show, Promised Land. McRaney also popped up in a slew of TV-movies, often opposite his wife, and even tried his hand at directing, helming multiple episodes of his first two hit series. In the '90s and '00s, he suffered through a few failed shows but always found work as a guest star on long-running series, rarely straying from his effective stereotype, except for his deliciously malicious turn on Deadwood.