Born on Aug. 19, 1947 in Collins, MS, McRaney began his acting career in junior high school after injuring his knee playing football. Joining the drama club, McRaney found a superb outlet for his pent-up energies and excelled especially in physical roles. Encouraged by his performances in school productions, McRaney enrolled at the University of Mississippi as a drama major. Eager to get his feet wet, however, McRaney dropped out after his freshman year – much to his later regret. Making his bones in a number of small repertory theater productions, McRaney finally broke into television with a small guest appearance on Rod Serling’s anthology series, "Night Gallery" (NBC, 1970-73), in which he played a medical student who faints at an autopsy.

Beginning in the early seventies, McRaney’s career quietly took off, thanks to his knack for playing bad guys. A favorite of television producers, the husky actor became well known for playing rednecked thugs and villains of the week on such television classics as “Gunsmoke” (CBS, 1955-1975), “Police Woman” (NBC, 1974-78), “Barnaby Jones” (CBS, 1973-1980) and “The Incredible Hulk” (CBS, 1978-1982). As the new decade dawned, however, McRaney surprised many viewers by taking on more likeable protagonist roles with equal aplomb. To wit: In 1979, McRaney was seriously considered for the role of good ole’ boy, Luke Duke on the hour-long redneck car chase that was the “The Dukes of Hazzard” (CBS, 1979-1985) – a role which surely would have made his career, had he not ultimately lost it to actor Tom Wopat.

Luckily, McRaney would not sit idle for long. Shortly after losing the Duke role, in 1981, McRaney landed his breakthrough starring role on the long-running hit, “Simon & Simon.” Finding a comfortable groove as the easy-going maverick elder brother, Rick, to co-star Jameson Parker's more straight-laced character, A.J., McRaney quickly became a popular fixture of CBS’s Thursday night line-up. In addition to providing him financial security, “Simon & Simon” also gave McRaney the opportunity to write and direct for the first time – a skill set the actor would subsequently exercise in his next major series, “Major Dad” (CBS, 1989-1993).

Apart from new opportunities offered him with a hit show, McRaney had even more reason to be a happy man, when during a 1987 guest spot on the hit TV sitcom, “Designing Women” (CBS, 1986-1993), the actor met his future wife and one of the show’s four female stars, Delta Burke. Married on May 28, 1989, the happy couple proved doubters wrong with two decades of married bliss – McRaney even standing loyally by his wife’s side during her ugly contract disput