Ford Rainey

Ford Rainey (August 8, 1908 – July 25, 2005) was an American actor whose career spanned film, stage, and television across several decades. Born in Mountain Home, Idaho, to Archie Coleman Rainey and Vyrna Rainey, a teacher, he first performed on stage as a student at Centralia High School, graduating in 1927. He subsequently attended Centralia Junior College in Washington state and earned a degree from the Cornish School in Seattle in 1933, an institution now known as Cornish College of the Arts. He later relocated to Connecticut to study at the Michael Chekhov Theatre Studio. Before establishing himself as an actor, Rainey held a variety of jobs, among them logging, fishing, fruit picking, carpentry, clam digging, and working aboard an oil tanker. He also worked at Seattle radio stations KJR and KOMO and served in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II. His upbringing in the outdoors, which included learning to ride horses, contributed to his later screen presence in rugged roles.

Rainey's Broadway career extended from 1939 to 1958 and encompassed a range of dramatic productions. His stage credits included The Wanhope Building, The Possessed, Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, J.B., and The Playboy of the Western World. These appearances established him as a versatile stage performer before his work in film and television brought him wider recognition.

His film debut came in 1949 in White Heat, starring James Cagney. He went on to appear in Perfect Strangers (1950) with Ginger Rogers, Two Rode Together (1961) alongside James Stewart and Richard Widmark, 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962) with Tony Curtis, Johnny Tiger (1966) with Robert Taylor, and The Sand Pebbles (1966) with Steve McQueen. Later film credits included The Gypsy Moths (1969) with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr, The Naked Zoo (1970) with Rita Hayworth, The Traveling Executioner (1970), My Old Man's Place (1971), Sixteen (1973), Halloween II (1981), The Cellar (1989), Bed & Breakfast (1992) with Roger Moore, and Inferno (1999). He also portrayed Abraham Lincoln in the theatrical film Guardian of the Wilderness in 1976.

Rainey's television work was extensive. In the 1961–62 season he co-starred with Robert Young in the CBS series Window on Main Street, playing newspaper editor Lloyd Ramsey. He was a member of the regular cast of NBC's The Richard Boone Show during the 1963–64 season and portrayed Dr. Barnett on the NBC crime drama Search from 1972 to 1973. He played Police Chief Vernon on Tenafly from 1973 to 1974 and James Barrett on CBS's The Manhunter from 1974 to 1975. Between 1962 and 1965 he made four guest appearances on Perry Mason, and he guest-starred on numerous other series including Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Untouchables, Daniel Boone, The Wild Wild West, Baa Baa Black Sheep, and How the West Was Won. He co-starred in the television film My Sweet Charlie (1970) and appeared in additional TV movies including A Howling in the Woods (1971) and The Stranger Who Looks Like Me (1974). During the mid-1960s he portrayed President Abraham Lincoln in The Time Tunnel episode "The Death Trap" and in the "Doomsday" episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and appeared as an uncredited president in the pilot of Lost in Space. He portrayed the adoptive father of Lee Majors's character on The Six Million Dollar Man and the foster father of Jaime Sommers on The Bionic Woman, played a general in the 1980 M*A*S*H episode "Dreams," and appeared as a judge on both The Waltons and Matlock. His later television work included recurring roles on Wiseguy, Ned and Stacey, and The King of Queens, as well as appearances on ER. He was also affiliated with Trinity Square Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island.

Rainey married Sheila Hayden in 1954 at the age of 46 and settled in New York City, where sons Robert and James were born. The family later moved to Malibu, California, where daughter Kathy was born. He remained in Malibu until his death on July 25, 2005, from a stroke at the age of 96. He was interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.