Michael Parks

Michael Parks, born Harry Samuel Parks on April 24, 1940, in Corona, California, was an American actor and singer whose career spanned stage, film, and television across six decades. The son of Harry Arthur Parks and Beatrice Adora Dunwoody, he spent his teenage years working a succession of manual jobs, among them picking fruit, digging ditches, driving trucks, and fighting forest fires. He died on May 9, 2017, at his Los Angeles home at the age of 77.

Parks appeared on Broadway between 1959 and 1961, with credits including the musical Gypsy. His early television work included a 1961 role on the ABC sitcom The Real McCoys, in which he played the nephew of the character George MacMichael. He appeared in a 1963 episode of Wagon Train as Hamish Browne and that same year played Cal Leonard in the Perry Mason episode "The Case of Constant Doyle," opposite Bette Davis. A significant early film role came in 1966, when he was cast as Adam in John Huston's The Bible: In the Beginning.

His most prominent television role came with the NBC series Then Came Bronson, which ran from 1969 to 1970. Parks starred as a drifter who traveled by a red Harley-Davidson Sportster, and he recorded the show's theme, "Long Lonesome Highway," which reached number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 41 on the Hot Country Songs chart, and number 84 in Australia. He also performed "Wayfarin' Stranger" as a duet with pilot episode co-star Bonnie Bedelia. During the run of the series, Parks recorded multiple albums for MGM Records, including Closing the Gap (1969), Long Lonesome Highway (1970), and Blue (1970).

Following disputes with the producers of Bronson over the show's direction, Parks described himself as informally blacklisted in Hollywood. He acknowledged being difficult on set and objected to producers' desire to make the series more violent. Through the 1970s he took smaller roles in independent and Canadian productions, including Between Friends (1973). He later appeared in 12 episodes of ABC's The Colbys, the Dynasty spin-off, first as Hoyt Parker and then as Phillip Colby during the 1986–1987 season.

Parks built a notable late-career association with several prominent filmmakers. He originated the role of Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and played Ambrose Bierce in From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (2000). For Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill series, he reprised Earl McGraw in the first film (2003) and played pimp Esteban Vihaio in the second (2004). He appeared as Earl McGraw again in both segments of Grindhouse (2007), marking his fourth portrayal of the character. His son, James Parks, played Earl McGraw's son across several of those same productions. Parks also appeared as French-Canadian drug runner Jean Renault in the ABC series Twin Peaks, as Irish mob boss Tommy O'Shea in Death Wish V: The Face of Death (1994), and as Dr. Banyard in Deceiver (1997).

Director Kevin Smith cast Parks in the horror films Red State (2011) and Tusk (2014). During production of Red State, Smith and producer Jon Gordon observed Parks's singing ability on set, which led to the recording and release of The Red State Sessions on August 15, 2011. Smith later produced a documentary about Parks titled Long Lonesome Highway, directed by Josh Roush, covering his career from his early years through his Hollywood blacklisting and subsequent resurgence. The film features interviews with James Parks, Kurt Russell, Robert Rodriguez, Mark Frost, Mickey Rourke, Haley Joel Osment, and others.

Parks married five times. His first marriage, to Louise Johnson in 1956 when he was 16, ended in 1958 and produced a daughter. His second marriage, to actress Jan Moriarty in 1964, ended after a few months with her death from an apparent overdose. His 1968 marriage to Carolyn Kay Carson produced a son, actor James Parks. A fourth marriage to Alston Fenci, begun in 1987, ended in divorce in 1996. In 1997 he married Oriana, who remained his wife until his death. Per his request, Parks received a full-body burial at sea, which his wife attended privately following a public funeral at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.