Pat Corley

Pat Corley, born Cleo Pat Corley on June 1, 1930, in Dallas, Texas, was an American actor whose career spanned stage, film, and television across five decades. He is perhaps best known for his role as bar owner Phil on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown, a part he held from 1988 to 1996. He died of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on September 11, 2006, at the age of 76.

Corley was the son of Ada Lee (née Martin) and R.L. Corley. As a teenager he performed as a ballet dancer with the Stockton Ballet for three seasons, marking his earliest involvement in the performing arts. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, stationed in France, where he organized and performed in entertainment shows for military personnel. Following an honorable discharge, he enrolled at Stockton College on the G.I. Bill, where he met Iris Carter, a champion debater and locally recognized actress who would become his second wife.

After relocating to New York City, Corley worked as a waiter while attending the American Theatre Wing and studying under Uta Hagen. He and his wife toured summer stock productions in Indiana and New Jersey, traveling with their young daughter Troy. He was accepted as a member of the Actors Studio, and his first Broadway appearance came in James Baldwin's Blues for Mister Charlie, a production mounted by that organization. His Broadway career ran from 1964 to 1975 and also included Of Mice and Men, in which he appeared alongside James Earl Jones, Sweet Bird of Youth, which featured Christopher Walken, and The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild. Early in his career he shared the stage with Al Pacino and James Earl Jones in the Off-Broadway production The Peace Creeps.

Corley's television work began in 1969 with a small role on N.Y.P.D., followed by appearances in commercials and guest spots on series including Kojak, Starsky and Hutch, Barnaby Jones, Hart to Hart, St. Elsewhere, Murder She Wrote, Magnum P.I., Cagney and Lacey, Moonlighting, L.A. Law, and Night Court, among many others. He held a recurring role as Chief Coroner Wally Nydorf on Hill Street Blues from 1981 to 1987 and also appeared in the miniseries Roots and Fresno. He later provided the voice of Sheriff McGee in the animated film Tom Sawyer in 2000.

His film credits include Night Shift (1982), Against All Odds (1984), and Mr. Destiny (1990), as well as Gordon Parks' The Super Cops, the comedy Law and Disorder with Carroll O'Connor and Ernest Borgnine, Coming Home, and The Hand, an early Oliver Stone film starring Michael Caine. Corley's wife, actress Iris Corley, died the year before him.