William Ragsdale

William Ragsdale, born Robert William Ragsdale on January 19, 1961, in El Dorado, Arkansas, is an American actor whose career has spanned film, television, and the Broadway stage. He attended Hendrix College, where he performed in plays alongside Natalie Canerday.

Ragsdale first gained widespread recognition through the cult horror-comedy film Fright Night (1985), in which he played the young hero Charley Brewster. He reprised that role in the 1988 sequel Fright Night Part 2. His film work also includes the 1991 romance comedy Mannequin Two: On the Move, a 2014 appearance as Chris Smith in the remake of Left Behind, and a 2023 role as a vampire-hunting priest in the horror comedy Renfield, a part conceived as a nod to his Fright Night origins.

On the stage, Ragsdale performed in two installments of Neil Simon's autobiographical trilogy, appearing in both Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues. His Broadway career extended from 1985 to 1996 and included roles in Getting Away With Murder and Broadway Boy. In 2017, he took on the role of Reverend Todd in the Off-Broadway production of Man from Nebraska at the Second Stage Theatre.

His television work has been equally varied. From 1991 to 1994, he starred as Herman Brooks on the sitcom Herman's Head. He was cast in the original pilot for Charmed but declined the series in favor of the short-lived sitcom Brother's Keeper. He appeared on Ellen as the boyfriend of Ellen Morgan before her character's coming-out storyline, and held a recurring role on Judging Amy. He also played a television producer on the single-season series Grosse Pointe and appeared in four episodes of Less than Perfect. From March 2010 through March 2012, he portrayed Gary Hawkins across 12 episodes of Justified, spanning the drama's first three seasons.