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Michael Parks (born Harry Samuel Parks; April 24, 1940 – May 9, 2017) was an American singer and actor who made numerous film and television appearances, notably starring in the 1969–1970 series Then Came Bronson. He was widely known for his work in his later years with filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and Kevin Smith.
Parks was the star of the series Then Came Bronson from 1969 to 1970, in which he rode an iconic red Harley-Davidson Sportster, as he drifted from town to town. He sang "Wayfarin' Stranger", a duet with pilot episode co-star Bonnie Bedelia, and later the theme song for the show, "Long Lonesome Highway", which became a number-20 Billboard Hot 100 and number-41 Hot Country Songs hit. "Long Lonesome Highway" also peaked at number 84 in Australia.
Parks recorded five albums under MGM Records (the label of the studio that produced the series) that charted including Closing The Gap (1969), Long Lonesome Highway (1970), and Blue.
After disputes with the producers of Bronson, Parks said he was informally blacklisted in Hollywood.Liam Brennan The Blacklisting of Michael Parks: How a Hollywood Star Was Quietly Shunned, The Artifice, September 12, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2019 Parks admitted he could be "difficult on the set" and also said he objected to producers wanting to make the series more violent. After the cancellation of Bronson, Parks did not work in a major Hollywood production for several years, but he had regular small roles in independent or Canadian features throughout the 1970s, such as Between Friends (1973), although director Donald Shebib had trouble dealing with Parks, describing him as a "terrific actor in a lot of ways, but weird". Later in the same interview, Shebib accused Parks of having been openly and aggressively antisemitic, and suggested that this probably hurt his career in Hollywood.
He played in 12 episodes of ABC's The Colbys, a spin-off from Dynasty, first as Hoyt Parker, and then Phillip Colby during the second season (1986–1987). He appeared as Irish mob boss Tommy O'Shea in (1994), French-Canadian drug runner Jean Renault in the ABC television series Twin Peaks, Dr. Banyard in Deceiver (1997), Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in From Dusk till Dawn (1996), and Ambrose Bierce in (2000).
Parks played two roles in the Kill Bill film series, reprising the role of Earl McGraw in (2003) and playing pimp Esteban Vihaio in (2004). He again reprised the role of Earl McGraw in both segments of the film Grindhouse (2007), making his fourth appearance as the Texas Ranger. His son, James Parks, played the son of Earl McGraw in Kill Bill, , Death Proof, and Planet Terror. Parks played a villain in Kevin Smith's horror films Red State (2011) and Tusk (2014).
Smith later announced on his podcast that Parks had recorded an album during Red State production, after Smith and producer Jon Gordon noticed his singing talent during filming. The album, titled The Red State Sessions, was released on August 15, 2011, as a download from the film's website.
Upon hearing the news, director Kevin Smith posted on his Instagram account, "Michael was, and will likely forever remain, the best actor I've ever known. I wrote both Red State and Tusk for Parks, I loved his acting so much." He also included, "He was, hands-down, the most incredible actor I ever had the pleasure to watch perform. And Parks brought out the absolute best in me every time he got near my set." In a Twitter post, director Robert Rodriguez referred to Michael Parks as "a true legend".
| 1965 | Wild Seed | Fargo | |
| Bus Riley's Back in Town | Bus Riley | ||
| 1966 | Adam | ||
| The Idol | Marco | ||
| 1967 | The Happening | 'Sureshot' | |
| Stranger on the Run | Vincent McKay | ||
| 1973 | Between Friends | Tony | |
| 1976 | The Last Hard Men | Sheriff Noel Nye | |
| The Savage Bees | Dr. Jeff DuRand | ||
| 1977 | Murder at the World Series | Larry Marshall | |
| Escape from Bogen County | Jack Kern | ||
| Sidewinder 1 | J.W. Wyatt | ||
| The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover | Robert F. Kennedy | ||
| 1978 | Love and the Midnight Auto Supply | 'Duke' | |
| Rainbow | Roger Edens | ||
| 1979 | The Evictors | Ben Watkins | |
| Breakthrough | Sergeant Anderson | ||
| 1980 | North Sea Hijack | Harold Shulman | |
| 1981 | Hard Country | Royce | |
| 1982 | Savannah Smiles | Lieutenant Savage | |
| 1986 | The Return of Josey Wales | Josey Wales | Also director |
| Spiker | Coach Doames | ||
| 1988 | Arizona Heat | Larry Kapinski | |
| Nightmare Beach | 'Doc' Willet | ||
| 1989 | Caged Fury | Mr. Collins | Also associate producer |
| Prime Suspect | Bill Nevins | ||
| 1991 | The Hitman | Detective Ronny 'Del' Delany | |
| 1992 | Storyville | Detective Michael Trevllian | |
| 1993 | Over the Line | Pearlmutter | |
| 1994 | Tommy O'Shea | ||
| Stranger by Night | Detective Larson | Direct-to-video | |
| 1995 | Sorceress | Stan | Direct-to-video |
| 1996 | From Dusk till Dawn | Texas Ranger Earl McGraw | |
| 1997 | Niagara, Niagara | Walter | |
| Deceiver | Dr. Banyard | ||
| Julian Po | Vern | ||
| 1998 | Wicked | Detective Boland | |
| 1999 | Ambrose Bierce | Direct-to-video | |
| 2000 | Bullfighter | Cordobes | |
| 2001 | Big Bad Love | Mr. Aaron | |
| 2002 | 13 Moons | Bartender | |
| 2003 | Texas Ranger Earl McGraw | ||
| The Librarians | William Clark | ||
| 2004 | Esteban Vihaio | ||
| 2005 | Miracle at Sage Creek | Justice Stanley | |
| 2006 | The Listening | James Wagley | |
| Texas Ranger Earl McGraw / Esteban Vihaio | |||
| 2007 | Grindhouse | Texas Ranger Earl McGraw | Segments: Planet Terror / Death Proof |
| El Muerto | Sheriff Stone | ||
| The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford | Henry Craig | ||
| 2008 | Noble Things | Pete Collins | |
| Maidenhead | Dad | ||
| Three Priests | Jacob | ||
| 2010 | Fritz Tremor | Direct-to-DVD | |
| Street Poet | Benny | ||
| 2011 | Red State | Pastor Abin Cooper | |
| 2012 | Argo | Jack Kirby | |
| Django Unchained | LeQuint Dickey Mining Company Employee | ||
| 2013 | We Are What We Are | 'Doc' Barrow | |
| 2014 | Tusk | Howard Howe | |
| 2016 | Blood Father | Tom 'Preacher' Parker | |
| Greater | Leo | ||
| 2020 | The Queen of Hollywood Blvd. | Chet Fuller | Posthumous release |
| 1960–1961 | Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater | Juanito / Younger Prisoner | Episode: "Ransom", "The Scar" |
| 1961 | The Law and Mr. Jones | Mike Enslow | Episode: "One by One" |
| The Asphalt Jungle | Ty | Episode: "The Sniper" | |
| Straightaway | Donald Stafford | Episode: "Pledge a Nightmare" | |
| The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor | Johnny Blaine / Eddy Washburn / Jimmy | Episodes: "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt", "Personal Enemy", "The Frightened Ones" | |
| 1962 | Gunsmoke | Park | Episode: "The Boys" |
| 'Rocky' Kustak | Episode: "Nobody Gets Hurt" | ||
| Stoney Burke | 'Tack' Reynolds | Episode: "The Mob Riders" | |
| The Real McCoys | Tom | Episode: "George's Nephew" | |
| Bus Stop | Unknown | Episode: "The Opposite Virtues" | |
| Sam Benedict | Larry Wilcox | Episode: "Too Many Strangers" | |
| The Gallant Men | Billy Ray Medford | Episode: "A Place to Die" | |
| 1963 | The Alfred Hitchcock Hour | Dr. Daniel Dana | Season 1 Episode 22: "Diagnosis: Danger" |
| The Alfred Hitchcock Hour | Skip Baxter | Season 2 Episode 8: "The Cadaver" | |
| The Greatest Show on Earth | Cristos | Episode: "The Hanging Man" | |
| Perry Mason | Cal Leonard | Episode: "The Case of Constant Doyle" | |
| Arrest and Trial | Gregory Wade | Episode: "We May Be Better Strangers" | |
| 77 Sunset Strip | Eddie Marco | Episode: "Crash Out!" | |
| 1963–1964 | Channing | Dante Donati | 2 episodes |
| Wagon Train | Hamish Browne / Michael Malone | Episodes: "The Heather and Hamish Story", "The Michael Malone Story" | |
| 1964 | Route 66 | 'Tank' | Episode: "Cries of Persons Close to One" |
| 1965 | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Lieutenant Colonel Burt Engle | Episode: "A Time for Killing" |
| 1969–1970 | Then Came Bronson | Jim Bronson | Lead role, 26 episodes; a feature-length pilot was released theatrically in some European countries |
| 1970 | The Johnny Cash Show | Himself | Singing |
| 1973 | Ollie Gregson | Episode: "Sometimes Tough Is Good" | |
| Medical Center | Dr. Chris Wells | Episode: "Fatal Memory" | |
| 1974 | Ironside | Professor Riley MacDane | Episode: "A Death in Academe" |
| 1975 | The Rookies | Crilen | Episode: "One-Way Street to Nowhere" |
| 1976 | Ellery Queen | Terry Purvis | Episode: "The Adventure of the Wary Witness" |
| 1978 | Hunters Of The Reef | Jim Spanner | Television film |
| 1979 | Fantasy Island | Convict pen pal to paraplegic Toni Tennille | Espisode: "The Comic"; "Golden Hour" |
| 1981 | Dial M for Murder | Max | Television film |
| 1986 | The Equalizer | Logan | Episode: "Nocturne" |
| 1987 | The Colbys | Phillip Colby | 12 episodes |
| 1988 | The Equalizer | Jonathan Grey | Episode: "Target of Choice" |
| 1989 | Murder, She Wrote | Ben Aaron | Episode: "Prediction: Murder" |
| War of the Worlds | 'Cash' McCullough | Episode: "My Soul to Keep" | |
| Billy the Kid | Rynerson | Television film | |
| 1990 | The China Lake Murders | Officer Jack Donnelly | Television film |
| 1990–1991 | Twin Peaks | Jean Renault | 5 episodes |
| 1991 | Shades of L.A. | Reverend James Scarborough | 2 episodes |
| 1993 | SeaQuest 2032 | George Le Chein | Episode: "To Be or Not To Be" |
| 1993 | The Untouchables | Dean 'Dion' O'Banion | Pilot episode, billed as guest star |
| 1996 | Hart to Hart | Evan Powell | Episode: "Secrets of the Hart" |
| 1996–1999 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Major Caleb Hooks | 2 episodes |
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