Johnny Be Good

Background:

Canadian actor Michael Greene has built a prolific acting career since making his debut in 1960. He has primarily played minor roles although he had a leading role in “The Clones” (1973). He is perhaps best known for portraying Tex Wade in the sport oriented “Johnny Be Good” (1988). Other films in which he has acted in include Herbert Ross' “Play It Again, Sam” (1972) and “Undercover Blues” (1993), Robert Altman's “California Split” (1974), Albert Brooks' “Lost in America” (1985), Paul Mazursky's “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” (1986), “The Night Before” (1988), “Moon Over Parador” (1988), “For the Boys” (1991), “I Woke Up Early the Day I Died” (1998) and “Nice Guys Sleep Alone” (1999). On the small screen, Greene had a regular role in “The Dakotas” (ABC, 1963) and guest roles in “Gunsmoke,” “The A-Team,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Quantum Leap,” “Hunter,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Melrose Place” and “Baywatch.” He has also appeared in many TV movies, including “Mickey and the Contessa” (1963), “The Ordeal of Patty Hearst” (1979), “Cameo by Night” (1987), “Gunsmoke: The Long Ride” (1993), “Winchell” (1998), “Commitments” (2001) and “The Day Reagan Was Shot” (2001).

Ontario

Childhood and Family:

Michael Greene was born on July 30, 1971, in Pembroke, Ontario, Canada.

The Day Reagan Was Shot

Career:

Michael Greene began his career on television in the early 1960s with guest roles in such shows as “Johnny Ringo,” “The Westerner,” “Wanted: Dead or Alive,” “Cheyenne,” “The Rifleman” and “Gunsmoke.” He landed his first regular role in the western series “The Dakotas” (ABC, 1963), opposite Larry Ward, Jack Elam and Chad Everett, where he played Deputy Vance Porter. It was also in 1963 that Greene appeared in his first TV film with “Mickey and the Contessa,” which starred Mickey Shaughnessy and Eva Gabor. His film career got its start when he was cast in the supporting role of Joe Baragi in “This Is Not a Test” (1962), for director Fredric Gadette. It was followed with appearances in “Red Runs the River” and “Spencer's Mountain,” the latter of which was a family film that starred Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara and James MacArthur (both 1963).

From the mid to late 1980s, Greene worked primarily on the small screen. He guest starred in a string of TV series, including “The Big Valley” (1965), “Batman” (2 episodes, 1966), “Lost in Space” (1966), “The Monroes” (1967), “The Guns of Will Sonnett” (1967), “Mission: Impossible” (1968) and “Mannix” (1968). He also appeared in the feature film “Naked Angels” (1969), an outlaw biker movie helmed by Bruce D. Clark.

Greene continued working in several movies throughout the 1970s. He had small parts in the Dennis Hopper drama “The Last Movie” (1971), the Herbert Ross directed “Play It Again, Sam” (1972), which was adapted from a Broadway play of the same name by Woody Allen, “The Harrad Experiment” (1973, as a yoga instructor), Robert Altman's “California Split” (1974), the Roger Moore vehicle “That Lucky Touch” (1975), Mark Rydell's “Harry and Walter Go to New York” (1976, starred James Caan and Elliott Gould), the western “The Great Gundown” (1977, as Preacher Gage) and the drama “An Enemy of the People” (1978, starred Steve McQueen). He also played the lead role of Dr. Gerald Appleby in the 1973 sci-fi film “The Clones” (1973), which was co-directed by Lamar Card and Paul Hunt. Greene maintained his television presence by making guest appearances in “Bonanza” (1972), “Kung Fu” (1973 and 1974), and “Isis” (1975) and played the role of Joe in the made-for-TV film “The Ordeal of Patty Hearst” (1979), which starred Dennis Weaver.

The productive actor appeared in nearly twenty films during the 1980s, including Richard Lang's “The Mountain Men” (1980, starred Charlton Heston), David Carradine's “Americana” (1983), Albert Brooks' “Lost in America” (1985), the comedy “Basic Training” (1985), the based-on-novel “To Live and Die in L.A.” (1985, starred William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow and John Turturro), the Paul Mazursky directed “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” (1986, opposite Nick Nolte, Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfus), the independent thriller “White of the Eye” (1987, as Phil Ross), “Less Than Zero” (1987, opposite Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, Robert Downey Jr. and James Spader), and the sci-fi film “Stranded” (1987, starred Ione Skye). He also appeared in the Keanu Reeves starring comedy “The Night Before” (1988), “Moon Over Parador” (1988, starred Richard Dreyfuss, Raul Julia and Sonia Braga) and John Dahl's “Kill Me Again” (1989) and delivered a memorable supporting turn as Tex Wade in the football film “Johnny Be Good” (1988), which was directed by Bud S. Smith and starred Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr., Uma Thurman and Seymour Cassel. Greene also appeared in the TV miniseries “Scruples” (1980) and “Crossings” (1986) and in episodes of the TV shows “The Dukes of Hazzard” (1981), “The A-Team” (1983), “Three's a Crowd” (1985), “The Twilight Zone” (1985), “The Fall Guy” (1986), “The Colbys” (1986) and “Quantum Leap” (1989), to name a few. His TV film credits included “Intimate Encounters” (1986), “LBJ: The Early Years” (1987) and “Cameo by Night” (1987).

The 1990s saw Greene in such TV films as “Heat Wave” (1990, starred Cicely Tyson and Blair Underwood), “Not of This World” (1991), “Danielle Steel's 'Palomino'” (1991), “Gunsmoke: The Long Ride” (1993), “My Son Is Innocent” (1996), “Winchell” (1998) and the Emmy nominated TV series “Four Corners” (1998). He also guest starred in TV series like “Hunter” (1990), the new version of “Mission: Impossible” (1990), “Melrose Place” (1995) and “Baywatch” (2 episodes, 1994-1997). Greene worked in a number of big screen projects during this decade, including “Lord of the Flies” (1990, starred Balthazar Getty), “Rubin and Ed” (1991, starred Crispin Glover and Howard Hesseman), Duncan Gibbins' “Eve of Destruction” (1991, as General Curtis), “For the Boys” (1991, starred Bette Midler), and Rodman Flender's “In the Heat of Passion” (1992). He then appeared in Herbert Ross' “Undercover Blues” (1993, starred Kathleen Turner and Dennis Quaid), William Bindley's “Judicial Consent” (1994), the independent action movie “The Road Killers” (1994, opposite Christopher Lambert and David Arquette), “The Politics of Desire” (1998, as The General ), “Ivory Tower” (1998), “I Woke Up Early the Day I Died” (1998, with Billy Zane, Ron Perlman and Christina Ricci), Stu Pollard's “Nice Guys Sleep Alone” (1999, starred as Slick Willie) and Tina Valinsky's comedy “Soft Toilet Seats” (1999).

In 2001, Greene was cast with Howard S. Miller, Allen Payne and Kevin Sizemore in the TV film “Commitments,” which was based on a novel by Carmen Green. Later that same year, he made his last TV film performance to date in “The Day Reagan Was Shot,” a Showtime drama that starred Richard Dreyfuss as Alexander Haig and Richard Crenna as Ronald Reagan.

Awards:
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