William Devane Biography

William Joseph Devane (born September 5, 1939) is an American film, television and theatre actor, known for his role as Greg Sumner on the primetime soap opera Knots Landing (1983-1993) and as James Heller on the Fox serial drama 24 (2005-2007), the role he reprised in ' (2000).

Early life

Devane was born in Albany, New York in 1939, the son of Joseph Devane, who had been Franklin D. Roosevelt's chauffeur when he was Governor of New York. His father was of Irish descent and his mother had Dutch and German ancestry. Devane graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.

Career

In 1966, Devane portrayed Robert F. Kennedy in the Off-Broadway spoof MacBird. He gained acclaim for his role as President John F. Kennedy in a TV movie about the Cuban Missile Crisis, The Missiles of October (1974), and again when he played blacklisted radio personality John Henry Faulk in the Emmy Award-winning TV movie Fear on Trial (1975). He is widely known for his ten years as the ambitious and hardnosed politician-turned-corporate titan Greg Sumner on Knots Landing.

In 1994, Devane appeared as Al Capone in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in an episode entitled "That Old Gang of Mine". He also had a recurring role on the CBS show Early Edition (1996-2000) as the lead character's father. Devane appeared in the films McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971); Lady Liberty (1971); Family Plot (1976) directed by Alfred Hitchcock; Marathon Man (1976); Rolling Thunder (1977); Yanks (1979); Testament (1983) with Jane Alexander; Timestalkers (1987) with Lauren Hutton and Klaus Kinski; Forgotten Sins (1996) with John Shea; Exception to the Rule (1997); Payback (1999); Hollow Man and Space Cowboys (2000).

Devane has played members of the Presidential Cabinet on two evening dramas. In 2004, on The West Wing, he guest-starred as the Secretary of State and potential Vice-Presidential nominee. In Season 4 (2005), he joined the cast of 24 as Secretary of Defense James Heller. He also "Special Guest Starred" as Heller in season 5 & 6. On The West Wing, Devane appeared in several scenes with Martin Sheen; they also appeared together as President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy, respectively, 30 years earlier in The Missiles of October (1974).

Later career

In 2004, Devane starred in three episodes of Stargate SG-1 (3 episodes), as President Henry Hayes and appears in the direct-to-DVD movie Stargate: Continuum. He also starred in the short-lived sitcom Crumbs and as Brian's real estate broker father in What About Brian (2006-07). In 2008, he starred in Russ Emanuel's "Chasing the Green" alongside Jeremy London, Ryan Hurst, and Robert Picardo. He also appears as former police officer turned psychologist Dr. Dix in the Jesse Stone mystery movies with Tom Selleck. In 2010, he appeared in NCIS: "Worst Nightmare" as the grandfather-who-is-not-what-he-appears-to-be, who is actually a former U.S. deep cover special operations agent, of a child kidnapped from Marine Corps Base Quantico.

In 2012, Devane began a recurring role as Grandpa Edward Grayson on the ABC primetime soap opera Revenge. Devane also played the President of the United States in the Christopher Nolan film The Dark Knight Rises.

Devane reprised his role as James Heller, now President, in the limited-run series ', which premiered in May 2014.

Devane was also part of the regular cast of the sitcom The Grinder.

Devane had a cameo role as Williams, part of NASA, in Interstellar, the 2014 film.

Devane is currently a spokesman for Rosland Capital.

Personal life

Devane married Eugenie Devane in 1961. They have two children.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	In the Country
1969	Gunsmith of Williamsburg	Narrator
1971	The Pursuit of Happiness	Pilot
	The 300 Year Weekend	Tom
	McCabe & Mrs. Miller	Clement Samuels, Esq
	My Old Man's Place	Jimmy Pilgrim
	La mortadella	Jock Fenner
1972	Irish Whiskey Rebellion	Lieutenant Ashley
1975	Report to the Commissioner	Asst. D.A. Jackson
1976	Family Plot	Arthur Adamson / Edward Shoebridge
	Marathon Man	Peter Janeway
1977	The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training	Mike Leak
	Rolling Thunder	Major Charles Rane
1979	The Dark	Roy Warner
	Yanks	Captain John
1981	Honky Tonk Freeway	Mayor Kirby T. Calo
1983	Testament	Tom Wetherly
1987	Hadley's Rebellion	Coach Ball
1987	Timestalkers	Dr. Scott McKenzie
1990	Vital Signs	Dr. Chatham
1992	Obsessed	Ed Bledsoe
1994	Lady in Waiting (aka Hollywood Madam	Lt. Barrett
1997	Exception to the Rule	Lawrence Kellerman
1999	Payback	Carter
2000	The Man Who Used To Be Me	Sam
	Poor White Trash	Ron Lake
	Space Cowboys	Eugene "Gene" Davis
	Hollow Man	Dr. Howard Kramer
2001	Race to Space	Roger Thornhill
2002	The Badge	The Judge
	Threat of Exposure	Col. Weldon
2003	The Wind Effect	LT Porter
	Monte Walsh	Cal Brennan
2008	The Fall	Judge Stanley Seeban
2009	The Least Among You	Alan Beckett
	Chasing the Green	Victor Gatling
2010	The River Why	Dutch Hines
	The Kane Files: Life of Trial	Thompson
2011	Flag of My Father	Jake
2012	Red Clover	Pop O'Hara
	The Dark Knight Rises	The President
2013	Bad Turn Worse	Big Red
2014	50 to 1	Leonard Doc Blach
	Interstellar	Williams

Television

• N.Y.P.D. (3 episodes, 1967-1969)
• Medical Center (1 episode, 1970 "Ghetto Clinic")
• Young Dr. Kildare (1 episode, 1972)
• Gunsmoke (1 episode, 1973)
• The Bait (1973)
• Mannix (1 episode, 1974)
• Hawaii Five-O (1 episode, 1974)
• The Missiles of October (1974)
• Fear on Trial (1975)
• Red Alert (1977)
• Black Beauty (1978)
• From Here to Eternity (1979)
• From Here to Eternity (11 episodes, 1980)
• Red Flag: The Ultimate Game (1981)
• The Other Victim (1981)
• The Big Easy (1982)
• Jane Doe (1983)
• With Intent to Kill (1984)
• Timestalkers (1987)
• A Woman Named Jackie (1991)
• Knots Landing (269 episodes, 1983-1993)
• Phenom (21 episodes, 1993-1994)
• Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1 episode, 1994)
• For the Love of Nancy (1994)
• Falling from the Sky: Flight 174 (TV movie, 1995)
• Virus (1995)
• Night Watch (1995)
• The Monroes (8 episodes, 1995)
• Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac (1997)
• Touched by an Angel (1 episode, 1997)
• Turks (13 episodes, 1999)
• Early Edition (5 episodes, 1997-1999)
• The Michael Richards Show (7 episodes, 2000)
• The X-Files (1 episode, "The Truth" 2002)
• A Christmas Visitor (2002, TV Movie)
• The West Wing (2 episodes, 2003)
• Stargate SG-1 (3 episodes, 2004)
• Crumbs (13 episodes, 2006)
• Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise (2006)
• What About Brian (6 episodes, 2006-2007)
• 24 (20 episodes, 2005-2007)
• Jesse Stone: Sea Change (2007)
• Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (2009)
• Jesse Stone: No Remorse (2010)
• Psych (1 episode, 2010)
• NCIS (1 episode, 2010)
• Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost (2011)
• Good Morning, Killer (2011)
• Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt (2012)
• Revenge (2 episodes, 2012)
• ' (12 episodes, 2014)
• The Grinder (22 episodes, 2015)
• Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise (2015)