Skip to main content
John McLiam

John McLiam

Actor · 1918 – 1994 · Alberta, Canada

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John McLiam (born John Williams; January 24, 1918 – April 16, 1994) was a Canadian actor noted for his skill at different accents. His film appearances include My Fair Lady (1964), In Cold Blood (1967), John Frankenheimer's movie of The Iceman Cometh (1973), The Missouri Breaks (1976), and First Blood (1982). He was a guest star in numerous television series and wrote a Broadway play, The Sin of Pat Muldoon. Early life He attended St. Mary's College of California (Moraga, California). During World War II he served in the United States Navy as an intelligence officer, having received a Bronze Star. After the war he worked briefly as a journalist for the San Francisco Examiner. He took McLiam, the Gaelic form of his real surname Williams, as a stage name. Acting career His acting career began in Maxwell Anderson's Winterset in San Francisco in 1946. After a few roles in plays in California he moved to New York. His first Broadway role was as a guard in Maxwell Anderson's Barefoot in Athens in 1951. His other stage roles include Shaw's Saint Joan, and Tiger at the Gates, Christopher Fry's version of a Jean Giraudoux play, which ran 1959–60 on Broadway. He appeared in the original Broadway cast of One More River (1960). He moved to California in 1960 to work in film and television. His film roles included a cockney ne'er-do-well in My Fair Lady (1964), Boss Kean in Cool Hand Luke (1967), In Cold Blood (1967) as murder victim Herbert Clutter, John acted as the pilot/flight instructor for Aunt Bee in Season 8 of The Andy Griffith Show, "Aunt Bee's Big Moment" Halls of Anger (1970), Woody Allen's Sleeper (1973), rancher David Braxton in The Missouri Breaks (1976), and Orval in First Blood (1982). He played Jimmy Tomorrow in John Frankenheimer's American Film Theater movie of The Iceman Cometh (1973), alongside Fredric March, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan and Jeff Bridges. Personal life McLiam and his wife Roberta had a daughter, Claire. He died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California in 1994 from melanoma and Parkinson's disease. McLiam was interred at the Santa Barbara Cemetery at Santa Barbara, California. CLR

Movies24

  • Movie7.5

    First Blood

    1982 · 7.1K votes

  • Movie7.7

    Cool Hand Luke

    1967 · 1.7K votes

  • Movie7.5

    My Fair Lady

    1964 · 1.5K votes

  • Movie7.5

    In Cold Blood

    1967 · 450 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Big Jake

    1971 · 254 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Sleeper

    1973 · 862 votes

  • Movie6.5

    The Missouri Breaks

    1976 · 257 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Madigan

    1968 · 91 votes

  • Movie5.6

    Lucky Lady

    1975 · 18 votes

  • Movie6.4

    The Reivers

    1969 · 58 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Bite the Bullet

    1975 · 138 votes

  • Movie6.1
  • Movie5.0

    The Food of the Gods

    1976 · 128 votes

  • Movie6.3

    Monte Walsh

    1970 · 67 votes

  • Movie6.4

    The Culpepper Cattle Co.

    1972 · 51 votes

  • Movie6.1

    The Iceman Cometh

    1973 · 33 votes

  • Movie6.1

    Showdown

    1973 · 37 votes

  • Movie6.3
  • Movie5.1

    Split Decisions

    1988 · 27 votes

  • Movie4.7

    Walk Like a Man

    1987 · 28 votes

  • Movie7.5

    If Tomorrow Comes

    1971 · 2 votes

  • Movie7.0
  • Movie6.7

    The Dove

    1974 · 11 votes

  • Movie8.0

    The Ambush Murders

    1982 · 2 votes

Series24

  • TV7.7

    Perry Mason

    1957 · 139 votes

  • TV7.5

    Murder, She Wrote

    1984 · 471 votes

  • TV8.4
  • TV7.3

    Magnum, P.I.

    1980 · 460 votes

  • TV7.5

    The A-Team

    1983 · 1.1K votes

  • TV7.5

    Bonanza

    1959 · 500 votes

  • TV6.8

    Ironside

    1967 · 71 votes

  • TV6.9

    Dallas

    1978 · 248 votes

  • TV7.9

    M*A*S*H

    1972 · 769 votes

  • TV7.3

    The Fugitive

    1963 · 63 votes

  • TV6.8

    Mannix

    1967 · 56 votes

  • TV7.6

    The Andy Griffith Show

    1960 · 175 votes

  • TV7.6

    Mission: Impossible

    1966 · 320 votes

  • TV5.5

    Falcon Crest

    1981 · 64 votes

  • TV6.6

    Wagon Train

    1957 · 31 votes

  • TV8.0

    Get Smart

    1965 · 448 votes

  • TV7.2

    Hawaii Five-O

    1969 · 164 votes

  • TV7.1

    Hunter

    1984 · 102 votes

  • TV6.5

    T. J. Hooker

    1982 · 98 votes

  • TV8.5

    The Twilight Zone

    1959 · 1.1K votes

  • TV7.4

    Highway to Heaven

    1984 · 207 votes

  • TV6.5

    The Virginian

    1962 · 35 votes

  • TV5.6

    The F.B.I.

    1965 · 25 votes

  • TV6.6

    My Three Sons

    1960 · 41 votes