Film McGill has starred in many films, perhaps his most well-known role being "D-Day" in the 1978 comedy classic ''
National Lampoon's Animal House, a role McGill was desperate to take at the time, recalling his days as a young unemployed actor sitting in a New York City casting office. In Animal House
, he played the William Tell Overture by drumming his fingers on his windpipe. He duplicated this talent in MacGyver'', playing "Rock-The-Cradle" to lull a child in his care to sleep. McGill is a favorite of director
Michael Mann, having worked with him on three of his films: 1999's
The Insider, 2001's
Ali and 2004's
Collateral. He has also appeared in four
HBO TV films, first playing Yankees manager
Ralph Houk in
Billy Crystal's film
61* in 2001, then diplomat
George Ball in the 2002 film
Path to War; journalist
Peter Arnett in
Live from Baghdad later that year; and most recently
Mac Stipanovich in the 2008 film
Recount about the 2000 Presidential election in
Florida. He portrayed
CIA Director
George Tenet in
Oliver Stone's film
W. and, in 2012,
Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton in Steven Spielberg's
Lincoln.
Television ,
Janet Tamaro, and
Angie Harmon in 2011 McGill reprised his role as D-Day from ''National Lampoon's Animal House
in the short-lived 1979 ABC TV Spinoff Delta House. His other television guest appearances include Quantum Leap (in both the pilot and final episodes); Walker, Texas Ranger; CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; Crime Story; Miami Vice'' (featured in a 1985 episode widely considered by critics as the best episode of the series' run); and
Star Trek: Voyager as
Captain Braxton in the episode "
Relativity". He was a recurring guest star in
MacGyver as the title character's comical best friend, soldier of fortune/bush pilot
Jack Dalton. Echoing that role, McGill often plays friends of the lead character in film and television. In 1994 he made a guest appearance with
Jay Leno in the
Emmy nominated TV series,
Home Improvement. He played Willard Cates in the short-lived series
Wolf Lake. He was scheduled to join the cast of
Bionic Woman in the fall of 2007. He also voiced Agent Buford in the
video game Mercenaries. In 2009, McGill appeared on
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Gordon Garrison, a zealously bigoted anti-immigration talk-show host who, after sparking a mini-riot in court, sets up the acquittal of the killer. McGill also appeared on ABC's 2010 TV show,
No Ordinary Family. McGill also played Major Ed Ryan in the third season
Babylon 5 episode "
Severed Dreams" (which won the 1997
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation).
Babylon 5 producer
J. Michael Straczynski originally intended for
Everett McGill to play the role. However he did not know McGill's first name, so when he asked to have McGill contacted, Straczynski was asked if he meant Bruce McGill, to which he replied yes. Even though it became apparent to Straczynski when Bruce McGill met him to discuss the role that he was not the McGill Straczynski had in mind, Straczynski decided to use him instead. McGill also had a small role in a season 3 episode of
Numb3rs as well as a season 3 episode of
Psych. McGill portrayed the character of veteran Boston Police Homicide Detective Vince Korsak on the TNT television crime drama,
Rizzoli & Isles. The character of Korsak is the mentor and friend of Detective Jane Rizzoli, portrayed by
Angie Harmon. Korsak saved Rizzoli's life from serial killer, Charles Hoyt. Korsak shot Hoyt's partner just before Hoyt was about to kill Rizzoli with a knife. In the episode "She Works Hard for the Money" (season 1 episode 4) Korsak is asked where he went to college. He responds "Didn't. Watched
Animal House a few times." McGill also had a recurring voice role on
The Cleveland Show as Lloyd Waterman, the homosexual owner of Waterman Cable, where
Cleveland Brown is employed as a cable installer. It was reported in February 2017 that he would guest star as a decorated
Vietnam War veteran in the television series
NCIS. McGill narrated the 2018 season of the
Fox News documentary series
Scandalous. McGill is a skilled guitarist and played on set in season 4, episode 14, of
Rizzoli & Isles. ==Filmography==