Kent Franklin McWhirter, known by his stage name Kent McCord, is an American actor, best known for his role as Officer Jim Reed on the television series Adam-12.
Life and career
McCord was born Kent Franklin McWhirter in Los Angeles, California to Bert and Laura McWhirter. Using the stage name Kent McCord, he first appeared on television in 1962 in The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet. He became a close friend of Rick Nelson and made a total of 44 appearances on the program over the next few years. He also landed small parts in three Elvis Presley films. He also appeared as a motorcycle courier in McHale's Navy in the episode titled "Monkey Business 007" under the name Kent McWhirter. McCord also appeared in the first episode of Raymond Burr'sIronside series, titled "Message from Beyond", as motorcycle cop Kellogg. After working in a variety of secondary roles, he got his big break in 1968 when he was given a lead role next to Martin Milner as rookie police officer James A. "Jim" Reed on Adam-12, a police drama television series created by Jack Webb. The popular show ran on NBC from 1968 to 1975. In the first season of Jack Webb's Dragnet 1967, he appeared three times. The first appearance was an extra as an patrol officer, the second in the episode "The Big Explosion", saw him credited under his legal name. In the third episode, "The Interrogation", McCord was credited under his stage name. He played the role of a police officer who has been accused of robbing a store while working an undercover narcotics detail fresh out of the police academy. McCord went on to appear five additional times in the second season, three times as unnamed officers and twice as his eventual Adam-12 character Jim Reed. He appeared one more time on Dragnet as Reed before the character became exclusive to Adam-12. In 1972, McCord was elected to the nationalboard of directors of the Screen Actors Guild and served on the board for 11 years. He served as the first national vice president while on the NationalBoard of Directors. McCord appeared as a downed fighter ace on the 1970s series Baa Baa Black Sheep. In 1980, he played Troy on the short-lived television series Galactica 1980. Two years later, Webb tabbed him for a new Dragnet series he was ready to launch, with McCord to play the partner to Webb's Joe Friday. Webb died suddenly in December 1982, however, before any of the episodes he wrote could be produced. In 1982, McCord played Mr. Unger on , his only comedy role to date. In 1989, he co-starred on the short-lived crime drama Unsub. He re-teamed with Martin Milner, his co-star in Adam-12, in the cable TV-movie Nashville Beat, originally shown on The Nashville Network. In 1990, McCord appeared in the film Predator 2 as Captain Pilgrim. He appeared as Jack in Out for Justice and played John Reynolds in Return of the Living Dead 3. From 1994 to 1995, McCord played the recurring role of Scott Keller on seaQuest DSV. He appeared in three episodes of JAG, and more recently, became a semi-regular guest star on Farscape, where he played two versions of the same character, Jack Crichton, as well as Deputy U.S. Marshall Jack Hendricks on the series Renegade.
Other
In 2003, he ran for president of the Screen Actors Guild, but lost to Melissa Gilbert by a tally of 50% to 42%.
