Mitchell Ryan, 'Lethal Weapon' actor who grew up in Louisville, went to Male, dies at 88

When I talked with Mitchell Ryan last September, he was preparing to promote his newly released autobiography, “Fall of a Sparrow.” Unfortunately, the veteran actor would only enjoy the praise of his work for several months.

Ryan, who played a villainous general in the first “Lethal Weapon” movie, a ruthless businessman on TV’s “Santa Barbara” and had character roles on the soap opera “Dark Shadows” and the 1990s sitcom “Dharma & Greg,” died Friday, his agent confirmed to USA Today. He was 88.

"Having been his agent for over 40 years I can say the world lost a great man. Mitchell was kind, thoughtful, smart, loyal, wonderful husband, father, grandfather & client," his agent Ro Diamond said in a statement. "I will miss him so much."

Mitchell Ryan: 'Lethal Weapon' and 'Dark Shadows' actor, dies at 88

Ryan died of congestive heart failure at his Los Angeles home, his stepdaughter, Denise Freed, told the Hollywood Reporter.

Born in Cincinnati, Ryan was a toddler when the family moved to Louisville.

“I was three and my father got a job there,” Ryan told me from his home in Los Angeles. “I went on to attend Male High School, which in those days (prior to 1953) did not accept girls. I joined the Navy at 17 and was assigned to an aircraft carrier in Korea.”

Not surprisingly, the experience was traumatic.

“We were offshore supporting the ground troops, but it was a mess because we were using World War II aircraft carriers with modern jets,” he recalled. “We were mainly repairing the decks when the planes crashed — those poor pilots were walking basket cases after trying to land the aircraft.”

Ryan never seriously considered a career in acting until returning to Kentucky after the war.

“I went to see my sister in a play called ‘No Exit’ by Jean-Paul Sartre,” he recalled. “The following night I saw another play, ‘Dark of the Moon,’ and thought they were incredible. The director sort of conned me into going to lunch with him and talked me into taking a small part in his next play. So, I gave it a try and was hooked.”

Eventually heading to New York as his base, Ryan worked in theater for some 15 years. Touring with various productions took him around the country and to his first performance on Broadway in 1966.

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“I also auditioned for the New York Shakespeare Festival and stayed there for about four years doing over 15 plays,” he said. At the same time, he also turned to early New York television working in “Naked City” as well as the now cult classic show “Dark Shadows.”

But his success wasn't without its own problems.

“I was doing ‘Wait Until Dark’ on Broadway with Lee Remick when I got ‘Dark Shadows’ and knocked myself out trying to do both — the pressure was just incredible,” he explained. “I was in over 100 episodes of ‘Dark Shadows’ the first season but became obstreperous and was fired.”

Moving to Hollywood, Ryan found enormous professional opportunities.

“I initially hated Hollywood and was of the Woody Allen ‘school’ — he later said (in ‘Annie Hall’) the only advantage living there is being able to make a right turn on a red light. But I soon discovered how fabulous Los Angeles really was and so beautiful surrounded by the mountains and ocean.”

Hollywood quickly adopted Ryan, too. He would appear in over 100 different TV shows and more than two dozen feature films beginning in 1958.

“In my first film, 'Thunder Road,' I got blown up in a car, then later (1987) in ‘Lethal Weapon’ I got blown up in a car again,” he said laughing.

But Ryan’s greatest successes came on television. He starred in several short-lived 70s series such as “Chase” and “Executive Suite” before becoming a regular on the first season of the 80s daytime soap “Santa Barbara.” Then, during the 90s, he reunited with an old friend to play Greg’s parents in the ABC sitcom “Dharma & Greg.”

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“I'd been in touch with Susan Sullivan off and on since we were in ‘Julie Farr, MD’ together and to be thrown back with her again was wonderful,” said Ryan. “We were on every episode (of 'Dharma & Greg') and became really great friends. It was a delightful show and the writers gave me some great material playing an eccentric father.”

Ryan and Sullivan were reunited on-screen last year for an episode of “Smartphone Theatre,” a Livestream digital performance platform presented via Zoom on Friday nights and created by Todd Felderstein during the early pandemic months (free to watch at smartphonetheatre.com).

“Obviously, acting in person creates an energy you don’t have on Zoom, but this was still fun and quite an experience doing a play that way,” said Ryan. “But wouldn't it be marvelous to do a play on the stage again! Let's hope we can pretty soon before we all fade away.”

With the pandemic seemingly declining, Ryan would be delighted with the resurgence of live theater around the country. And fortunately, his body of work will never fade, forever available on film and television with a personal written record also recounted in his memoir.

“It describes my life going through alcoholism, my recovery, losing my son, and my success, so it's quite a saga,” he said. “I’ve had a wonderful career and think I did pretty good work most of the time.”

Of their personal friendship and final “Smartphone Theatre” project, Susan Sullivan told me this week “it was a wonderful collaboration and brought great depth to our friendship of fifty years. He was much loved by many and had the ability to share his journey with those he encountered on the road.”

Sullivan says the two spoke the day before he died.

“His heart, his great generous heart, gave out,” she said. “Certainly, one of the highlights of my life was knowing him and having this last collaboration was a gift.”

Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, in Alabama, and has written features, columns, and interviews for numerous magazines and newspapers. See tinseltowntalks.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Mitchell Ryan, 'Lethal Weapon' actor from Louisville, dies at 88