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Gerald Dwight "Wings" Hauser (born December 12, 1947) is an American actor, screenwriter, film director, and musician. A prolific character actor, he has appeared in over 100 film and television productions since 1967, and was once called "the biggest star you've never heard of."
Hauser received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his supporting role in Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987).
Early life
Hauser was born in Hollywood, California, the son of Geraldine (née Thienes) and director and producer Dwight Hauser (1911–1969). His brother is actor Erich Hauser. The elder Hauser's career was hampered by McCarthyism, and the family moved outside Los Angeles when Hauser was 8-years-old, where his father started a small theatre group.
Hauser made his film debut at the age of 18, when he played a small role in the 1967 war film First to Fight. Although from an acting family, Hauser did not seriously pursue acting at first, and spent most of his twenties working as a folk musician and busker. For a period in the early 1970s, Hauser was homeless, and spent several months living in a vacant garage with his 13-month-old daughter Bright.
In 1975, Hauser released an album for RCA entitled Your Love Keeps Me Off the Streets. For this LP, he used the name "Wings Livinryte." Though the album was not a success, it enabled Hauser to move into more stable housing with his daughter. The same year, he appeared in an episode of the television series Cannon, earning his SAG card.
Career
Hauser first attracted notice in December 1977, when as an unknown he was cast to play Greg Foster on the soap opera The Young and the Restless, succeeding Brian Kerwin in the part. Hauser remained with the show until 1981, when he was succeeded by Howard McGillin. He returned to the part nearly thirty years, for three episodes, in 2010.
Hauser's had his film breakthrough playing the villainous pimp Ramrod in Vice Squad (1982). Hauser also wrote and performed the film's theme song, "Neon Slime".
In 1983, he wrote the story for the Paramount Pictures box-office hit Uncommon Valor. The film was stories of a childhood friend, Gary Dickerson, who had been to Vietnam. "I saw that he had left something behind in Viet Nam and that triggered the whole thing," said Hauser. "And then I became aware of the MIA and the POW situation and said well that will be the excuse to go back to Nam and get the POWs, but what they’re really going back for is their own clarity and their own integrity right? And that’s the story. That’s the whole film."
He starred in the 1982 made-for-TV-movie Hear No Evil as Garrard. In 1987, he was co-starred in the Norman Mailer-directed Tough Guys Don't Dance, earning an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Male.
Hauser appeared in forty-one television series, including recurring roles in Beverly Hills 90210, Murder, She Wrote, and Roseanne, and a cameo as a juror in the season 4 episode "Mr. Monk Gets Jury Duty" of Monk.
He appeared in the French movie Rubber, directed by French musician Quentin Dupieux.
Personal life
Hauser has a daughter, Bright Hauser, from his first marriage to Jane Boltinhouse. From his second marriage to Cass Warner Sperling, daughter of Milton Sperling, he has a son, actor Cole Hauser. Wings Hauser is married to actress Cali Hauser. The Melbourne Underground Film Festival held a retrospective with his films in 2009.
Filmography
Film
- 1967 First to Fight as Ragan (uncredited)
- 1978 Who'll Stop the Rain as Marine Driver
- 1982 Vice Squad as 'Ramrod'
- 1982 Homework as 'Reddog'
- 1982 Hear No Evil as Garrard
- 1983 Ghost Dancing as Frank Carswell
- 1983 Deadly Force as 'Stoney' Cooper
- 1984 Mutant as Josh Cameron
- 1984 A Soldier's Story as Lieutenant Byrd
- 1984 Sweet Revenge as Major Frank Hollins
- 1984 Terror in the Aisles as 'Ramrod' (in 'Vice Squad') (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1985 Command 5 as Jack Coburn
- 1985 The Long Hot Summer as Wilson Mahood
- 1986 Dark Horse as Unknown
- 1986 3:15 as Mr. Havilland (uncredited)
- 1986 Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling as Cliff
- 1986 The Wind as Phil
- 1986 Hostage as Major Sam Striker
- 1986 Raw Terror as Unknown
- 1987 Tough Guys Don't Dance as Captain Alvin Luther Regency
- 1987 No Safe Haven as Clete Harris
- 1988 Dead Man Walking as John Luger
- 1988 Death Street USA (a.k.a. Nightmare at Noon) as Ken Griffiths
- 1988 The Carpenter as Carpenter
- 1989 The Siege of Firebase Gloria as Corporal Joseph L. DiNardo
- 1989 L.A. Bounty as Cavanaugh
- 1989 Bedroom Eyes II as Harry Ross
- 1990 Reason to Die as Elliot Canner
- 1990 Marked for Murder as Emerson
- 1990 Coldfire as Lars
- 1990 Street Asylum as Arliss Ryder
- 1990 Out of Sight, Out of Mind as Victor Lundgren
- 1990 Wilding as Tim Parsons
- 1990 Pale Blood as Van Vandameer
- 1990 Living to Die as Nick Carpenter
- 1991 Bump in the Night as Patrick Tierney
- 1991 Frame Up as Ralph Baker
- 1991 The Killers Edge (a.k.a. Blood Money) as Jack
- 1991 Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time as Arklon
- 1991 The Art of Dying as Jack
- 1991 In Between as Jack Maxwell
- 1992 Frame Up II: The Cover-Up (a.k.a. Deadly Conspiracy) as Sheriff Ralph Baker
- 1992 Mind, Body & Soul as John Stockton
- 1992 Exiled in America as Fred Jenkins
- 1993 Champagne and Bullets as Huck Finney
- 1994 Watchers 3 as Ferguson
- 1994 Skins (a.k.a. Gang Boys) as Joe Joiner
- 1995 Victim of Desire as Leland Duvall
- 1995 Tales from the Hood as Officer Strom
- 1995 Broken Bars as Warden Pitt
- 1995 Guns & Lipstick as Michael
- 1996 Original Gangstas as Michael Casey
- 1999 Life Among the Cannibals as Vince
- 1999 The Insider as Tobacco Lawyer
- 1999 Clean and Narrow as Sheriff Brand
- 2001 Savage Season as Maddox
- 2002 The Blue Lizard as 'Little G'
- 2004 Irish Eyes (a.k.a. Vendetta: No Conscience, No Mercy) as Kevin Kilpatrick
- 2004 The Running as Not Hasselhoff
- 2006 Mystery Woman: Wild West Mystery as Strother Elam
- 2007 Avenging Angel as Colonel Cusack
- 2007 The Stone Angel as Older Bram
- 2010 Rubber as Man In Wheelchair
Television episodes
- 1975 Cannon “A Touch of Venom” as Ethan Morse (Credited as Wings Livinryte)
- 1981-2010 The Young and The Restless as Greg Foster
- 1981 Magnum, P.I. - "Wave Goodbye" as Nick Frangakis
- 1983 The Fall Guy - "Just a Small Circle of Friends" as Baba
- 1984 Hunter - "Dead or Alive" as Jimmy Jo Walker
- 1985 Airwolf - "Airwolf II" as Harlan Jenkins
- 1985 The A-Team - "Blood, Sweat, and Cheers", "The Big Squeeze" as Karl Ludwig / Jack 'The Ripper' Lane
- 1985-1996 Murder, She Wrote - "Reflections of the Mind", "Night Fear", "Love & Hate in Cabot Cove", "Track of a Soldier" as Howard Levering / Sam Bennett / Wallace Evans / Carl
- 1986 The Last Precinct as Lieutenant Hobbs
- 1987 Perry Mason - "The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel" as Captain James Rivers
- 1988-1991 China Beach as Lt. Col. Mac Miller
- 1992 Lightning Force as LT. Col Matthew 'Trane' Coltrane
- 1992-1993 Roseanne as Ty Tilden, Neighbor
- 1993 Space Rangers - "Fort Hope" as Ex-Ranger Decker
- 1994 Walker, Texas Ranger - "Right Man, Wrong Time" as Wayland Hampton
- 1994-1996 Beverly Hills 90210 as J. Jay Jones
- 1995 Kung Fu: The Legend Continues - "Brotherhood of the Bell" as Damon
- 1996 JAG - "Sightings" as J.D. Gold
- 2003 Kingpin as Doug Duffy
- 2005 House - "Hunting" as Michael Ryan
- 2007 Bones - "The Man in the Mud" (2007) as Lenny Fitz
- 2009 The Mentalist - "Paint It Red" as A.P. Caid
- 2010 Criminal Minds - "Exit Wounds" as Sheriff Rhodes