Gregory Harrison

(B.D. 31 May 1950)

Gregory was discovered on the musical theater stage and returns there now and again.
Never saw snow until he was 19 years old.
While working as a doorman at a nightclub, he met Jason Robards who offered him encouragement to become an actor. He quit his job and moved to L.A. immediately afterward.
Gregory served two years as a medic in the Army.
In 1980, he formed with Franklin R. Levy the "Catalina Production Group Ltd." producing numerous stage projects, more than two dozen televsion movies. Catalina was an important force in the Los Angeles theater scene, from 1981 to 1992, plays presented by Catalina were honored with over 150 theater awards, E.g. in 1982 for "The Hasty Heart".
... He is also one of the original members of the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit environmental organization that works to protect the coast that was founded in 1984. Harrison is an avid surfer. He claims to have ridden the waves of every surfable ocean on almost every continent in the world.
He also enjoys swimming, kayaking and is a keen golfer.
Has 3 daughters and an adopted son (Emma, Lily, Kate, Quinn Edgar Harrison).
Wife Randi Oakes is also an actress who played the character "Officer Bonnie Clark" on the TV series "CHiPs" (1977).
In 1980, Gregory formed, with Franklin R. Levy, the Catalina Production Group. Over the next eleven years, they produced numerous stage projects and nearly two dozen television movies. Catalina Productions was an important force in the Los Angeles theater scene from 1981 to 1992, and the approximately 60 plays presented by the company were honored with over 150 local theater awards. Those plays included "The Hasty Heart" (1982), which won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award as Best Production (including Best Actor for Gregory), and "Picnic" (1986), for which Gregory won a Dramalogue Award. In 1990, he was was the recipient of the L.A. Ovation Award for Outstanding Contribution to L.A. Theater.
First big break came in 1976, when he was cast in a guest-star role in the CBS series "M*A*S*H".
Took up the guitar while he was in the Army and also started composing songs.
After serving for two years as a medic, he finally received an honorable discharge in 1971 from the Army as a non-religious conscientious objector.
His over 25-year marriage to former model/actress Randi Oakes managed to survive Greg's early personal battles with alcohol and cocaine.
Played the role of slick lawyer Billy Flynn in the NY production of "Chicago" on and off between the years 2003 and 2006.
Jobs varied during his salad years from delivery boy and window washer to handyman and construction worker. He also worked/performed at a bawdy Elizabethan-styled theatre/restaurant.
Spent his youth swimming, fishing, and diving for coins tossed by the tourists who lined the railings of the two-thousand passenger S.S. Catalina as it sailed into the bay during the summer.
His parents, Ed and Donna (she was once an aspiring dancer), divorced when he was 14. A middle child of three, his older sister Kathleen and younger brother Christopher are both artists. He and his father were both born and raised on South Catalina Island, unlike the others in his family.
Best known by the public for his starring role as Chief of Surgery - Dr. George Alonzo 'Gonzo' Gates on "Trapper John, M.D." (1979).

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