G. W. Bailey
George William Bailey is an American actor. His roles include Staff Sergeant Luther Rizzo in M*A*S*H, Lieutenant/Captain Thaddeus Harris in the Police Academy films, and Captain Felix Maxwell in Mannequin. He played Detective Lieutenant Louie Provenza on TNT's television crime drama The Closer and its spin-off series Major Crimes from 2005 to 2018.
Life and career
Bailey was born in Port Arthur, Texas, where he went to Thomas Jefferson High School with Janis Joplin and Jimmy Johnson. He started college at Lamar University in nearby Beaumont and transferred to Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
Bailey left college and spent the mid-1960s working at local theater companies before moving to California in the mid-1970s. He broke into television with a small recurring role as a crime scene police officer on the short-lived detective show Harry O. He then landed one-shot episodic roles on television programs of the day such as Starsky and Hutch and Charlie's Angels. His film debut was in A Force of One, an early Chuck Norris film. By the late 1970s, he got his breakout role as the conniving, cigar-chomping goldbricker Sgt. Luther Rizzo in M*A*S*H. He also appeared as Tom Berenger's sidekick in Rustler's Rhapsody.
He returned to college in 1993, and graduated from Southwest Texas State University, now Texas State, in San Marcos, Texas in May 1993, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Theatre. For the 1999–2000 school year, he was the Artist-in-Residence.
In the late 1990s, he starred in three of the seventeen television films and miniseries in the Bible Collection series produced for the TNT television network: Solomon, Jesus, and Paul.
From 2001 to 2019, Bailey served as the executive director of the Sunshine Kids Foundation, which provides trips and activities for hundreds of young cancer patients annually. He first volunteered with the organization after his goddaughter was diagnosed with leukemia.
Filmography (Film and TV)
Charlie's Angels - Mumford How The West Was Won - IvieCHiPs - Drunk DriverStarsky & Hutch - Hotel Clerk / Slade Soap - The HoboLaverne & Shirley - Rocko A Force of One - ErwinLou Grant - Water Man / Arlo Karp Happy Days - Jack Whitman The French Atlantic Affair - Jake Angie Benson - Bartender / GusPalmerstown, U.S.A. Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story - HolfeldFlo - Lonnie Castleberry / Bull Murder in Texas - Richard 'Racehorse' HaynesBitter Harvest - Lazlo Fog - Mr. CarrionHardcase - Paul Morgan The Capture of Grizzly Adams - Tom Quigley M*A*S*H - Sergeant Luther Rizzo / The G.I.St. Elsewhere - Dr. Hugh BealeMurder, She Wrote - Lt. Thibodeau Simon & Simon - Police Chief Don Potter / Dr. Kyle Stepney - SurgeryPolice Academy - Lt. Thaddeus HarrisEarthlings - BoboRunaway - ChiefPolice Academy 2: Their First Assignment - Wedding Guest Rustlers' Rhapsody - PeterWarning Sign - Tom SchmidtNewhart - Kyle NordoffShort Circuit - Captain SkroederMannequin - FelixDon't Mean Nothing - Slime Ball Apartment ManagerBurglar - Ray KirschmanPolice Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol - Capt. Thaddeus HarrisHawaiian Dream - Captain PiercePolice Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach - Capt. Thaddeus HarrisWar and Remembrance - Cmdr. Jim GriggPolice Academy 6: City Under Siege - Capt. Thaddeus HarrisThe Gifted One - Dr. Winslow Fine Things - GrossmanLove and Lies - Sgt. Halsey Q&A - Bartender Doublecrossed - CampUnder Cover - Director WaughWrite to Kill - Dean SuttonA Mother's Justice - Joe CommingerBefore the Storm - Director WaughBed of Lies - Zeke Zbranek Dinosaurs - SargeAn American Story - The Battle of Athens - Tom CantrellDead Before Dawn - MastersonNo Child of Mine - Lamar Jenkins Police Academy: Mission to Moscow - Capt. Thaddeus HarrisAce Ventura: When Nature Calls - Lieutenant The Siege at Ruby Ridge - Ralph CoulterSeduction in a Small Town - Pat CarterThe Jeff Foxworthy Show - Big Jim FoxworthySolomon - AzarelJesus - LivioBrothers. Dogs. And God. - Luther GrahamPaul the Apostle -BarnabasThe Thin Blue Lie - K.C.Scorcher - General Timothy MooreHome on the Range - Rusty, the Dog Nip/Tuck - Wesley KringleThe Closer - Lt. Louie ProvenzaCake: A Wedding Story - Howard CanterLeft Turn Yield - Man at Crosswalk with DogJohnny's Gone - ChetThe Newest Pledge - Mr. HodgkinsonCupcake Wars Guest Judge I Am Death - The KillerHighly Functional - DanMajor Crimes - Lt. Louie ProvenzaTil Life Do Us Part - Barnaby BarnesStargirl - Mr. Dugan