Gerald S. O'Loughlin
Gerald S. O’Loughlin was an actor best known for his role as Police Lt. Ed Ryker on the ABC drama series The Rookies, appearing on 92 episodes from 1972 to 1976. The series, about cops new to the job, starred Georg Stanford Brown, Michael Ontkean and Kate Jackson, with O’Loughlin’s Ryker as the voice of reason and guidance.
O’Loughlin was known for playing blue-collar characters throughout his five-decade-long career, and he appeared on many other television series, including Guiding Light, Naked City, Gunsmoke, The Green Hornet, The Virginian, Hawaii Five-O, Ironside, Mission: Impossible, Charlie's Angels, M*A*S*H, Fame, Quincy M.E., Highway to Heaven, T.J. Hooker, ER, Chicago Hope and Judging Amy.
He also starred on the 1980s NBC drama Our House as neighbor Joe Kaplan. Starring Wilford Brimley as Gus Witherspoon, the series followed a father who takes in his daughter-in-law and his three grandchildren after his son dies. O’Loughlin also played John Cappelletti Sr. in the 1977 CBS television movie Something for Joey, the fact-based drama about Heisman Trophy-winning running back John Cappaletti and his younger brother, who had leukemia.
Gerald S. O’Loughlin was an actor best known for his role as Police Lt. Ed Ryker on the ABC drama series The Rookies, appearing on 92 episodes from 1972 to 1976. The series, about cops new to the job, starred Georg Stanford Brown, Michael Ontkean and Kate Jackson, with O’Loughlin’s Ryker as the voice of reason and guidance.
O’Loughlin was known for playing blue-collar characters throughout his five-decade-long career, and he appeared on many other television series, including Guiding Light, Naked City, Gunsmoke, The Green Hornet, The Virginian, Hawaii Five-O, Ironside, Mission: Impossible, Charlie's Angels, M*A*S*H, Fame, Quincy M.E., Highway to Heaven, T.J. Hooker, ER, Chicago Hope and Judging Amy.
He also starred on the 1980s NBC drama Our House as neighbor Joe Kaplan. Starring Wilford Brimley as Gus Witherspoon, the series followed a father who takes in his daughter-in-law and his three grandchildren after his son dies. O’Loughlin also played John Cappelletti Sr. in the 1977 CBS television movie Something for Joey, the fact-based drama about Heisman Trophy-winning running back John Cappaletti and his younger brother, who had leukemia.
In addition, he had small parts in several feature films, including In Cold Blood, Ice Station Zebra, A Fine Madness, A Man Called Adam, Riot, Desperate Characters, The Organization (starring Sidney Poitier), The Valachi Papers, Frances, City Heat (starring Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds), Twilight's Last Gleaming and Quicksilver. In the 1967 release In Cold Blood, based on the acclaimed book by Truman Capote, O’Loughlin played the real-life Harold Nye, who investigated the murders of four members of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas.
During World War II, O'Loughin served in the Marines, after which he returned to New York, where he used the G.I. Bill to study with Sanford Meisner. He then became a member of the Actors Studio when Meisner recommended him to Lee Strasberg.
O’Loughlin’s early acting years included work on Broadway, with roles in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Golden Boy and the first revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.
He died July 31, 2015, in Los Angeles. He was 93.
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