Charles John Hallahan (July 29, 1943 – November 25, 1997) was an American film, television, and stage actor. His films include Going in Style, and Nightwing (1979), The Thing (1982), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Vision Quest and Pale Rider (1985), Cast a Deadly Spell (1991), and Dante's Peak (1997). On television he appeared in The Rockford Files, Happy Days and Hawaii Five-O (all 1977), played Chet Wilke in Lou Grant (1979–1982), M* A* S* H and Hill Street Blues (1981), The Equalizer (1985), and as Capt. Charlie Devane in Hunter from 1986 to 1991.
Biography
Hallahan was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Harrisburg and then Green Ridge, Delaware County. He was a student at St. James High School in Chester, leaving in 1961. He attended Rutgers University-Camden, graduating with a BA degree in 1968. He then continued for a masters degree earning an MFA from Temple University in 1971.
He served three years in the US Navy in the early 1960s, including time as a Navy hospital corpsman. He moved to Los Angeles in 1977.
Career
Hallalhan was a member of the American Conservatory Theater and appeared in many productions there such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Equus, and The Threepenny Opera. In 1977, Hallahan was a founding member of The Matrix Theatre Company in Los Angeles. performing in plays like Endgame (play) and The Seagull, and Robert Schenkkan's play, The Kentucky Cycle.
On screen, Hallahan has played Chet Wilke in Lou Grant (1979–1982). In 1982, he portrayed geologist Vance Norris in the remake of The Thing alongside Kurt Russell. He starred as LAPD Captain Charlie Devane on Hunter. He portrayed the nameless "Coach" in Vision Quest, opposite Matthew Modine. Hallahan also co-starred as a regular cast member in two popular television series, Grace Under Fire and the long-running The Paper Chase.
One of his final film roles--and arguably among his best remembered--was his portrayal of volcanologist Dr. Paul Dreyfus in the 1997 disaster-thriller film Dante's Peak, which also starred Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton. His final screen turn--and his lone big-screen leading role--was as corrupt Los Angeles homicide detective Jack Stillman in the 2001 independent Hitchcockian noir-thriller Mind Rage, a film eventually released, posthumously, four years after his untimely death. In 1997, Hallahan was cast as Liam Bilby for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Honor Among Thieves", but was replaced after having passed away.
Death
On November 25, 1997, he died of an apparent heart attack while driving his car in Los Angeles. He left behind his wife, Barbara; two sons, Seamus and Liam; and three brothers, Michael, Kenneth and Lawrence. His brother, Fr. Kenneth Hallahan, was a Roman Catholic priest in Camden, New Jersey. He was predeceased by his sister, Regina Macrina, an educator from Collingswood, New Jersey.
