In the seventies, Parks was an incredibly popular singer and actor in American television. He won the audience’s love thanks to the cult series “Then Bronson Came”, in which he played the leading role and the title song Long Lonesome Highway for a long time in the ranking of the most popular. Despite public acclaim, Michael Parks was put on the Hollywood blacklist because of his political beliefs and harsh remarks. For several years, he disappeared from the big screen. The role of the dashing Texas ranger in Quentin Tarantino's film "From Dusk Till Dawn" became a new round in Parks' acting career and brought him worldwide fame.
Youth
Michael Parks (Harry Samuel Parks) was born in the city of Crown, California on April 24, 1940 in a large family. His father, who worked as a truck driver, was the only breadwinner in the family. Therefore, starting in adolescence, Parks traveled around the country, earning money wherever he had to. Such a life made the young man grow up early. At the age of fifteen, he even got married, but the marriage did not last long. During his wanderings, Michael Parks joined the amateur theater and toured California with him. In 1960, at one of the performances, a young talent was noticed by a CBS agent, who was looking for young actors to participate in the company's television series. An agreement was signed with Parks, but due to the absurd character, he only got episodic roles. However, in 1963, such a role in the series "Perry Mason" he attracted the attention of the audience and producers.
Career takeoff
In 1966, Michael gets the role of Adam in the television series The Bible, based on some Bible stories. The actor’s work in this film was praised by critics, and in 1969, Parks was offered the lead role in the television drama “Then Bronson Came”. His character is an eternal wanderer, in search of the meaning of life, he travels on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle throughout America. Different people meet on the way to Bronson, he helps some, others help him. But the main character’s path to himself is as long and lonely as the title of the title song Long Lonesome Highway, which Michael Parks performed in this television movie. After the series was released, the young actor literally woke up famous. His musical career also went uphill. From 1969 to 1970, Parks released three albums recorded at MGM Records.
Black list
The fall of the actor from Hollywood Olympus was as swift as taking off. The fact is that Parks, having a heightened sense of justice, did not hesitate in public to criticize the ruling circles of the United States, moreover, he openly called on his fans to support George Wallace in the presidential election. Big Hollywood bosses did not approve of such freethinking. In those years, actors were perceived as puppets of film companies, and did not have the right to such calls. Therefore, Parks instantly turned out to be among those actors to whom the entrance to large film studios was closed.
Michael Parks: filmography
Director Larry Cohen was the first to melt the ice, and in 1977 he invited a disgraced actor to one of the leading roles in his film "John Dougher Hoover's Personal File". Portraying Bobby Kennedy, Parks once again managed to attract the attention of the viewer and critics. In the same year, the films “Escape from Bogen County” and “Love and Night Car Service” were released. The former popularity gradually began to return to the actor, and in 1986 the ABC channel invited him to take part in the Dynasty television project, where he played Philip Colby. For our viewer, Parks could be remembered for the first time as the drug dealer Jean Reno, whom he played in the cult series Twin Peaks.
The new starting point in the career of the actor, of course, was the role of Earl McGraw in the 1999 film “From Dusk Till Dawn” by Quentin Tarantino. Work in this film and subsequent brought the actor world fame and the love of the viewer, which to this day enjoys Michael Parks. Films of the famous franchise "Kill Bill" and "Grindhouse" also did not do without the participation of the actor and his beloved hero Earl McGraw. In 2011, Parks got the main role in the thriller "Red State" directed by Kevin Smith. The actor’s collaboration with Quentin Tarantino continued in the film “Django Unchained” in 2012. In 2014, he continued to work with director Kevin Smith, playing the main role in the thriller "Tusk". In the same year, the viewer could see his favorite actor in the drama Tedd Turner “Pilgrims”, where he also played a leading role. The year 2016 for the 76-year-old actor was marked by the work in the action movie Jean-Francois Richet "Blood Father".
To date, the 76-year-old actor has over one hundred films and television shows, but is not going to stop there. Always young in soul and filled with creative plans of Michael Parks. The photo of the legendary actor in the article is a vivid confirmation of this.