Bruce Boxleitner Bio

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Bruce William Boxleitner (born May 12, 1950, in Elgin, Illinois) is an American actor and science fiction writer.

He attended Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, Illinois, and the Goodman Theater School of Drama of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois.

Bruce Boxleitner: Career

Bruce Boxleitner - Television

He is best known for his leading roles in the television series How the West Was Won, Bring 'Em Back Alive, Scarecrow and Mrs. King (with Kate Jackson), and Babylon 5. He also starred in The Gambler trilogy (as Billy Montana, alongside Kenny Rogers: 1980, 1983 and 1987). In 2005 he co-starred as Captain Martin Duvall in Young Blades. He has also starred in several television films that are part of the Babylon 5 franchise, including Babylon 5: In the Beginning, Babylon 5: Thirdspace, Babylon 5: A Call to Arms and the direct-to-dvd Babylon 5: The Lost Tales.

He has made appearances in many other TV shows, such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Gunsmoke, Judith Krantz's Till We Meet Again, Tales from the Crypt, Heroes, Touched by an Angel, The Outer Limits and She Spies, and in 1982 he played Chase Marshall in the TV movie, Bare Essence, with Genie Francis. He has also recently joined the cast of Heroes for season three, playing New York Governor Robert Malden in two episodes. He also appeared on the television series Chuck as the father of Captain Awesome.

Bruce Boxleitner - Film

He has also appeared in several films, for instance in Tron (in which he played the title role) and The Baltimore Bullet (1980) with James Coburn. He will reprise his role in the Tron sequel Tron Legacy, and a sequel video game also named Tron 2.0, and Disney/Square Enix crossover video game Kingdom Hearts II. He also starred as Confederate General James Longstreet in the 2003 film Gods and Generals. He provides the voice of Colin Barrow in the animated sci-fi horror movie Dead Space: Downfall, based on the video game Dead Space. Other films he has been in include Kuffs, The Babe, Brilliant, Snakehead Terror, Legion of the Dead, King of the Lost World, Shadows in Paradise and Transmorphers: Fall of Man. He has also been in the made-for-television films The Secret, Falling in Love with the Girl Next Door, Pandemic, Sharpshooter and Aces 'n Eights.

Bruce Boxleitner - Modeling

From 1986-1989, Boxleitner appeared in advertisements for Estee Lauder's "Lauder For Men."

Bruce Boxleitner - Novels

Boxleitner has also written two science fiction novels with a Western setting: Frontier Earth (1999) and Searcher (2001).

Bruce Boxleitner - Audio books

Boxleitner played a major role in the audio dramatization of The Great Secret, part of the Golden Age of Fiction series by L Ron Hubbard.

Bruce Boxleitner: Personal life

Boxleitner's first marriage was to American actress Kathryn Holcomb (1977-1987) They had two sons together, Sam and Lee. Holcomb went on to marry English actor Ian Ogilvy, best known to American audiences as "Lawrence" on Upstairs, Downstairs. In a twist, Ogilvy also guest-starred on Boxleitner's series, Babylon 5.

Holcomb, a few years later, set her ex-husband up with actress Melissa Gilbert, who had a very long on-and-off relationship with Rob Lowe and then a failed marriage to Bo Brinkman. Gilbert, who is 14 years younger than Bruce, actually met him as a teen on Battle of the Network Stars. In December 1982, Gilbert was on the NBC team while Boxleitner was on the CBS team. She approached him, supposedly having a pin-up of him in her locker, and he promptly brushed Gilbert off as she was a teenager and he was already in his 30s.

Many years later, when they were set up on a date, Boxleitner was stunned how she had grown up. The two then had an on-and-off relationship including two broken engagements. He was terrified of another divorce and didn't want any more children. They finally reconciled and he married Gilbert on January 1, 1995 at their home.

Gilbert already had a son, Dakota Brinkman, who lived much of the time in Texas with his father, Bo Brinkman. Despite her age, and being a heavy smoker, she got pregnant right after their marriage, but went into pre-term labor and gave birth to a very premature son, Michael Boxleitner (named in honor of Melissa's television father, Michael Landon), in the autumn of 1995. The baby eventually put on weight and his lungs developed and he was able to finally go home with his parents.

Melissa Gilbert also played Boxleitner's on-screen wife, Anna Sheridan, in the 1990s television show Babylon 5.

In 2003, Boxleitner was appointed to the Board of Governors of the National Space Society, a nonprofit, educational space advocacy organization founded by Dr. Wernher von Braun.