Character actor Kenneth McMillan was born on July 2, 1932 in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to becoming an actor, McMillan was a manager at Gimbels Department Store. At age 30, McMillan decided to pursue an acting career. He attended the LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts and took acting lessons from Uta Hagen and Irene Dailey. He made his film debut at age 41 with a small role in Sidney Lumet's superbly gritty police drama Serpico (1973). Portly and ruddy-faced, with an often aggressive and cantankerous demeanor, McMillan was usually cast as gruff, hostile and unfriendly characters. McMillan's most notable parts include the borough commander in Stoppt die Todesfahrt der U-Bahn 1-2-3 (1974), a cowardly small-town sheriff in Tobe Hooper's excellent miniseries Brennen muß Salem (1979), William Hurt's bitter paraplegic father in Der Augenzeuge (1981), a racist fire chief in Ragtime (1981), a wily old safecracker in Der Pate von Greenwich Village (1984), the vile and grotesquely obese Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Dune - Der Wüstenplanet (1984), Aidan Quinn's pathetic drunken father in Jung und rücksichtslos (1984) and a sleazy high-roller gambler in "The Ledge" episode of the hugely enjoyable horror anthology KatzenAuge (1985). Moreover, McMillan was equally adept at comedy, giving especially funny and engaging performances as a baseball club manager in Blue Skies Again (1983), Meg Ryan's corrupt police chief father in Zwei unter Volldampf (1986), and a dotty senile veterinarian in Das Bankentrio (1989). McMillan had a steady recurring role as Valerie Harper's irate boss on the situation comedy Rhoda (1974). Among the television series McMillan guest-starred on are Dark Shadows (1966), Ryan's Hope (1975), Einsatz in Manhattan (1973), Starsky und Hutch (1975), Detektiv Rockford - Anruf genügt (1974), Das Model und der Schnüffler (1985), Magnum (1980) and Mord ist ihr Hobby (1984). Outside of his substantial film and television credits, McMillan also frequently performed on stage at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He acted in the original Broadway productions of "Streamers" and "American Buffalo". He won an Obie for his performance in the off-Broadway play, "Weekends Like Other People". Kenneth McMillan died of liver disease at age 56 on January 8, 1989 in Santa Monica, California. - IMDb Mini Biography By: woodyanders
