Jerry Doyle

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

I would be lying if I said I knew Jerry particularly well. Somehow I never wound up discussing politics with him, which was probably a good thing. But there was one thing I really enjoyed, and that was writing for him. It’s odd that someone who effectively backed into the acting profession and did not hesitate to fabricate stuff in order to accomplish that (he listed a stint as a performer with the Dance Theater of Harlem on his resume and no one ever questioned it) was so dámņëd good at it. I will never forget the scenes I wrote for him in “Soul Mates,” particularly the ones with him and Keith Szarabajka, and how they just crackled when the two of them went at it over the affections of Talia (Andrea Thompson, Jerry’s wife at the time). He was always a fun presence on the set and his fellow actors just adored his company.

He will be sorely missed.

PAD

6 comments on “Jerry Doyle”

  1. I had not heard about him. Condolences to the family. I got great pleasure watching his performance in B5. From what I’ve heard he was a great guy to be around and I’d love to have met him.

  2. Babylon 5 seems to have an unusually high mortality rate among the main cast unfortunately. Garibaldi was a great character and while the writing and directing are of course important, Jerry Doyle really made us believe in this very human character. He will be missed.

  3. “Michael Garibaldi” was one of my favorite characters. Not just one of my favorite Babylon 5 characters. One of my favorite characters, period. J. Michael Straczynski’s (and yours and some others’) writing was a big part of that, but so was Doyle’s acting.

    I was on GEnie back in the day, along with you and JMS. Long before “The Gathering” (pilot movie) aired or was even in production, JMS was there telling us what he could of his plans for the series (it was quite a while before he could even reveal the name — we called it “TWCNBN” [“That Which Can Not Be Named”]). Once he was able to tell us the name and list and describe the basic cast of characters, he said that an unknown actor named Jerry Doyle had responded to the casting call, and the casting representative asked him what part he was trying out for. “The part I’m going to get: Security Chief Michael Garibaldi.”

    I only got to attend two San Diego Comic-Cons, and of course there were the two online GEnie “Tele-Cons” held in the chat rooms (which may be the first online comics convention), and he wasn’t at any of those, and I never got to attend any other conventions more major than the Dallas Fantasy Fair (which was destroyed by its founder who absconded with the funds in its final year before Babylon 5 aired, IIRC), so I never got to meet Doyle either IRL or online.

    It was only a few years ago that I found out that he had a talk radio show. I listened to some of it online, and found that while his politics were indeed “to the right of Attila the Hun” as JMS described them, he was sincere and respectful to callers, even those he disagreed with. No outrageous bombast. I wish I could’ve called in, but it ran during my work hours so that was impractical. I particularly wish I’d gotten to call him (and knew about the event itself enough in advance — I wish I could’ve gone to it) shortly before the 2013 PhœnixCon and its Babylon 5 Twentieth Century Cast Reunion panel [I did get to watch that online after the fact]). I had an idea for something he could do there that only he could do. Now of course it’ll never happen, even if there’s a Twenty-Fifth cast reunion in a couple years.

    I just looked for his final Facebook post and Twitter tweet. His second-to-last Facebook post and his final tweet were within minutes of each other and on the same subject, and his final FB post was a couple hours later and about an “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” commercial starring Fabio, posted at 5:35pm (not sure which time zone) on July 27. He was found dead in his home the following morning.

    I also found this sadly ironic 15-second video on his YouTube channel. It was from over two years and one month ago.

  4. Over on another group, there’s a Russian/Canadian/Swiss actor-dancer-producer-cameraman-whatever who was apparently slightly acquainted with him.

    {He had only just recently finished re-watching the whole of B5.}

    I told the “moose und squirrel” story. His response:

    That gag sounded so right I almost feel as if it really was in the show. I hear it and see it in my mind’s eye as well, but having just run through the entire oeuvre, I am pretty sure it was never used, but I could swear it was, if only because it sounds soooooo right. Moose and Squirrel… riiiiiiiight.

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