Joel Dee "Jody" McCrea (September 6, 1934 – April 4, 2009) was an American actor. He was the son of actors Joel McCrea and Frances Dee.
Career
McCrea had small roles in his father's film, Wichita (1955). He was also in Lucy Gallant (1955). While still at UCLA he had the lead role in Johnny Moccasin (1956), a half hour film made for television by Laslo Benedek as a white boy raised by Indians after a massacre.[1] McCrea followed this with a good supporting role in a feature starring his father, The First Texan (1956).
In 1959, McCrea costarred with his father in the short-lived NBC western Wichita Town, set in Wichita, Kansas. Joel McCrea appeared as Marshal Mike Dunbar. Jody McCrea did not portray the role of Joel's son on the program but as the deputy marshal, Ben Matheson.[5]
1960s roles
McCrea had a small role in All Hands on Deck (1961) and could be seen in the episode, "The Wrestler" on the
ABCsituation comedy, Guestward Ho!, starring Joanne Dru. He toured the country with The Tiger a production from Moral Rearmament.[6] He did The Moon is Blue and Look Homeward Angel in stock.[7]
In the early 1960s, McCrea guest starred on the CBS game program, I've Got a Secret with Garry Moore. His appearance was part of a group of entertainers related to famous Hollywood personalities.
When cast in the beach pictures, he realized his comedic potential. When first offered the role of Deadhead, for example, he was quoted at the time as saying that he "wasn't sure what the character would become". McCrea felt that the audience enjoyed Deadhead as they felt superior to him.[8]
McCrea was an avid body builder, and the only actor appearing in the American International Pictures beach movies who could surf.
He recorded a 45 rpm single in 1964 for Canjo Records to coincide with the film Bikini Beach (side A: "Chicken Surfer"/Side B: "Looney Gooney Bird"). He also wrote a script titled Stage to Nowhere[10] which appears not to have been made.
McCrea had a small part in Young Fury (1965) and played Lieutenant Brannin, a cocky cavalry officer based loosely on George Armstrong Custer, in Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee (1965), but his scene was deleted from the final cut. He also appeared in Wagon Train ("The Betsy Blee Smith Story"), then returned to AIP beach movies with Beach Blanket Bingo (1965). McCrea played Bonehead, again the same character – but it was his biggest role in the series, having a romance with a mermaid.
McCrea starred in a Western Cry Blood, Apache (1970) which he also produced. He retired after November Children (1972).
Personal Life and Death
McCrea was married to the former Dusty Ironwing from 1976 until her death in 1996.[12] He raised her children, David Ironwing and Jaquet Ironwing, as his own.[citation needed]
After retiring from films he became a rancher in Roswell, New Mexico, but came out of retirement to appear in 1981 in Lady Street Fighter.[citation needed]
He died in 2009 of a heart attack at the age of 74. [13]
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