Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Dig a Hole: G.D. Spradlin

Gervase Duan Spradlin. With a handle like that, it's no wonder he grew up to be one tough hombre.

G.D. Spradlin — attorney, independent oil producer, mayoral candidate, and one of the few men brazen enough to dare face down the Corleone family — died Sunday at his ranch in San Luis Obispo, Calfornia. He was 90.

Born in Daylight, Garvin County, Oklahoma, Spradlin's distinctive, soft-spoken, ever-present Midwestern twang became a trademark. On screen he made a career out of oozing sufficient amounts of artful Republican cunning. So much so, I was shocked to learn that in real life he campaigned for John F. Kennedy in 1959.

Spradlin didn't break into acting until 1964 and was in his mid-40s when he joined the Oklahoma Repertory Theatre. There were a few television roles — most notably as a colonel opposite Gomer Pyle and a handful of recurring creeps on Jack Webb's Dragnet — before he made his big screen debut opposite Charlton Heston in Will Penny (1968).

The Pyle connection is not one to be taken lightly. Fred Roos worked as casting director on several TV productions, Gomer Pyle included, that featured Spradlin in small roles. Roos went on to coproduced The Godfather Part II, and he recommended Spradlin for the game-changing part of Senator Pat Geary.

Forget about Stracci, Cuneo, Bardzini, Hyman Roth, and even the pock-marked intimidation put forth by Willie Cicci: all physical threats pale in comparison to the foreboding purrs of the senator's uncomplicated delivery.

To hear Spradlin work his forked tongue around the family name is a moment to be consummately extolled. But nothing matches the bile and resentment toward the band of "oily-haired" immigrant gangsters dirtying up his "clean country" more than when Geary refers to Michael and his Mafia dynasty as, "you and your fucking family."

Other authority figures in Spradlin's oeuvre include military types (MacArthur, Apocalypse Now), coaches (One on One, North Dallas Forty), and the evangelist approached to bankroll Plan 9 from Outer Space in Tim Burton's Ed Wood.

He was married twice. Spradlin's 56-year marriage to Nell E. Hulsizer ended in her death in 2000. His nine-year marriage to Frances Hendrickson ended with his death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX5RnIBF0AM

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Centennial Salute to San Diego’s Military, East Village Block Party, Birding Basics Class

Events March 29-March 30, 2024
Next Article

Reader Music Issue short takes

Obervatory's mosh pit, frenetic Rafael Payare, Lemonhead chaos, bleedforthescene, Coronado Tasting Room

Gervase Duan Spradlin. With a handle like that, it's no wonder he grew up to be one tough hombre.

G.D. Spradlin — attorney, independent oil producer, mayoral candidate, and one of the few men brazen enough to dare face down the Corleone family — died Sunday at his ranch in San Luis Obispo, Calfornia. He was 90.

Born in Daylight, Garvin County, Oklahoma, Spradlin's distinctive, soft-spoken, ever-present Midwestern twang became a trademark. On screen he made a career out of oozing sufficient amounts of artful Republican cunning. So much so, I was shocked to learn that in real life he campaigned for John F. Kennedy in 1959.

Spradlin didn't break into acting until 1964 and was in his mid-40s when he joined the Oklahoma Repertory Theatre. There were a few television roles — most notably as a colonel opposite Gomer Pyle and a handful of recurring creeps on Jack Webb's Dragnet — before he made his big screen debut opposite Charlton Heston in Will Penny (1968).

The Pyle connection is not one to be taken lightly. Fred Roos worked as casting director on several TV productions, Gomer Pyle included, that featured Spradlin in small roles. Roos went on to coproduced The Godfather Part II, and he recommended Spradlin for the game-changing part of Senator Pat Geary.

Forget about Stracci, Cuneo, Bardzini, Hyman Roth, and even the pock-marked intimidation put forth by Willie Cicci: all physical threats pale in comparison to the foreboding purrs of the senator's uncomplicated delivery.

To hear Spradlin work his forked tongue around the family name is a moment to be consummately extolled. But nothing matches the bile and resentment toward the band of "oily-haired" immigrant gangsters dirtying up his "clean country" more than when Geary refers to Michael and his Mafia dynasty as, "you and your fucking family."

Other authority figures in Spradlin's oeuvre include military types (MacArthur, Apocalypse Now), coaches (One on One, North Dallas Forty), and the evangelist approached to bankroll Plan 9 from Outer Space in Tim Burton's Ed Wood.

He was married twice. Spradlin's 56-year marriage to Nell E. Hulsizer ended in her death in 2000. His nine-year marriage to Frances Hendrickson ended with his death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX5RnIBF0AM

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Andrew Cunanan sighted in Oklahoma City

Susan Golding away from work a lot
Next Article

Former SDPD vice chief Kenneth Moller succumbs to cancer

Did political secrets die with him?
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.