James Gammon Movies and Career Information

James Richard Gammon (April 20, 1940 – July 16, 2010) was an American actor, known for playing grizzled "good ol' boy" types in numerous movies and television shows. He is best-known for his portrayal of the character Nick Bridges on the television series Nash Bridges, appearing in the Police procedural from 1996 to 2001. Gammon was born in Newman, Illinois, the son of Doris Latimer (née Toppe), a farm girl, and Donald Gammon, a musician. After his parents divorced and he bounced around home to home, he made his way to Orlando, Florida. He worked at Orlando's ABC TV affiliate WLOF Channel 9 as a cameraman and director. In his 20s, he packed up and moved to Hollywood to try and find work. His early television credits include appearing twice as Deputy Virgil Bramley in the NBC western series The Road West in the 1966–1967 season, which co-starred Barry Sullivan, Andrew Prine, and Glenn Corbett. In the 1970s, he helped found the Met Theatre in Los Angeles. While performing there, a rep from The Public Theater saw him and had him cast as Weston in Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class in 1978. The two would become friends afterwords. He made his sole Broadway appearance as "Dodge"