Stephen Macht

A tall, ruggedly handsome leading man of stage and screen, Stephen Macht is perhaps best remembered for his TV work, which has included the series "American Dream" (ABC, 1981), a stint as the love interest of Sharon Gless' Chris Cagney on "Cagney & Lacey" and numerous TV movies and miniseries.

Born in Philadelphia, Macht was raised in Brooklyn Heights, NY, until his father's death. At age nine, he moved with his mother and older brother to live with his maternal grandfather, a men's clothing store owner, in Mystic, CT. After graduating from Dartmouth (where he roomed with future actor Michael Moriarty), Macht seemed headed for a career in academe. He obtained two graduate degrees (including a Ph.D.) and became adept in Aristotelian concepts. While teaching at Queens College, he received approval by his department chair to appear in plays in New York in lieu of publishing scholarly articles as part of the tenure tract. Spotted by a Universal Studio talent scout, Macht was signed to a contract and by the early 1970s he had left teaching and was making frequent appearances on Universal-produced TV series.

Dark, with a solid build, Macht was often cast in ethnic roles (i.e., Jews, Italians, and Native Americans) such as "Raid on Entebbe" (NBC, 1977), wherein he portrayed Yonni Netanyahu, the Israeli officer killed in the rescue of hostages in Uganda. In 1978, Macht had a big break as the lead in "The Immigrants," a syndicated miniseries about the rise of the son of Italian immigrants in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. (The role also first cast him opposite Sharon Gless, who played his society wife).

The success of the TV-movie led to a short-lived series, "American Dream" (ABC, 1981), which cast Macht as the patriarch of a family that moves to the inner-city of Chicago. The following season, he landed the role of the brother of Karen MacKenzie (Michelle Lee) on "Knots Landing" (CBS, 1982-83). The actor, however, found more challenging roles in TV longforms. Notable roles included playing Nancy McKeon's father, a man who is in denial about his daughter's schizophrenia, in "Strange Voices" (NBC, 1987). He was Benedict Arnold in the 1984 CBS miniseries "George Washington" and one of the survivors of "Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac" (NBC, 1984). Capitalizing on his onscreen chemistry with Sharon Gless, Macht spent three seasons (1985-88) in the recurring role of David Keeler, love interest to Det. Chris Cagney (Gless), on "Cagney & Lacey" (CBS). During his run on the show, he moved behind the cameras to make his directorial debut.

More recent credits have included playing an Austrian Jew who must be baptized along with his wife (Jane Alexander) and daughter in order to escape the Nazis in "A Friendship in Vienna" (The Disney Channel, 1988), a doctor helping Jane Seymour in the syndicated miniseries "Sidney Sheldon's 'Memories of Midnight'" (1991), and cult member Joan Van Ark's suffering husband in "Moment of Truth: A Mother's Deception" (NBC, 1994). In 1996, he did a six-month stint on the ABC daytime drama "One Life to Live" as Elliot Durbin, a psychiatrist and gambling addict blackmailed into hypnotizing Victoria Lord Buchanan (Erika Slezak).

Macht's work in feature films has been more sporadic, beginning with a turn as one of "The Choirboys" (1977). He went on to play a Native American who wants Charlton Heston dead in "The Mountain Men" (1980), the father of a teen who takes on Dracula in "The Monster Squad" (1987) and an evil mill owner in "Stephen King's 'Graveyard Shift'" (1990). Macht has also played Dr. Harris in three entries in the "Trancers" series.

He is the father of actor Gabriel Macht.