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In Remembrance: Pat Corley
Born on June 1, 1930 in Dallas, TX, Corley moved to Stockton, CA while a teenager. He became interested in acting, appearing in numerous summer productions. He also danced with the Stockton Symphony Ballet for four seasons. After serving a tour of duty in US Army during the Korean War, he attended Stockton College. He later moved to New York City and studied under Uta Hagen and the American Theatre Wing. He later attended the Actor’s Studio. In addition to performing in several summer stock productions, he appeared in several on- and off-Broadway productions.
Corley made his film debut in a small role in Gordon Park’s The Super Cops (1974). Corley would spend a majority of his career dividing his time between television and film projects. Among the films Corley has appeared in include The Bad News Bears In Breaking Training (1977), Coming Home (1978), Nightwing, The Rose (both 1979), Night Shift (1982), Curse Of The Pink Panther (1983), Against All Odds (1984), Mr. Destiny (1990) and All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 (1996).
In addition to his appearing on nine season of Murphy Brown as the fatherly bartender who would dispense wry advice to Candice Bergen’s title character, Corly appeared in guest roles on such series as Get Christy Love, Kojak, Roots, Starsky And Hutch, The Waltons, Lou Grant, St. Elsewhere, Bay City Blues, Moonlighting, Hill Street Blues and Night Court.
Corley’s final film was Come Early Morning, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. |
Pat Corley, a character actor who appeared in dozens of films before
becoming best known for his role as Phil the bartender on the
Murphy Brown television series, has passed away on September 11,
2006 in Los Angeles, CA. He was 76.