In Memory of Actor Michael Parks ('Then Came Bronson'): 7 Years After His Death

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It's been seven years since actor/singer Michael Parks, initially found fame for the classic TV series, Then Came Bronson (ABC, 1969-1970), died in Los Angeles at 77 on May 9, 2017. In the modern age, Bronson had been cast by innovative directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith. When asked how Parks died, his agent, Jane Schulman of Vesta Talent Agency said, “...life.”

Backstory

Born in Corona, California on April 24, 1940, Michael Parks began his career in the 1960s with anti-establishment movies like Wild Seed, The Happening, and Bus Riley’s Back in Town. Parks also enjoyed music and recorded several songs, including the closing theme Then Came Bronson.

In that one-season series, he portrayed the motorcycle-riding newsman Jim Bronson in what could be viewed as a single-member latter-day version of Route 66 (ABC, 1960-1964). Both shows feature cross-country traveling leads in anthology format.

More Recently

In more recent decades, Michael Parks' more contemporary performances were praised in movies like Quentin Tarantino's two Kill Bill films and Grindhouse, and Robert Rodriguez cast the actor as Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in From Dusk Till Dawn 1996. In 2012, actor-turned-director Ben Affleck hired Parks for the Oscar-winning Argo.

Parting Thoughts

Michael Parks’ agent once described him as “an actor’s actor by his peers with a breadth of astonishing range that has allowed him to portray stunning contrasts — sometimes in the same film, like in 2014’s Tusk, starring in dual roles as an erudite serial killer opposite Justin Long and as a feeble rube opposite Johnny Depp.”

Something Personal

Michael Parks was briefly married at 16 to Louise Johnson, his first of several wives, including Oriana Parks, who he married in 1997. In 1968, he had a son, James Parks, also an actor.