Bruce William Boxleitner (born May 12, 1950 in Elgin, Illinois) is an American actor.
He is best known for his leading roles in the television series How the West Was Won, Bring 'Em Back Alive, Scarecrow and Mrs. King and Babylon 5 (in which he played the character Captain John Sheridan, commander of the Babylon 5 station). He has also appeared in several films, including The Gambler (alongside Kenny Rogers) and Tron (in which he played the title role). He has made appearances in many other TV shows, such as Judith Krantz's Till We Meet Again and She Spies. He reprised his Tron roles in the video game sequel Tron 2.0 and the Disney/Square Enix crossover video game Kingdom Hearts II.
Boxleitner has also written two science fiction novels with a Western setting: Frontier Earth (1999) and Searcher (2001).
On January 1 1995 Boxleitner married actress Melissa Gilbert with whom he has a son, Michael Boxleitner, and a stepson, Dakota Brinkman (Gilbert's son with actor Bo Brinkman. Boxleitner has two older sons, Sam and Lee, from his previous marriage to former actress Kathryn Holcomb (who is now married to English actor Ian Ogilvy). Melissa Gilbert also played his on-screen wife Anna Sheridan in the 1990s television show Babylon 5.
In 2003, Boxleitner was appointed to the Board of Governors of the National Space Society, a nonprofit, educational space advocacy organization founded by Dr. Wernher von Braun.
In 2007 he returned to the Babylon 5 universe and filmed Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, a direct-to-DVD release.
Father of Sam (b. 1980), Lee (b. 1985) and Michael (b. 1995)
Was appointed to the National Space Society Board of Governors in May, 1998.
He and his wife Melissa have a combined family; Bruce's two sons, Melissa's son and one son together.
Ex-Wife Kathryn Holcomb introduced him to present wife, Melissa Gilbert (I). He called off his engagement to Melissa Gilbert twice before they finally made it to the altar.
Wrote the science fiction novels Frontier Earth and Frontier Earth: Searcher.
Brother-in-law of Sara Gilbert and Jonathan Gilbert (I).
(September 2002) As one of eleven people, he was elected for a three-year term to the National Board of Directors from Screen Actor Guild's Hollywood Division. He received 5,569 votes.
Has one stepson, Dakota Brinkman (b. 1989).
Appeared in the final episode (episode 24 of season 20) of the epic Western TV series "Gunsmoke" (1955) which went to air on 31st March, 1975.
