Clu Gulager (born November 16, 1928) is an American television and film actor. He is particularly noted for appearing in 1980s horror movies such as The Return of the Living Dead, The Hidden and The Offspring.
Gulager was born William Martin Gulager in Holdenville, Oklahoma, the son of John Gulager, a cowboy entertainer. He has Cherokee ancestry. His first cousin was Will Rogers (paternal grandmother). Gulager served in the United States Marine Corps from 1946 to 1948.
Gulager played Billy the Kid in the 1960 NBC television series The Tall Men opposite Barry Sullivan as Pat Garrett, and played "Emmett Ryker" from 1964 to 1968 on another NBC series The Virginian starring James Drury, along with more than sixty other roles in film and television. He starred in the 1964 version of The Killers.
Gulager is the father of film director John Gulager (contest winner in third season of Project Greenlight), and is the widower of the actress Miriam Byrd-Nethery who died in 2003.
He appeared notably in The Last Picture Show along with Cybil Shepherd and Ellen Burstyn.
On Mystery Science Theater 3000, Gulager appeared in the films for Episodes #322 (Master Ninja I) and #614 (San Francisco International), and his long career in films of varying quality led the MST3K movie watchers to suspect he would turn up in other episodes as well. During the credits for Episode #814, Riding with Death, Tom Servo noted "If Clu Gulager isn't in this, it'll be very wrong!" During Episode #908, The Touch of Satan, Crow T. Robot was placed on "Clu Gulager Alert", but Gulager did not materialize, and Crow soon resigned the post.
He appeared in his son John Gulager's film Feast as a shotgun-toting bartender.
Father, John Gulager, was a Broadway actor-vaudevillian and worked with George M. Cohan.
Got nickname from his father for the clu-clu birds who were nesting at the Gulager home at the time Clu was born.
Clu and his wife, Miriam Byrd-Nethery, had two sons - John Gulager, born in 1958 and Tom Gulager, born in 1965.
Signed with Universal in the 60s as a contract player.
Revitalized his career in the 80s in scores of horror flicks that took advantage of his ever-growing wild-eyed eccentricities.
Started out in experimental theatre in Paris under the guidance of actor Jean-Louis Barrault.
He was in the Marines, stationed at Camp Pendleton from 1946 to 1948.
He grew up an only child on his alcoholic uncle's farm near Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Clu (the nickname means "Red Bird") is part Cherokee, and is Will Rogers (I)'s cousin.
