Richard Lawson (actor)

For other people named Richard Lawson, see Richard Lawson (disambiguation).

Rickey Lee Lawson^[3] (born March 7, 1947^[4]) is an American actor who has starred in movies and on television. He is perhaps best known for his roles in genre films; he portrayed Ryan in the 1982 film Poltergeist, and Dr. Ben Taylor in the 1983 NBC miniseries V.

Richard Lawson
Lawson in Black Fist (1974)
Born	Rickey Lee Lawson[1] (1947-03-07) March 7, 1947 (age 77) Loma Linda, California, U.S.
Other names	Rick Lawson
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1969–present
Spouse(s)	Denise Gordy ​ ​ (m. 1978; div. 1989)​ [2] Tina Knowles ​ ​ (m. 2015; sep. 2023)​
Children	Bianca Lawson Ricky Lawson
Website	richardlawson.net

Life and career

Born Rickey Lee Lawson in Loma Linda, California, Lawson was drafted into the United States Army and became a medic. He served 21 months in Vietnam during the Vietnam War and was wounded in action.^[4] After completing his military duty, he embarked on an acting career. His first feature film role (uncredited) was that of a gay man targeted for murder in the 1971 movie Dirty Harry. In 1973, he played Willis in Scream Blacula Scream. His other well known roles include the 1979 movie The Main Event, and the 1984 drama Streets of Fire, where he played Officer Ed Price. Lawson's first ongoing starring role in a television series was in Australian drama Hotel Story in 1977, however, that series was cancelled before the first episode aired. He later starred in the 1980s series Chicago Story; he took the ongoing role of Nick Kimball on the prime time soap opera Dynasty from 1986 to 1987, appeared in The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd as Detective Nathaniel Hawthorne from 1989 to 1991, and was in the daytime soap opera All My Children as Lucas Barnes from 1992 to 1994. Lawson has made many guest appearances on television, including roles on Kojak, Get Christie Love!, Sister, Sister, Soul Food, The Bernie Mac Show, The Division, All in the Family and Strong Medicine.

Personal life

Lawson was married to his first wife, actress Denise Gordy, from New Year's Eve 1978 until 1989.^[2] They have one daughter, actress Bianca Lawson, born in 1979. Lawson also has a son named Ricky, born in 1992.^[5] On March 22, 1992, Lawson survived the USAir Flight 405 plane crash, after take-off from LaGuardia Airport, in Queens, New York City.^[6] During the summer of 2013, he began dating Tina Knowles, fashion designer and mother of singers Beyoncé and Solange Knowles.^[7] Lawson and Knowles had known each other for over 30 years, as she was the best friend of his late sister.^[8] As a result, Lawson stated that he had "always admired her from afar and up close too."^[9] The couple married on April 12, 2015.^[10] Knowles filed for divorce in July 2023.^[11]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	Dirty Harry	Homosexual
1973	Scream Blacula Scream	Willis Daniels
	Fox Style	Little Henry
1974	Sugar Hill	Valentine
	Bogard	Leroy Fisk
1975	Crossfire	Officer Ken Dillard	TV movie
1977	Audrey Rose	Policeman #1
1978	Coming Home	Pat
1979	Charleston	James Harris	TV movie
	The Jericho Mile	R.C. Stiles	TV movie
	Buffalo Soldiers	Caleb Holiday	TV movie
	The Main Event	Hector Mantilla
1980	The Golden Moment: An Olympic Love Story	Gene Davis	TV movie
1982	Poltergeist	Ryan
	Leadfoot	Officer Venchek	TV movie
1984	Streets of Fire	Officer Ed Price
1985	Stick	Cornell
1986	Under the Influence	Dr. Duran	TV movie
	Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI	Adam Prentice	TV movie
1989	The Forgotten	Sergeant Frank 'Doc' McDermott	TV movie
	Double Your Pleasure	Dash	TV movie
1997	Wag the Dog	CIA Agent
1998	How Stella Got Her Groove Back	Jack
1999	Justice	Gus	TV movie
	Jackie's Back	Milkman Summers (Jackie's Ex-Husband #1)	TV movie
2000	Mars and Beyond	Mission Flight Director Maynard Nixon	Short
2001	Blue Hill Avenue	Uncle Rob
2003	Black Listed	Agent Gordon	Video
	Maniac Magee	Mr. Beale	TV movie
	Out of the Rain	Donald
2004	Christmas at Water's Edge	Mr. Turner	TV movie
2005	Guess Who	Marcus
2006	The Last Stand	Winston
2007	I'm Through with White Girls	James Evans
2008	Love for Sale	Uncle Mac
2009	The Business of Show	Special Thanks	Short
2010	For Colored Girls	Frank
	Massacre	Rich Cannon
2015	Royal Family Thanksgiving	Leighton Royal	TV movie
	Royal Family Christmas	Leighton Royal	TV movie
2017	Searching for Neverland	Joe Jackson	TV movie
2019	From Zero to I Love You	Ron Logsdon
	Always a Bridesmaid	Carlton Blakeston Sr
2020	Old Dog	Curtis Winters	Short
2021	The Corner Store	Marvin	Short
	North Hollywood	Adolf's Dad
	Not Alone	Dr. James Clay
	A Holiday Chance	Garvin

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	Shaft	Don Lewis	Episode: "The Enforcers"
	Kojak	1st Suspect	Episode: "One for the Morgue"
1974	Get Christie Love!	Rick Allen	Episode: "Fatal Image"
1975	The Streets of San Francisco	Eddie Hill	Episode: "Endgame"
	Medical Center	Andy Willis	Episode: "Survivors"
1976	Bert D'Angelo/Superstar	Hutchins	Episode: "The Brown Horse Connection"
	Most Wanted	Carl Webster	Episode: "Pilot"
1977	Police Woman	Skeet	Episode: "Once a Snitch"
	All in the Family	Angry Black Man	Episode: "Mike the Pacifist"
	The Fantastic Journey	Barker	Episode: "Funhouse"
1977–78	Hotel Story		Main cast
1978	Good Times	Raymond	Episode: "I Had a Dream"
	Julie Farr, M.D.	Bert Rollins	Episode: "Old Friends"
	What Really Happened to the Class of '65?	Lt. Sawyer	Episode: "Reunion in Terror"
1981	The White Shadow	David Mackey	Episode: "Burnout"
1982	T. J. Hooker	Officer David McNeil	Episode: "The Protectors"
	Chicago Story	Det. O.Z. Tate	Main cast
1983	V	Dr. Ben Taylor	Episode: "Part 1 & 2"
	Hardcastle and McCormick	Kid Calico	Episode: "The Boxer"
1984	Magnum, P.I.	Gerald Calvin	Episode: "Under World"
1985	St. Elsewhere	The Messiah	Episode: "Cheers"
	Remington Steele	Monroe Henderson	Episode: "Premium Steele"
1986	Comedy Factory	Dr. Julius Pepper	Episode: "The Faculty"
1986–87	Dynasty	Nick Kimball	Recurring cast: Season 7
1987	Amen	Dr. Jonathan Wallace	Episode: "Thelma's Birthday"
1988	CBS Summer Playhouse	Nick Scott	Episode: "Silent Whisper"
	Wiseguy	Thurman McGill	Episode: "Last of the True Believers"
	227	Raymond Blake	Episode: "A Yen for Lester"
1988–91	The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd	Det. Nathaniel Hawthorne	Recurring cast
1989	1st & Ten: The Championship	Coleman King	Episode: "Final Bow" & "Out of the Past"
1989–91	MacGyver	Jesse Colton	3 episodes
1991	Father Dowling Mysteries	Brad Whitfield	Episode: "The Joyful Noise Mystery"
	The Cosby Show	Mr. Bostic	Episode: "Pam Applies to College"
1992–93	All My Children	Lucas Barnes	Regular cast
1993	Saved by the Bell: The New Class	Judge Thurston Jones	Episode: "Good-bye Megan"
1995	Picket Fences	Dale "Sky" Betts	Episode: "Bloodbrothers"
1996	Pandora's Clock	Captain Daniel Robb	Episode: "Episode #1.1 & 1.2"
1997	Good News	Percy Shepperd	Episode: "Show Me the Money: Part 1 & 2"
	Moesha	Marlon James	Episode: "Talk to the Town"
1998	The Parent 'Hood	T.K.'s Father	Episode: "Color Him Father"
	L.A. Doctors	Gary Miller	Episode: "The Code"
1999	Sister, Sister	Victor Sims	Recurring cast: season 6
	Judging Amy	Thomas Horne	Episode: "An Impartial Bias"
2000	Family Law	Chuck	Episode: "One Mistake"
2001	JAG	Sgt. Dan Craig	Episode: "Baby, It's Cold Outside"
	Touched by an Angel	Nicholas Freeman	Episode: "The Sign of the Dove"
	Soul Food	Reverend Bobby Baxter	Episode: "Games People Play"
	Strong Medicine	Alton Clayborne	Episode: "Systemic"
	The Bernie Mac Show	Bishop	Episode: "Saving Bernie Mac"
2002	The District	Commander Richard Gray	Episode: "Shades of Gray" & "Payback"
	For the People	Clay Portman	Episode: "Textbook Perfect"
2003	Half & Half	Ben	Episode: "The Big How the Ex Stole Christmas Episode"
2004	The Division	LaBon	Episode: "Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here"
	Dead Like Me	William Garrett	Episode: "Hurry"
	NYPD Blue	Agent Wycoff	Episode: "Divorce, Detective Style"
2005	E-Ring		Episode: "Pilot"
2006	All of Us	Luther Brody	Episode: "Like Father, Like Son... Like Hell!" & "My Two Dads"
2008	Numb3rs	Clay Porter, Sr.	Episode: "End Game"
2011	Angry Boys	Shwayne Senior	Recurring cast
2013–16	Real Husbands of Hollywood	Detective Smith	Episode: "Hook, Lie & Sink Her" & "Hart in the Hood"
2015	Being Mary Jane	Charles	Episode: "Sparrow"
2016	Saints & Sinners	Pastor Evan Johnson	Episode: "Power Is Our Religion"
2017	Stitchers	Admiral Decker	Episode: "Out of the Shadows" & "Maternis"
2017–21	Grey's Anatomy	Bill Pierce	3 episodes
2018	In Contempt	Earl Sullivan	Recurring cast
2019	Mixed-ish	Lynwood	Episode: "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
2021	Partners in Rhyme	Windell	Episode: "F.O.E."
2022	The Ms. Pat Show	Major	Episode: "Parents Just Don't Understand"
TBA	Beauty in Black	Norman	Series regular

References

1. "Richard Lawson on The Urban Roundtable". Youtube. 16 April 2013. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
2. Ancestry.com. Nevada, Marriage Index, 1956-2005 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.
3. Holsey, Steve (April 22, 2015). "Where Was the Glow?". Michigan Chronicle. p. D1. ProQuest 1683383361. Looking over a lot of the wedding pictures of Tina Knowles, mother of Beyoncé and Solange, and actor Richard Lawson, which took place on a yacht in California, it was surprising that she was smiling in so few of them. Maybe that is just her personality. But even if that is the case, this was a wedding, a joyous occasion! Lawson, on the other hand, was smiling all over the place. [...] Lawson, whose real name is Rickey Lee Lawson, was at one time married to Denise Gordy, Berry Gordy's niece.
4. Collier, Aldore. "Richard Lawson's 5 Brushes With Death", Ebony, volume 47, number 9, July 1992, p. 32.
5. "Beyoncé and Jay-Z Are 'The Most Incredible Parents' Says Her Stepfather Richard Lawson". Showbiz Cheatsheet. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 2021-07-16.
6. Kleinfield, N.R. (March 24, 1992). "Survivors of Mangled Plane Recall Fire, Water, Terror". The New York Times. pp. A1, B2. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
7. "Tina Knowles Opens Up About Dating And Life After Mathew Knowles (VIDEO)". The Huffington Post. October 7, 2014. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
8. Uwumarogie, Victoria (October 6, 2014). "Tina Knowles Talks Life After Mathew And Finding Love Again". MadameNoire. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
9. "Richard Lawson Shares A Bit On Marriage To Tina Lawson". Black America Web. April 23, 2018. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
10. Fowler, Tara (April 13, 2015). "Tina Knowles Marries Richard Lawson". People. Time Inc. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
11. Turner, Mariel (August 16, 2024). "Tina Knowles to pay Richard Lawson $300K in divorce settlement". The Grio. Retrieved August 18, 2024.

External links

• Official website
• Richard Lawson at IMDb