G.D. SPRADLIN
G.D. Spradlin
- © Zoetrope 2000
- (G.D. Spradlin in Apocalypse Now, 1979)
Biography
BIO
G.D. Spradlin was born Gervase Duan Spradlin in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, in 1920. His parents were both schoolteachers and he graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Education before World War II intervened. Spradlin served in the U.S. Army Air Force and was based in China.
After returning home, he went back to school, earned a law degree from the University of Oklahoma, and began working as an attorney for Phillips Petroleum. He later became an independent oil producer and made his fortune by the early 1960s.
Spradlin then turned to politics, campaigned for John F. Kennedy, and unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Oklahoma City in 1965. During this time he also began performing on the local stage.
He moved to television in 1966, and by 1967 had appeared in his first film, at the age of 47, for Paramount Pictures. He appeared another 21 motion pictures through 1999 after which he retired to his cattle ranch outside of San Luis Obispo, California.
Spradlin married twice:
- Nell Hulsizer, 1944-2000, two children, widowed;
- Frances Hendrickson, 2002-2011.
He died in San Luis Obispo, in 2011, at the age of 90.
Additional biographical information is available at: 
