George W. Bailey (born August 27, 1945 in Port Arthur, Texas) is a veteran stage, television and film actor. Although he appeared in many dramatic roles, he may be best remembered for his "crusty" comedic characters such as Lieutenant Thaddeus Harris in Police Academy (1984–1994), Captain Felix Maxwell in Mannequin (1987) and Staff Sergeant Luther Rizzo in M*A*S*H (TV-Series 1979 - 1983). He currently stars on the TNT series The Closer (He has known The Closer creator James Duff since 1972, when he was his high-school instructor in Lubbock, Texas and has also known co-star Tony Denison for several years). Bailey has a very distinctive appearance, and, having gone prematurely grey in his 30s, has appeared essentially the same age since the 1970s. As a result, he has portrayed older characters than himself in most of his 1980s roles.
Bailey went to Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur with Janis Joplin and Jimmy Johnson. He started college at Lamar University in nearby Beaumont and transferred to Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He left college and spent the mid-1960s working at local theater companies before moving to California in the mid-1970s, where he landed roles on television programs of the day such as Starsky and Hutch and Charlie's Angels.
His movie debut was in A Force of One (1979), an early Chuck Norris film. He then got his breakout role as Rizzo in M*A*S*H.
He returned to college in 1993, attending Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. He graduated in May of 1994 with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts, Theatre. For the 1999–2000 school year, he was the Artist-in-Residence.
Since 2001, Bailey has served as the Executive Director of the Sunshine Kids Foundation, which provides trips and activities for hundreds of young cancer patients annually. He has volunteered for over fifteen years since being introduced to the organization by his goddaughter, who was diagnosed with leukemia.
