Michael Beck (born John Michael Beck Taylor on February 4, 1949) is an American actor.
Beck was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the third of nine children. He attended Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, on a football scholarship. After graduating with a degree in Economics, he was one of 30 (out of 2,500) applicants chosen for London's Central School of Speech and Drama. Michael's stage credits, beginning with college, include: Romeo & Juliet (he was Tybalt); Camelot (he was King Arthur); and Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. Some of his hobbies are reading, listens and enjoys music, and likes to cook.
Michael is known predominantly for his roles as "Sonny Malone" in Xanadu (1980), as "Swan" in the action film The Warriors (1979), and as "Lieutenant-Commander Dallas" in Megaforce (1982). (The Megaforce role garnered him a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actor.) Beck also appeared in other movies such as Warlords of the 21st Century, The Last Ninja (film), The Golden Seal (as an evil poacher), and Wes Craven's Chiller (as a cryogenically-frozen sociopath. He starred in a short-lived television series, Houston Knights (1987), in the role of "Sgt. Levon Lundy." More recently, he starred in television shows JAG and Walker Texas Ranger.
Michael has narrated numerous audiobooks of John Grisham's novels. He has also narrated Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz; A Darkness More Than Light by Michael Connelly; State of the Union by David Callahan; and the unabridged version of Bill Clinton's My Life. He also lent his voice to the popular video game adaptation of The Warriors (2005).
Beck lives in California with his songwriter-wife Cari (they will celebrate their 27th wedding anniversary in September 2007), and with their two children: daughter Ashley and son Jesse. According to Michael, neither of his kids acts or plays football.
