Growing up in Long Beach, Long Island during the 1950s was a magical time for Jim McMullan. His fondest memories revolved around his friends, sports and making things. He was always creating something, inventing something, building something. That explains why he went off to college to learn more about art, design and architecture.
He studied Industrial Design at New York University and Parsons School of Design for a year before enrolling in Kansas University's School of Architecture. For five years he involved himself in the arts: design, sculpture, art history and even theatre. After a girlfriend coaxed him into playing the lead in a college production of "Desire Under The Elms" by Eugene O'Neill, he spent much of his free time learning the craft of acting.
Jim graduated from the University of Kansas in 1961 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. On a whim he went to Hollywood in 1961 to visit a friend and, through a chance meeting with playwright William Inge, he was given a screen test for Sam Peckinpah's Coups de feu dans la Sierra (1962) (Peckinpah also directed the screen test). The test was sent to Universal Pictures, which put him under a seven-year contract, the start of a successful 30-year film career. During his four-year stay at Universal he made many TV pilots and starred opposite James Stewart as his son in the classic Les prairies de l'honneur (1965). After leaving Universal he was given the co-lead for eight weeks opposite Vince Edwards in the series Ben Casey (1961). Jim has had the lead in a few series, such as S.O.S. hélico (1974), Beyond Westworld (1980), Les feux de l'amour (1973) and most notably had a recurring role on the popular nighttime soap Dallas (1978) as Sen. Dowling, a part that lasted for 18 weeks. In 1970 he co-starred with Robert Redford and Gene Hackman in La descente infernale (1969).
Jim has been a respected and highly recognizable actor and for the past 40 years has appeared in hundreds of TV series, movies and commercials. His many feature film credits include The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) and Extreme Close-Up (1973). He has guest-starred in over 150 TV shows including MacGyver (1985), Docteur Doogie (1989), L'homme qui valait 3 milliards (1974), Sur la piste du crime (1965), Deux cent dollars plus les frais (1974), Pour l'amour du risque (1979), L'agence tous risques (1983), Comment se débarrasser de son patron (1982), Stowaway to the Moon (1975), Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas (1977), Colorado (1978) and Le détournement du vol 847 (1988).
A few years ago Jim's career expanded into book writing with his highly acclaimed coffee-table book (co-written with Richard Gautier) "Actors As Artists", a tribute to 77 stars of stage and screen who are gifted visual artists. James Stewart sparked the idea for the book when Jim discovered that Stewart, like himself, had a degree in Architecture.
Jim just recently returned from France after playing the role of Buffalo Bill for four years (1998-2002) in the "Buffalo Bill Wild West Show", a 1000-seat dinner theater production, just outside of Disneyland Paris.
Jim now lives in a small town on the New Jersey shore with his wife Helene. They just completed a 4,000-mile, nine-month sailing adventure from New Jersey to Key West, Florida, and back.
