'Rest peacefully dearest': Richard Gilliland, actor and husband to Jean Smart, dies at 71

So sad. He must have been a very nice man. Condolences to Jean Smart. She's a doll.

RIP

I remember him from a show where he had a black genie. He ran around in a towel in one of the few episodes aired before the network realized a white man with a black genie might seem racist.

Aww he was really cute

I didn't know who he was...then googled. I recognize him and have seen him on tv. RIP and condolences to Jean Smart and family.

I remember him from ‘Thirty Something.’ He played Ellyn’s (married) boyfriend.

RIP

Tribute from longtime friend Joe Mantegna

Isn't brief illness usually code?

Delta Burke, always funny:

"I met him when he was kissing someone else," Smart said during a 2017 interview with Northwest Prime Time, adding that she asked fellow cast member Delta Burke to find out if Gilliland was on the market. "Naturally, Delta walked up to him and blurted, 'Jean wants to know if you’re married.'"

Joe Mantegna was also good friends with Meshach Taylor.

We lost Hal Holbrook earlier this year. RIP Designing Women guys.

Annie Potts' was nice too.

Smart said they instantly hit it off after she "lured" him to her dressing room to help with a crossword puzzle, and they never looked back. The couple tied the knot in June 1987, in cast member Dixie Carter's rose garden that she shared with Hal Holbrook.

Condolences to all . Jean Smart has always been one of my favorite actresses. Both seemed to be very sweet . R. I. P.

How classy the Designing Women are. He seemed very sweet. His scenes with Annie Potts always had a relaxed sexiness that worked well.

Who was the third one? Gilliland, Jessica Walter, and ...?

George Segal.

Sad about this, I always thought he was adorable and I loved that he was married to Jean Smart who is one of the best and most underrated actors around.

i'm sad.

[quote]Who was the third one? Gilliland, Jessica Walter, and ...?

I count Craig "MuMs" Grant from HBO's OZ as the third. He was a renowned spoken word poet in the NYC scene.

R18, me too. Jean Smart was so good in “Dirty John”. Gurl, she made me cry.

Can Jean Smart sing? She seems an obvious Joanne in COMPANY.

Wasn't Dixie a rethuglican?

Who cares?

So sad. Love them both. RIP Richards, condolences to Jean.

I'm sorry to hear this. I always liked him.

Particularly in those DW episodes where all 4 couples went on vacation together.

Sympathies to his wife and family.

I had such a crush on him back in the day. Dixie and Hal were two really sweet and generous people. I was lucky to have met them both in the late 90s. What a cast. Sad at his passing and also Lucille Bluth.

R19 Noooooooo

A sweet and generous Libertarian?

So sorry for Jean Smart...a fabulous actress and nice person.

Jean Smart is fabulous. She's so delightful in interviews. Great actress, of course wonderful and so memorable as Charlene in Designing Women. And she was hilarious winning an Emmy as guest star on "Frasier." No scandal surrounding her and her husband ever. Condolences to an outstanding lady.

RIP, Richard.

It has to be asked...Has Susan Dey sent her condolences yet?

George Segal, Jessica Walter and now Richard Gilliland. All so memorable.

RIP

So young.

Was it Covid?

He co-starred with Rock Hudson for over a season on "McMillon and Wife"....I bet he had some stories...

Did he have The Aids too?

I love Jean Smart. My condolences to her...

Gerald McRaney must be shitting himself now.

R38 Why? I'm ignorant.

R39 see r10.

He wasn't a young looking 71, r33. Smoker?

^ Endless hot sex with Jean.

[quote] Gerald McRaney must be shitting himself now.

I hope that Trumper shits himself to death.

Damn, gone way too soon. 71 nowadays is much too young to die. RIP and condolences to the talented, lovely and wonderful Jean Smart.

Yes R34, it was COVID

Yes R36, it was The Aids too

Oh and R23, drop dead

[quote]"I met him when he was kissing someone else," Smart said during a 2017 interview with Northwest Prime Time

Is she referring to Annie Potts, since they met on the set of DW and Potts played his love interest.

No: Meshach, Rose.

Until R11, I didn't realize Meshach had passed. Wow.

R48 Where have you been? It was a big deal here on DL back in 2014 because they played that "Black Man, Black Man" scene at his funeral and everybody had a good laugh. There as well as here.

Jean Smart and Lisa Kudrow could play sisters.

TK Carter, his co-star in that genie show, also left a nice tribute.

Why in the hell was the genie black?

R52 I was black, too!

[quote]Why in the hell was the genie black?

Worse yet, he lived in a 40 ounce.

Always thought he was hot as hell.

Sorry for Jean Smart - although she has a new film opening this weekend.

71 isn't when I want to go - seems to soon.

Actually r30 Smart and Gilliland did split up for a while but later reconciled.

I remember him as Ellyn's married BF Jeffrey from thirtysomething. Never watched Designing women.

Now whenever anyone dies and they don't say the cause it makes you paranoid that it was covid (Mary Wilson, Cicely Tyson, Jessica Walter)

He was a good actor. And, cute.

He had Big Dick Face.

Funny how the story of how they met keeps changing. The version Jean Smart told me was that she was instantly taken with him at the table read. She went up to him afterwards and said that there was a tradition that one of the the cast would take the guest star out to lunch and it was her turn. (There was no such tradition.)

^^Great story.

Just saw this. Very sad.

He was handsome.

[quote]Gerald McRaney must be shitting himself now.

He isn't the only one!

How sweet of Annie to leave Jan Hooks out of the heavenly table read.

Very sad; he and Jean adopted a child in 2009 who would only be 11 or 12 now.

R65, I have noticed that Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and the Designing Women cast seemed to collectively ignore that the last two seasons ever happened--you never heard them mention Jan Hooks, Julia Duffy, or Judith Ivey during reunions or retrospectives.

[quote] have noticed that Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and the Designing Women cast seemed to collectively ignore that the last two seasons ever happened

Something they have in common with the audience.

[quote] We lost Hal Holbrook earlier this year. RIP Designing Women guys.

Has anyone checked on Doug Barr??

^^Douglas Barr is still with us.

It appears he has done a fair amount of directing since the mid-'90s. In addition, in 1998, Barr started Hollywood and Vine Cellars, a small, high-end wine producer in Napa Valley.

I just love Designing Women. I have such a soft spot for that show. So funny, such likeable characters, great writing, acting, direction, etc. Loved those dames.

It's irresponsible to adopt a child when you're pushing 60. Da fuck.

This must be a Data lounge record: 71 posts and only three are snarky/mean. It's nice to see the love and care

Richard and Rock became very close while working on "McMillan". Rock loved the energy Richard brought to a role that, in other hands, would have merely been so-so.

I resented Richard Gilliland's character edging out John Shuck as Enright (on McMillan and Wife), and now I feel a little bad about that.

Oh and he was a horrible boyfriend to Ellen on thirtysomething.

But I'm sure he was a good person.

Probably.

I think John Shuck left MacMillan for Holmes and Yo-yo, but not sure.

I sense a lack of concern about my health.

He never was successful like his wife. How humiliating for him.

Are you kiddin'? Her success probably gave him more time and money to devote to his sex life. That's probably why they split for a time.

and his sex life DID include the occasional dalliance with the right guy!!

Richard was a member of my Next Door group. He didn't post very often, but he seemed like a truly nice, decent guy.

He and "J. Gilliland" offered to pick up groceries for elderly/at-risk neighbors during the early pandemic, when there was all that insanity at the supermarkets, and no one could get an Instacart slot. .

When their extremely popular mail-carrier of eight years was suddenly transferred in the middle of all that USPS michegas, their entire street/route was upset about it & sad to see him go. It was the Gillilands who organized a little "send-off" for him -- encouraging neighbors on his route to write thank you cards, decorate their mail-boxes on his last days, put out balloons, etc. (and maybe give him a tip, via gift-card). It was very sweet.

That is the essence of who Richard & Jean are! They offer help to their neighbors, and organize send-offs for their mail-carrier.

And this libretarian-thing mentioned up-thread? NO! Richard & Jean were Biden supporters in 2020. I saw it with my own two-eyes.

He also provided my favorite "when wil March ever end?" joke.

Thrity days has April, June & November.....all the rest have 31 except March.....which has 8000.

Wow. That speaks volumes about their characters, R80. Thanks.

I always thought that he was rather cute in an offbeat way...loved his smile.

Back in the day he set my loins afire.

Alright I’ll admit to being in the area but that’s all you’re getting from me!