Jerry Hardin

Jerry Hardin
Born	(1929-11-20) November 20, 1929 (age 94) Dallas, Texas, United States
Alma mater	Southwestern University Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Years active	1958–2014
Spouse	Diane Hardin (m. 1959)
Children	2, including Melora

Jerry Hardin (born November 20, 1929) is an American actor. Hardin has appeared in film and television roles, including the character nicknamed Deep Throat in The X-Files.

Hardin was born in Texas and studied acting at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before beginning his acting career in New York. He is married with two children, one of whom is actress Melora Hardin.

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Early life and education

Hardin was born in Dallas on November 20, 1929. His father was a rancher, and Jerry spent his youth actively involved with his local church and performing in school plays. He attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, on a scholarship before going on to study at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He spent several years there before returning to the United States to begin acting in New York, performing in regional theatre for twelve years.^[1]

Career

Hardin began acting on television in the 1950s, mostly in character roles. He amassed over 100 appearances by the early 1990s, in addition to more than 75 theatrical credits by the early 1960s.^[2] His television appearances include roles in the 1976 western series Sara, The Rockford Files, Roots: The Gift, WKRP in Cincinnati, Family Ties, The Golden Girls, World War III, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Sliders, and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Hardin appeared in such films as Thunder Road (1958), Our Time (1974), Wolf Lake (1978), Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979), 1941 (1979), Reds (1981), Missing (1982), Tempest (1982), Honkytonk Man (1982), Cujo (1983), Mass Appeal (1984), Warning Sign (1985), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Let's Get Harry (1986), Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987), Little Nikita (1988), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Blaze (1989), The Hot Spot (1990), The Firm (1993).^[1]

Hardin's appearance in Roots: The Gift is notable because he was one of five Star Trek actors who had a "preunion" in this production. LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation), Avery Brooks (Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Kate Mulgrew and Tim Russ (Kathryn Janeway and Tuvok in Star Trek: Voyager) were also in the cast. While the others played major Star Trek characters, Hardin had notable guest roles: Radue in Star Trek: The Next Generation "When the Bough Breaks", Samuel Clemens in Star Trek: The Next Generation "Time's Arrow", and Neria in Star Trek: Voyager "Emanations".

Deep Throat

His role in 1993's The Firm won Hardin the attention of television writer Chris Carter, who cast him in the recurring role of Deep Throat in the series The X-Files.^[2] Hardin believed his initial appearance in the second episode of the first season, airing on September 17, 1993, would be a one-time role, but he soon found himself regularly commuting to the series' Vancouver filming location on short notice.^[3] After filming the character's death in the first season finale, "The Erlenmeyer Flask", Hardin was toasted with champagne, and told by Carter that "no one ever really dies on X-Files".^[2] As such, Hardin made several more appearances as Deep Throat after this, seen in visions in the third season's "The Blessing Way" and the seventh season's "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati", in flashbacks in the fourth season's "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", and as one of the guises assumed by a shapeshifting alien in the third season's finale, "Talitha Cumi".^[4]

Personal life

Hardin is married, with two children. His wife Diane (née Hill) is an acting coach.^[5] Despite Hardin's claim that he "did my best to discourage my own children from doing it", his daughter Melora Hardin is also an actress, known for roles as Trudy Monk in Monk and Jan Levinson in The Office. His son Shawn Hardin worked for television studio NBC.^[6]

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b Lowry, pp. 91–94.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lovece, p. 27.
^ Lovece, pp. 27–28.
^ Edwards, p. 242.
^ Southern, Nathan. "Melora Hardin - Movie and Film Biography and Filmography". Allrovi. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
^ Lowry, p. 93.