Lance LeGault

Lance LeGault (born William Lance Legault; May 2, 1935, died September 10, 2012), sometimes credited as W. L. LeGault, was an American film and television actor, best known as Colonel Roderick Decker in the 1980s hit series The A-Team.

Personal life
LeGault was born in Chicago, Illinois to a French Canadian father and a Slavic Jewish mother. His name was pronounced in French as "luh-GO", and not as in the word "fault". He grew up in Chillicothe, Illinois and graduated from Chillicothe Township High School in 1955, later earning a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from The Municipal University of Wichita, Kansas. He was married and has four children.

Career
His first three feature films he starred in were three Elvis Presley movies, Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) in which he was a stunt double for Elvis Presley, Kissin' Cousins (1964), and Viva Las Vegas (1964). He also appeared in Elvis Presley's groundbreaking 1968 NBC television special Elvis (also known as Elvis' 68 Comeback Special), where he sat at the side of the stage playing a tambourine.

He had starred on some TV shows and in TV movies, his best known TV role was in the 1980s hit series The A-Team as Colonel Roderick Decker, a United States Army colonel who tried to catch the fugitive Vietnam Veterans. He played the role of Colonel Decker from 1983 to 1986. He also had a recurring role in the other 1980s hit TV series Magnum, P.I. as a United States Marine Corps colonel, Colonel 'Buck' Greene. His other shows include the short lived series Werewolf in 1987. In 1980, he starred with Kenny Rogers in the TV movie The Gambler. He also appeared in the other hit 1980s hit TV series Knight Rider in the pilot episode "Knight of the Phoenix" and appeared (as a different character) in the season 2 episode "Knight in Shining Armor"; and also played three different bad-guy characters in Airwolf (in To Snare a Wolf, Sweet Britches and Wildfire) as well as doing the voice-overs for the series' 1st Season 'saga sell' teasers. He also starred on the hit 1980s TV series Dallas as Al Halliday in 1989.

He had made many guest appearances on TV shows, his appearances range from The Rockford Files episode "A Deadly Maze", Gunsmoke, Barbary Coast, Logan's Run, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Dukes of Hazzard (episode "Treasure of Hazzard"), TJ Hooker, Voyagers!, MacGyver, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He also appeared in "Land Of The Giants" in the first season episode "Underground" as a police officer.

In 1969, he appeared in the UK stage version of Jack Good's Catch my Soul-Rock Othello, as Iago. He played Iago again in the 1974 Metromedia film version of Catch My Soul.

His most recent role was in the 2005 movie Tugger: The Jeep Who Wanted to Fly.

Voicework
On the Knight Rider season 1 DVD pilot commentary, creator Glen Larson mentioned that Lance LeGault had "a voice that was four octaves lower than God's." He does indeed have a characteristically low voice, if not gravelly; this trait helped him obtain roles (often) as a villain or other "tough guy". It also resulted in a side career doing voice-over work. LeGault's trademark voice was at one point featured on self-guided tour cassettes at Elvis Presley's Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.

In the video game world he appeared as the voice of Major Manson in the 1998 video game Battlezone II: Combat Commander.

He did occasional voiceover work for Burger King, lately with the new "Angry Whopper" burger.

Death
LeGault died from heart failure on Monday, September 10, 2012, at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 77, survived by his wife of 28 years Teresa, and their four children Mary, Teresa, Marcus and William Lance Junior.

Filmography

 * Stuntmen (2009)
 * The Legend of Sasquatch (2006) (voice)
 * Tugger: The Jeep Who Wanted to Fly (2005)
 * Home on the Range (2004) (voice)
 * Crusade: Each Night I Dream of Home (1999) (TV)
 * Scorpio One (1998)
 * Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)
 * Executive Target (1997)
 * Dark Breed (1996)
 * Two Bits & Pepper (1995) (V)
 * Columbo: No Time to Die (1992) (TV)
 * Shadow Force (1992)
 * MacGyver episode "Jack in the Box" (1987) (TV)
 * Iron Eagle (1986)
 * Airwolf (1984) 1984–1985
 * The A-Team (1983) 1983–1986
 * Knight Rider (1982 TV series);1982
 * Fast-Walking (1982)
 * Stripes (1980)
 * Coma (1978)
 * The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) (voice)
 * Catch My Soul (1974)
 * The Young Runaways (1968)
 * The Swinger (1966)
 * Roustabout (1964) (uncredited)
 * Viva Las Vegas (1964) (uncredited)
 * Kissin' Cousins (1964) (uncredited)
 * Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) (uncredited)