James Christopher Read (born July 31, 1953) is an American actor. He played the role of George Hazard in the ''North and South'' television miniseries, and had a recurring role as Victor Bennett on the supernatural series '' Charmed'' between 2001 and 2006.

Early life

Read was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. He started acting as a student of law at the University of Oregon where he graduated in 1976. He studied acting in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and then did several

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

and

regional theaters In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

such as '' The Denver Center Theatre Company'', where he had a couple of leading roles and spent three seasons. In 1998, he earned his

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

from Pepperdine University.

Career

Read is best known for his role as George Hazard in the three '' North and South'' miniseries (1985, 1986 and 1994) based on the John Jakes

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wo ...

of novels of the same name (his co-star, Patrick Swayze, taught him how to ride a horse), and for his co-starring role in the movie '' Beaches'' (1988). He had a recurring role on

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on terrestrial television, broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture be ...

series '' Charmed'' as Victor Bennett and was also a regular during the first season of '' Remington Steele''. Recently, he could be seen as Ken Davis on the ABC family drama ''

Wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

'' and as ambassador Franklin Fairchild on the 2010 television series '' Persons Unknown''. In 2008, he directed an episode of "Wildfire". In 2009, he performed in ''Better Angels'' as

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

at the Colony Theatre in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, wh ...

. Since 2014, he has played the role of drug lord Clyde Weston on the soap opera ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. The soap, which aired on ...

''. On May 30, 2018, Michael Fairman TV and Soap Opera Digest announced Read joined the ABC Daytime

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

'' General Hospital'' on June 6, 2018, as Gregory Chase.

Personal life

Read married Lora Lee in June 1978, and their marriage ended in divorce in 1983. He then married former actress/attorney Wendy Kilbourne in 1988, and the couple has three children: a son, Jackson (b. 1990), and two daughters Willa (b. 1994; stillborn) and Sydney (b. 1995). The family resides in Santa Barbara, California.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theater

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Read, James 1953 births Living people American male film actors American male television actors American male stage actors Male actors from Buffalo, New York Male actors from Santa Barbara, California University of Oregon alumni Pepperdine University alumni