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Beau Starr

Beau Starr took an unusual route to the screen. Born in Queens, New York City, on September 1, 1944, he was first known professionally as Bill Starr, a football player who lined up primarily at tight end. After playing college football for the Hofstra Pride, he was signed by the New York Jets and spent three seasons on the team’s taxi squad. He later played in the Canadian Football League for the Montreal Alouettes and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. By 1980, Starr was appearing onstage in The Set-Up at the American Theater of Actors. His first feature-film role followed in the 1982 comedy Hanky Panky, starring Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner. From there, his film work crossed readily between comedy and drama. He appeared in Carl Reiner’s Summer School in 1987, played Henry Hill’s father in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas in 1990, and had a role in the 2005 drama Cinderella Man. Television gave Starr the space to build an especially wide-ranging career. He starred in Rituals, Bizarre and True Blue, but his best-known television part came as Lieutenant Harding Welsh of the Chicago Police Department in the Canadian series Due South. The role placed him firmly within the show’s police world and became a defining entry in a career filled with authority figures, working characters and supporting parts. Starr also appeared in several made-for-television movies and in Canadian-based productions including Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye and Doc. His guest credits ranged across T.J. Hooker, The A-Team, Knight Rider, Hill Street Blues, V: The Series, Hunter, Wings, The 4400, A Nero Wolfe Mystery and NYPD Blue. Taken together, those roles show an actor equally at home in crime stories, network dramas and broad comedy. His younger brother, Mike Starr, is also an actor.