Luke Askew

Highest Rated: 86% Rolling Thunder (1977)

Lowest Rated: 9% The Beast Within (1982)

Birthday: Mar 26, 1932

Birthplace: Macon, Georgia, USA

Since the 1960s, Luke Askew has made a career out of playing ruthless bad guys on television and in films. His long hair was an anomaly when he made his first appearance in 1967's "Hurry Sundown," so the director, Otto Preminger, required him to hide it under a hat for the role. Later that year, he made an impression as the aggressive chain gang guard, Boss Paul, who roughs up Paul Newman's title character in the prison drama "Cool Hand Luke." The following year he appeared as Sergeant Albert C. Provo, in the war film "The Green Berets" alongside John Wayne. It was his role as a communal-living hitchhiker in the 1969 generation-defining hit "Easy Rider," starring Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda as two bikers crossing the country in pursuit of freedom, that brought him to the public's attention and virtually ensured his cult status. His first television role came two years later on an episode of the Western classic "Bonanza," which starred Lorne Greene as a rancher. Since then, he has appeared on many other classic TV programs, including the private detective program "The Rockford Files," the fantasy-drama "Fantasy Island," and the action program "The Six Million Dollar Man." In 2007, he took on a recurring role as Hollis Greene, the leader of a cutthroat polygamist group, on the program "Big Love," which is centered on a fictional Mormon family in Utah.