A highly engaging, charismatic, and reliable character actor with a long and distinguished career spanning half a century, Jerry Hardin has been gracing both the big and small screen, and stage, with many enjoyable performances, highlighted by a relaxed and pleasing Southern twang. Born November 20, 1929, in Dallas, Texas, where his father was a rancher, Hardin was raised outside the city, where he first began acting in school productions. This would lead to a scholarship to Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and a Fulbright scholarship to the Royal Academy for Dramatic Art in London. He had his first was chief operating officer, in-charge-of product, for NBC-1 in San Francisco.
Father of the actress Melora Hardin and the producer Shawn Hardin.
Has 3 granddaughters: Piper Quincey Jackson and Rory Jackson (daughters of Melora Hardin ) and Cleo (daughter of Shawn Hardin ).
Father-in-law of Gildart Jackson and Kara Meyers.
Like his daughter Melora Hardin , he has made guest appearances on "Little House on the Prairie" , "Murder, She Wrote" , "Matlock" , "Quantum Leap" , "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" and "The Division" .
Jerry Waynn Hardins great-grandfather (on his mothers side) was Adolph Stagg (1834-1914) who was a private in the 2nd Louisiana Cavalry (Confederate) during the American Civil War (1861-1865). His parents were Jerry Lee Hardin and Ultima Stagg.
He worked with Peter Coyote in Heartbreakers . Coyote later played DA Jerry Hardin in "Law & Order: Los Angeles" .
