Lance LeGault was born as William Lance Legault on May 2, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois. LeGault grew up in Chillicothe, Illinois and graduated from Chillicothe Township High School in 1955. Lance began his acting career as a stunt double for Elvis Presley; he appears in the 1960s Presley vehicles Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), Kissin’ Cousins (1964), Viva Las Vegas (1964) and Roustabout (1964). With his tall, lean, compact build, strong, intense and commanding screen presence, and highly distinctive deep, gravelly voice, LeGault has been frequently cast as various stern and severe military types in both movies and television series, alike.
His most memorable film roles include Iago in the Shakespearean rock opera Catch My Soul (1974), evil pimp Burt in the offbeat French Quarter (1978), vicious hired-killer Vince in Coma (1978), formidable card sharp Doc Palmer in the made-for-TV Western The Gambler (1974), the austere Colonel Glass in the hilarious comedy Stripes (1981), steely prison guard security chief Lieutenant Barnes in the terrific Fast-Walking (1982) and the strict Reverend Bates in Nightmare Beach (1989).
LeGault had recurring roles on several television series in the 1980s: outstanding as the cunning and antagonistic Colonel Roderick Decker on The A-Team (1983), ramrod Colonel Buck Greene on Magnum, P.I. (1980) and rugged cowboy bounty hunter Alamo Joe Rogan on Werewolf (1987). Among the many television series Lance has had guest spots on are Land of the Giants (1968), Gunsmoke (1955), Wonder Woman (1975), Barbary Coast (1975), The Rockford Files (1974), The Incredible Hulk (1977), Battlestar Galactica (1978), The Dukes of Hazzard (1979), Dallas (1978), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), Voyagers! (1982), Dynasty (1981), Knight Rider (1982), Airwolf (1984), Murder, She Wrote (1984), MacGyver (1985), Major Dad (1989), Quantum Leap (1989) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).
Outside of his acting gigs in both films and television series, LeGault also worked as a lounge and nightclub singer (he even recorded a self-titled album in 1970). In addition, Lance did voice work for cartoons and video games as well as the narrator of the tour audiotape for Elvis Presley’s Graceland Mansion and Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. Lance LeGault died at age 77 of heart failure on September 10, 2012 at his home in Los Angeles, California.
