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Bill Smitrovich

Billsmitrovich

Miami Vice Characters
Born
May 16, 1947 (age 77)
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Active
1982-present
Spouse/Children
Shaw Purnell (1985-present), two children


William Stanley "Bill" Smitrowicz (born May 16, 1947) is an American actor. He appeared in the show Miami Vice as Scottie Wheeler, DEA agent, Crockett's former partner, and Calderone informant in the episode "Brother's Keeper" and as Miami DEA Commander Burr in the episode "The Prodigal Son".

Early Life/Career[]

Smitrovich was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Anna (Wojna) and Stanley William Zmitrowicz, a tool and die maker. He graduated from University of Bridgeport, then earned his Masters degree from Smith College and later taught acting at the University of Massachusetts. Later he went into theatre, appearing in numerous plays in the 1970s. In the 1980s he jumped to the small screen in the TV movie Muggable Mary, Street Cop, then the big screen in A Little Sex, and then other TV and movie roles followed.

After working with Michael Mann on Vice, Smitrovich joined some of Mann's other projects, including the movie Manhunter (with Garcelle Beauvais, Bill Cwikowski, Chris Elliott, Dennis Farina, Kim Griest, Michele Shay, Jim Zubiena and Michael Talbott), and his other police drama Crime Story, where he played Detective Danny Krychek for the series run. He also appeared in Mann's Robbery Homicide Edition in 2002. In 1989, he starred in the family drama Life Goes On as the patriarch of the Thacher family, Drew, and remained for the entire series run. He later appeared in the series Millenium and then appeared on Don Johnson's Nash Bridges for three episodes before extended runs on the series' A Nero Wolfe Mystery, The Practice, and Without A Trace. His most recent TV roles were in a 2013 episode of Californication (with Evan Handler), a 2014 episode of Intelligence (with Tomas Arana), Two and a Half Men, and six episodes of the cable TV series The Last Ship. His most recent movie roles were in The Rum Diary (with Richard Jenkins), Ted, and its' sequel, Ted 2 (with Liam Neeson), and Valley of Bones. His recent TV appearances include Designated Survivor and in reboots of two 80s TV series, Dynasty and Magnum, P.I..

Personal life[]

Smitrovitch married Shaw Purnell in 1985 and has a son, Alexander John, and a daughter Maya Christina.

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