Michael O’Neill Goes from Alabama to Hollywood and Back Home

By Alec Harvey
Alabama Living

Had it not been for a speech that Michael O’Neill gave to his fraternity, he probably wouldn’t have been an actor.

He wouldn’t have been Special Agent Ron Butterfield on “The West Wing.” Or Sen. Mitchell Chapin in “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.” Or the mass shooter Gary Clark, perhaps the most memorable guest character ever on “Grey’s Anatomy.” Not to mention the roles he’s played in movies such as “Seabiscuit,” “Transformers” and “Dallas Buyers Club.”

But after O’Neill, who was about to graduate from Auburn University with a degree in finance, delivered an address to a national Lambda Chi Alpha gathering in Muncie, Indiana, he got a call from a fellow fraternity member – Will Geer, who was one of TV’s biggest stars at the time, playing Grandpa on “The Waltons.”

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