Acting

Douglas Dirkson

Born

1943-05-17 (83)

Place of birth

Lewistown, Montana, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

41 titles

Known for

Columbo poster
8.1

Columbo is a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective who is consistently underestimated by his suspects. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and meticulously dedicated approach often become clear to the killer only late in the storyline.

Columbo

1971

MacGyver poster
7.7

He's everyone's favorite action hero... but he's a hero with a difference. Angus MacGyver is a secret agent whose wits are his deadliest weapon. Armed with only a knapsack filled with everyday items he picks up along the way, he improvises his way out of every peril the bad guys throw at him. Making a bomb out of chewing gum? Fixing a speeding car's brakes... while he's riding in it? Using soda pop to cook up tear gas? That's all in a day's adventures for MacGyver. He's part Boy Scout, part genius. And all hero.

MacGyver

1985

L.A. Law poster
7.0

The high-powered law firm of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak handles both criminal and civil cases, usually for high fees. However, office politics and romance often distract the legal staffers from matters in the courtroom.

L.A. Law

1986

St. Elsewhere poster
5.7

St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series starred Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd and William Daniels as teaching doctors at a lightly-regarded Boston hospital who gave interns a promising future in making critical medical and life decisions.

St. Elsewhere

1982

Hart to Hart poster
6.9

Wealthy couple Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a self-made millionaire and his journalist wife, moonlight as amateur detectives.

Hart to Hart

1979

Cagney & Lacey poster
7.0

Mary Beth Lacey and Chris Cagney are teamed up as NYPD police detectives. Their opposing personalities (one is tough and the other sensitive) mesh to make this one of the great crime-fighting duos of all time.

Cagney & Lacey

1982

Film credits

2000s · 2 titles

1980s · 18 titles

Footloose poster
6.7

When teenager Ren and his family move from big-city Chicago to a small town in the West, he's in for a real case of culture shock after discovering he's living in a place where music and dancing are illegal.

Footloose

1984

Eye of the Tiger poster
6.1

Buck is a Vietnam vet, recently released from prison. He returns home to discover the town being terrorized by a vicious motorcycle gang. When the bikers murder his wife and traumatize his daughter, Buck and his friends arm themselves to the teeth and wage war against the gang to destroy them once and for all.

Eye of the Tiger

1986

Hopscotch poster
7.0

When CIA operative Miles Kendig deliberately lets KGB agent Yaskov get away, his boss threatens to retire him. Kendig beats him to it, however, destroying his own records and traveling to Austria where he begins work on a memoir that will expose all his former agency's covert practices. The CIA catches wind of the book and sends other agents after him, initiating a frenetic game of cat and mouse that spans the globe.

Hopscotch

1980

Portrait of a Showgirl poster
8.7

The story of three Las Vegas showgirls, each at a different stage in her career.

Portrait of a Showgirl

1982

Inherit the Wind poster
7.3

Based on a real-life case in 1925, two great lawyers argue the case for and against a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution.

Inherit the Wind

1988

She's in the Army Now poster
5.2

Akin to Private Benjamin, this comedy deals with the tough life of female army recruits going through basic training. Through their training they come to realize that there is more to being tough than having muscles.

She's in the Army Now

1981

Portrait of an Escort poster
3.6

Jordan West is a divorcée who moonlights at a professional dating service to make ends meet. But her secret job causes gossip among her neighbors and trouble at the real estate office where she works in the daytime, while her teenage daughter is the only one who remains oblivious to her mother's night job. When Jordan tries to quit her escort profession, she finds herself harassed by her boss/madam, Mrs. Kennedy, and then stalked by an unknown former client.

Portrait of an Escort

1980

Gorp poster
3.5

Pranksters cause trouble at a summer camp for rich kids.

Gorp

1980

No artwork available
10.0

Divorcee Susan Blakely, with no alimony and two kids to support, begins turning to amphetamines. While at her lowest ebb, she meets an alcoholic and three-time loser in marriage -- who, incredibly, turns out to be the ideal man!

A Cry for Love

1980

Angel on My Shoulder poster
6.6

A small-time Chicago hood, now deceased, gets a second chance at life by striking a bargain with the Devil to inhabit and attempt to corrupt a totally honest politician.

Angel on My Shoulder

1980

U.S. Marshals: Waco & Rhinehart poster
9.0

Two unorthodox, anything-goes law enforcement partners, unencumbered by regulations and the law, search for the killer of a fellow U.S. Marshal in this lighthearted, busted pilot film.

U.S. Marshals: Waco & Rhinehart

1987

Malibu poster
3.8

A young couple from Milwaukee moves into the fabled, high-society Malibu beach community and becomes involved with the lives of the various people living in the community.

Malibu

1983

My Mother's Secret Life poster
8.0

16 year old Tobi has just lost her father, whom she has been living with. She finds her mother's address in his papers. So Tobi builds up a fantasy of what her mother, Ellen Blake, must be like. But when she goes to see her, she finds out her mother is a high priced call-girl.

My Mother's Secret Life

1984

The Ordeal of Bill Carney poster
10.0

Bill Carney has just been paralyzed from the neck down. He has been taking care of his two sons since his wife left him. Now, when word of his condition reaches her, she wants to take them away, as she feels that he is unable to care for them. And it appears that the courts agree too. So, his lawyer, also a paraplegic, begins the campaign to take his case before the Supreme Court. Will he win?

The Ordeal of Bill Carney

1981

Streets of Justice poster
7.0

After bikers kill the wife and son of an auto worker (John Laughlin) and then get off with a light sentence in the court system, he decides to seek his revenge as a clandestine vigilante.

Streets of Justice

1985

Harry's War poster
6.2

After his aunt dies of a heart attack while fighting the IRS, Harry Johnson decides to take up the cause.

Harry's War

1981

Beyond Reason poster
7.0

An unconventional psychiatrist slowly begins to question his own sanity.

Beyond Reason

1982

Modesty Blaise poster
4.6

Pilot for a never-made TV series based upon the popular comic strip character. Adventurer Modesty Blaise and knife thrower Willie Garvin - retired ex-criminals living in California with driver Weng - first save and then protect a young computer expert from a criminal organization, led by the evil Debbie La Forge. .

Modesty Blaise

1982

1970s · 4 titles

Series credits

Columbo poster
8.1

Columbo is a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective who is consistently underestimated by his suspects. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and meticulously dedicated approach often become clear to the killer only late in the storyline.

Columbo

1971

MacGyver poster
7.7

He's everyone's favorite action hero... but he's a hero with a difference. Angus MacGyver is a secret agent whose wits are his deadliest weapon. Armed with only a knapsack filled with everyday items he picks up along the way, he improvises his way out of every peril the bad guys throw at him. Making a bomb out of chewing gum? Fixing a speeding car's brakes... while he's riding in it? Using soda pop to cook up tear gas? That's all in a day's adventures for MacGyver. He's part Boy Scout, part genius. And all hero.

MacGyver

1985

L.A. Law poster
7.0

The high-powered law firm of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak handles both criminal and civil cases, usually for high fees. However, office politics and romance often distract the legal staffers from matters in the courtroom.

L.A. Law

1986

St. Elsewhere poster
5.7

St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series starred Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd and William Daniels as teaching doctors at a lightly-regarded Boston hospital who gave interns a promising future in making critical medical and life decisions.

St. Elsewhere

1982

Hart to Hart poster
6.9

Wealthy couple Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a self-made millionaire and his journalist wife, moonlight as amateur detectives.

Hart to Hart

1979

Cagney & Lacey poster
7.0

Mary Beth Lacey and Chris Cagney are teamed up as NYPD police detectives. Their opposing personalities (one is tough and the other sensitive) mesh to make this one of the great crime-fighting duos of all time.

Cagney & Lacey

1982

Hunter poster
7.1

Hunter is an American police drama television series created by Frank Lupo, and starring Fred Dryer as Sgt. Rick Hunter and Stepfanie Kramer as Sgt. Dee Dee McCall, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1991. However, Kramer left after the sixth season to pursue other acting and musical opportunities. In the seventh season, Hunter partnered with two different women officers. The titular character, Sgt. Rick Hunter, was a wily, physically imposing, and often rule-breaking homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. The show's main characters, Hunter and McCall, resolve many of their cases by shooting dead the perpetrators. The show's executive producer during the first season was Stephen J. Cannell, whose company produced the series.

Hunter

1984

Scarecrow and Mrs. King poster
6.7

Scarecrow and Mrs. King is an American television series that aired from October 3, 1983, to May 28, 1987 on CBS. The show stars Kate Jackson and Bruce Boxleitner as divorced housewife Amanda King and top-level "Agency" operative Lee Stetson who begin a strange association, and eventual romance, after encountering one another in a train station.

Scarecrow and Mrs. King

1983

Kojak poster
7.3

A bald, lollipop sucking police detective with a fiery righteous attitude battles crime in New York City.

Kojak

1973

Gunsmoke poster
6.7

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.

Gunsmoke

1955

thirtysomething poster
6.3

thirtysomething is an American television drama about a group of baby boomers in their late thirties.

thirtysomething

1987

Eight Is Enough poster
6.2

Eight Is Enough is an American television comedy-drama series that ran on ABC from March 15, 1977, until August 29, 1981. The show was modeled after syndicated newspaper columnist Thomas Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book with the same name.

Eight Is Enough

1977

Harry O poster
5.2

After being shot in the line of duty, Harry Orwell was forced to retire from the San Diego Police Department. To supplement his police pension, Harry runs a private detective agency out of his beach house... The series starred David Janssen and was executive produced by Jerry Thorpe.

Harry O

1974

CHiPs poster
6.8

Lighthearted look at the adventures of two Highway Patrol officers in Los Angeles. The main characters are Jon Baker and Frank Poncherello, two motorcycle officers always on the street to save lives.

CHiPs

1977

S.W.A.T. poster
7.1

S.W.A.T. is an American action/crime drama series about the adventures of a Special Weapons And Tactics team operating in an unidentified California city. A spin-off of The Rookies, the series aired on ABC from February 1975 to April 1976. Like The Rookies, S.W.A.T. was produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg.

S.W.A.T.

1975

Kung Fu poster
7.7

The adventures of a Shaolin Monk as he wanders the American West armed only with his skill in Kung Fu.

Kung Fu

1972