The whole Juice Magazine interview with Michael Des Barres is now available on my website.

Just go to:
http://www.desbarres.com
----> Interviews

To make it easy for you, here are the bits about MacGyver:

-------------------------
So you were on the road with Power Station for six months, but it was Palmer in the video right?
Yes. The idea of replacing has followed me along in my career. I replaced Johnny Rotten in a TV series. I replaced Malcolm McDowell in the last series I did for NBC. In the mid ‘80s, I got the “MacGyver” role as Eddie Murdoc and did that for six years. People still recognize me for that. The show ran for many years on TV. That’s what started my acting career again.

(...)

When your acting career took off, did you ever think that would happen?
No, it was unbelievable.

It wasn’t like, “Okay, now I’m going to go conquer acting.”
No, I never thought like that. The only reason I got the “MacGyver” role was because I arrived in a limo and they were impressed. I did one episode and then I was on the show for the next six years.

Wait. What’s the story with the limo?
I was still living the rock star life, although I wasn’t still in it. I couldn’t drive until I was 40, so I took a limo everywhere. The producers were outside the studio having a cigarette when I pulled up in my white Rolls-Royce. It was an old one with just the back seat and the driver in livery. I rolled up on the lot at Paramount and they were like, “Oh my God. Who cares if he can act? He looks great.” It’s all about how you carry yourself. So I got the gig. In the first show I was in drag, in a nurse’s outfit.

I was just going to say that I never saw “MacGyver”, but I saw that episode.
I have a three-minute speech in that show. It was very complicated dialogue. MacGyver was a guy that didn’t have a gun and relied on his wits, and I was his arch nemesis. I did the speech and they were like, “Michael, that was fantastic!” So I went to my trailer to relax and then they knock on the door. They said, “We have to shoot it again. You didn’t have your earrings on.” At that moment I was like, “What do I do?” We’re talking about faith and trust. I could have gone to the director’s and said, “F**k. I just did it. It was perfect. I’ll never get it again.” But at that moment, I went, “Oh, well.” I put the earrings on and went out there and did it better.

Oh, great. That kind of response just leads to another opportunity.
As an actor, you’re so fragile you could go either way. You have to open yourself on that level. When those moments come when you can be a man or a fragile little boy, you have to be prepared for that. The mistake becomes an opportunity to become even more spectacular. I remember walking out of that trailer. Every step was full of fear and excitement until I stood on my mark and did it again. And I was better than ever. Then I did it for six years. The studio loved me. I delivered the goods as an actor. When you’re a rock n’ roll guy, they’re expecting you to bite off the head of the director like Ozzy. I did every single show they offered me. I’ve done hundreds of hours of TV.

Would you consider yourself a character actor?
I just consider myself spectacular.

[Laughs.] Right.
Let them categorize me. That’s their job.
-------------------------

OMG..."EDDIE" Murdoc?

*Walks away, trying hard not to laugh* Sorry Michael, I don't see it...

Okay, I'm seriously wondering now. Michael Des Barres did play a character named Eddie on the "Promises, Promises" episode of ALF!

But Eddie Murdoc? I'm skeptical of this- but I have to wonder if this was actually the full given name in the script- though obviously never actually mentioned on the show.

I doubt they ever gave Murdoc a first name. It doesn't fit. MacGyver never had a first name... Murdoc was obviously meant as an evil version of MacGyver, so it doesn't sound right that they would give him a first name when MacGyver was never given one.

I wish everybody could do that. Limo to the store, school, movies.

Now I've read this, I'm beginning to wonder why they didn't do more with him if they were so enthousiastic about it. Murdoc should've showed up just like Jack. At least 3-4 episodes per season. Or the main seasons between 3 and 6. He should've had his own two-parter. Depends on the story line. In season 5 for instance he already had two appearances in Halloween Knights and Serenity. Actually he should've been in the 100th episode. Or Serenity should've been the 100th episode or they should've done something better with it and involved everyone in it: Mac, Pete, Jack, Murdoc, Penny, Nikki, Harry and maybe Billy Colton.

This marks my new 1000th post.

Actually MacGyver DID have a first name. . . Angus MacGyver, remember ? They just kept it a very well kept secret until the end. But Murdoc, I just can't see that. Eddie Murdoc ? . . . but anyway, I thought at first, he was kidding. I mean that he just threw any name up in the air just to get on with the interview. Sort of like a joke, even for him. But then I read this article, and it sounds like he was seriously saying the name was Eddie ? Eddie Murdoc ? . . ( heaves a big sigh ) Okay, if you say so, Michael .
Sincerely,
Kate Mackay

No RDA came up with that name towards the end of the 6th season.. prior to that the writers, producers etc, hadn't given MacGyver a first name.. and had no intentions of doing so until RDA suggested it.

Angus and Eddie??? Think I'll stick with MacGyver and Murdoc.

Whenever I hear angus, I think of the ill-tempered Black Angus steer my Dad raised one year. That thing was so mean, he even made my granddad jump a five foot fence one day. Angus, nope, to me that's a cow.

Eddie? What is so sinister about Eddie?

it doesn't need to be sinister.. but the names don't even work together.. Eddie Murdoc??

Even Edward Murdoc doesn't sound right.

There's actually nothing that fits with the name 'Murdoc' itself.

I saw "Murdoc" in an epsidoe of "Dead Like Me" called "In Escrow" yesterday. He played a junkie ex rocker. I think that's the 1st time I've ever seen him in anything other than MacGyver. The episode was from 2004

Michael Des Barres has been in quite a few productions besides MacGyver. You can also look for him in one of his earliest appearances in the 1967 movie "To Sir, With Love" (a Sidney Poitier classic! ) And you can also see him guest starring on such shows as Roseanne, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, ALF and Sledge Hammer! He also guest starred on an episode of WKRP in Cincinatti and later went on to be a regular cast member of the revival show- The New WKRP in Cincinatti

Well that explains it, never seen any of those TV shows except Alf, and I don't remember seeing him on it. But that was so long ago

I went to school with a guy named Murdoc O'Neill once. That works for me.

Mac
not a fan of O'Neill

do we know for sure that Murdoc is a last name and not a first name?

I still hold to the theory that Murdoc may just be a moniker he uses and his real name is well hidden, so as to avoid capture and such.

Nonetheless, if it is his real name, then I would think Murdoc is his last name- though I don't believe it's ever been implicitly stated one way or the other on the show.
However, if his full name really was "Eddie Murdoc", as Michael Des Barres says, I don't see Pete or MacGyver calling him "Eddie".

(This would apply for whatever his name was. Even if his name was John Doe, I don't think Pete and MacGyver would be so colloquial as to refer to this homicidal maniac as "John". They would probably go for a more distanced and unfeeling name- simply his last name of "Doe".)

Everybody always called him Murdoc. Just like we call MacGyver, MacGyver.

I went to school with a guy named Murdoc O'Neill once. That works for me.

Mac
not a fan of O'Neill

I never quite accepted the fact the MacGyver character had turned into Jack O'Neill, though I love SG-1, an RDA SG-1 or SGA

Everybody always called him Murdoc. Just like we call MacGyver, MacGyver.

and that proves....?

Everyone called Pete Thornton "Pete". Doesn't mean it's his last name though.

In Serenity, Penny(?) asks Mac his name and he says "MacGyver" then she asks "... First or last..." and he answers "...Yep..." - so at least at that point in time, he wasn't ready to reveal his first name, and we were led to believe he only had one name - be it his first - or last.

The character or the actor???

I still maintain that RDA would have been more convincing as Daniel Jackson and Michael Shanks as O'Neill (except, of course, for their age and physical appearance).

Mac

Me, too. I was in severe denial when Stargate SG-1 began. I didn't start watching until Season 7. I couldn't accept the fact that MacGyver was running around with a gun and cursing.

I always thought that Murdoc's first name was Murdoc or just his alias.

Actually that is the first name of my Grand father. His name was Cliff . And he was a really great guy, my grand father. So I can't imagine Murdoc as a nice guy. Even tho' he was super nice to MacGyver in the " Hallowe'en Knights " episode. Of course, then he goes back to being evil at the end of that. Like in the episode entitled " Strictly Business " he asked MacGyver ( I mean, imagine if Murdoc WERE a nice guy , he would of done this ) Could MacGyver imagine Murdoc golfing ? . . . I think not ! I mean that is just so hysterically funny. Murdoc ? Golfing ? Whether his name is Cliff or Eddie , Murdoc golfing ? Hahaha hahaha ! Tee heee ! Woo - hoo .
But anyway, . . . you were saying ? . . .

- Kate Mackay

Me, too. I was in severe denial when Stargate SG-1 began. I didn't start watching until Season 7. I couldn't accept the fact that MacGyver was running around with a gun and cursing.

I always thought that Murdoc's first name was Murdoc or just his alias.

OH MY GOD ! You have GOT to be kidding me ! I mean , it is like you were talking about me. ( with all due respect , I mean . ) Because, I was in severe denial , also for the seven years of Stargate SG-1 also. I mean, I started to watch Stargate when Season seven was just finishing. I was spending the years before thinking how sad it was that MacGyver was gone ! It was as if MacGyver was dead . I was so very sad, so very upset about the ending , and now you are saying you felt that too ???!!??? That is like so way, . . . I don't know what to say. It is so good to meet you. Someone who felt the exact same way that I did. For all that time. WOW ! And yet, when I watch Stargate SG-1, it is so weird , still . ( I be watching the repeats, and what I see on dvd . On the television, we are up to season nine. )And it is sad that RDA is left the show. But I still like to watch it, now. I am so into it. I mean the stories lead me on from one week to the next . When I say it is so weird, I am referring to seeing him with a gun in his hand. . . I heard ( and saw ) an old interview RDA did recently ( I don't know when the interview was done, but ) he said something about Wylie ( His daughter ) thinks it is weird that he is holding a gun on Stargate SG-1 . I mean, he spent seven years on MacGyver saying guns are NOT cool . Violence is NOT cool. And then he turns around and there he is on SG-1 carrying ( and using ) a gun . So very weird to see . . .
But anyway, it is so very nice to meet you . And see that you felt like that, about MacGyver and Stargate SG-1 .
Sincerely,
Kate Mackay

MacGyver didn't turn into O'Niell.

They are completely different characters from completely different stories.

They just happen to be played by the same actor. And even though it's the same actor, he looks, imho, sufficiently different enough to not remind me of MacGyver.

For me, Jack O'Neill and MacGyver are two completely different people... apples and oranges.

Or in this case, jello and tofu!

Jack O'Neill and MacGyver are definitely two different characters- however, RDA so embodied MacGyver that for me, it's hard not to immediately think of Mac when I see RDA in another role. Though yeah, intellectually you have to remind yourself that he IS an actor- and so he portrays different roles. Though there are the cases where it seems an actor plays many similar roles- I would say that's probably true of Michael J. Fox. It seems he's played a lot of either business career men or politicians, etc. They are different characters, but in some ways Spin City sometimes feels like a continuation of Family Ties. (Of course, when Mike left Spin City, we found out that there was a certain young Republican Senator from Ohio that he ran into! Ah yes- Alex P. Keaton lives on! )

Exactly, never got used to it.

Yep, I think RDA would have been the perfect "Daniel", but not Shanks as Jack

I can't picture RDA as Daniel. He's intelligent enough, but the Daniel character always struck me as too sensitive and somewhat...effeminate (no offense to those who like Daniel--I like him okay, but he's pretty wimpy, especially in the first seasons). RDA conveys a rough, rugged masculinity, even in MacGyver, so he was perfectly cast as Jack in Stargate. It never bothered me that "MacGyver" was suddenly carrying a gun--I just accepted that he's an actor with a range of characters in him and that these were two different people. I like variety, from the inventive, more pacific MacGyver to the tough, sarcastic O'Neill. It would bore me to death if he was the same character in everything.

An educated, intelligent, decent guy comes across to you as "wimpy or effeminate?"

Tsk tsk, a few years of age and a couple of "bad boys" will CHANGE your opinion