James Read

For the British murderer and bigamist, see James Canham Read. For the president of Wilmington College, see James Morgan Read. For other uses, see James Read (disambiguation).

James Christopher Read (born July 31, 1953) is an American actor. He played the role of George Hazard in the North and South television miniseries,^[1] and had a recurring role as Victor Bennett on the supernatural series Charmed between 2001 and 2006.

James Read
Born	James Christopher Read (1953-07-31) July 31, 1953 (age 72) Buffalo, New York, United States
Alma mater	Pepperdine University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1982–present
Known for	North and South Charmed Days of Our Lives
Spouses	Lora Lee ​ ​ (m. 1978; div. 1983)​ Wendy Kilbourne ​ (m. 1988)​
Children	3

Early life

Read was born in Buffalo, New York. His family moved to Niskayuna, New York where he and his brother William Read III went to school. He started acting as a student of law at the University of Oregon where he graduated in 1976. He studied acting in New York City and then did several Off-Broadway and regional theaters such as The Denver Center Theatre Company, where he had a couple of leading roles and spent three seasons. In 1998, he earned his Master's degree in psychology from Pepperdine University.

Career

Read is best known for his role as George Hazard in the three North and South miniseries (1985, 1986 and 1994) based on the John Jakes trilogy of novels of the same name (his co-star, Patrick Swayze, taught him how to ride a horse), and for his co-starring role in the movie Beaches (1988).

He had a recurring role on The WB series Charmed as Victor Bennett and was also a regular during the first season of Remington Steele. Recently, he could be seen as Ken Davis on the ABC family drama Wildfire and as ambassador Franklin Fairchild on the 2010 television series Persons Unknown. In 2008, he directed an episode of "Wildfire". In 2009, he performed in Better Angels as Abraham Lincoln at the Colony Theatre in Burbank, California. Since 2014, he has played the role of drug lord Clyde Weston on the soap opera Days of Our Lives.^[2] On May 30, 2018, Michael Fairman TV and Soap Opera Digest announced Read joined the ABC Daytime soap opera General Hospital on June 6, 2018, as Gregory Chase.^[3][4]

Personal life

Read married Lora Lee in June 1978, and their marriage ended in divorce in 1983. He then married former actress/attorney Wendy Kilbourne in 1988, and the couple has two children: a son, Jackson (b. 1990), and a daughter Sydney (b. 1995). Another daughter, Willa, was stillborn in 1994.^[5] The family resides in Santa Barbara, California.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Blue Thunder	Policeman at Bridge
1984	The Initiation	Peter
1988	Eight Men Out	Claude "Lefty" Williams
1988	Beaches	Michael Essex
1992	Love Crimes	Stanton Gray
1997	Walking Thunder	Abner Murdock
2001	Legally Blonde	Elle's father
2001	Not Another Teen Movie	Preston's father
2003	Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde	Elle's father
2005	A Lot Like Love	Brent Friehl
2009	Fame	Alice's dad

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Cheers	H. W. Sawyer	Episode: "Friends, Romans, and Accountants"
1982–1983	Remington Steele	Murphy Michaels	Main role (season 1)
1983	Trapper John, M.D.	Ace Bukowski	Episode: "The Agony of D'Feet"
1983	Fantasy Island	Eddie Random	Episode: "Random Choices/My Mother, the Swinger"
1983	Hotel	Pike	Episode: "Christmas"
1984	Jessie	The Streak	Episode: "The Lady Killer"
1984	Matt Houston	Fletcher/Jason Haywood	Episode: "The High Fashion Murders"
1985	Robert Kennedy and His Times	Ted Kennedy	Miniseries
1985	Lace II	Daryl Webster	Television movie
1985	Midas Valley	Josh Landau	Television movie
1985	North and South	George Hazzard	Miniseries
1986	North and South: Book II	George Hazzard	Miniseries
1987	Shell Game	Riley/John Reid	Recurring role, 6 episodes
1987	Celebration Family	James Marston	Television movie
1987	Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story	Cary Grant	Television movie
1990	Columbo	Dr. Wesley Corman	Episode: "Uneasy Lies the Crown"
1990	Midnight Caller	Richard Clark	Episode: "Nighthawk's Got the Blues"
1990	Lola	Peter Baltic	Television movie
1990	Web of Deceit	Paul Evanston	Television movie
1990	Back to Hannibal: The Return of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn	Hugh	Television movie; credited as Read James
1991	Princesses	Michael Decrow	Episode: "Pilot"
1992	The President's Child	Senator James Guthrie	Television movie
1994	North and South: Book III	George Hazzard	Miniseries
1994	Heaven Help Us	Max	Episode: "The Last Great Hope"
1995	Murder, She Wrote	Boyd Venton	Episode: "Death 'N Denial"
1995	The Other Woman	Michael Bryan	Television movie
1995	When the Dark Man Calls	Detective Michael Lieberman	Television movie
1996	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Jack Olsen	Episode: "The Dad Who Came in from the Cold"
1996	Harvest of Fire	Scott	Television movie
1996	Full Circle	Judge Carter	Television movie
1996	Home Improvement	Captain Jenkins	Episode: "At Sea"
1997	7th Heaven	Bill Sanders	Episode: "Brave New World"
1997	The Cape	Jeff	Episode: "Just Like Old Times"
1997	Diagnosis Murder	David McReynolds	Episode: "Open and Shut"
1998	Indiscret	Zachariah Dodd	Television movie
1999	Profiler	James Lofton	Episode: "Las Brias"
2000	Touched by an Angel	Nick	Episode: "Millennium"
2001	Star Trek: Voyager	Jaffen	2 episodes
2001–2006	Charmed	Victor Bennett	Recurring role, 13 episodes
2002	Becker	Dan	Episode: "The Ex-Files"
2002	Sabrina, the Teenage Witch	Ben	Episode: "The Competition"
2002–2005	American Dreams	George Mason	Recurring role, 10 episodes
2005	Crossing Jordan	Dean William Hargrave	Episode: "Family Affair"
2005–2008	Wildfire	Ken Davis	Main role; also: director, episode "The Comeback"
2006	Pepper Dennis	Mr. Brinkman	Episode: "Dennis, Bulgari, Big Losers at ACoRNS"
2008	Cold Case	Professor Robert Boreki '08	Episode: "Glory Days"
2010	In Plain Sight	Damon Schmidt	Episode: "The Born Identity"
2010	Persons Unknown	Franklin Fairchild	Recurring role, 5 episodes
2010	All Signs of Death	Westin Nye	Television movie
2011	Castle	Anton McHugh	Episode: "Eye of the Beholder"
2012	CSI: NY	Robert Monroe	Episode: "Late Admissions"
2014–2018, 2021–present	Days of Our Lives	Clyde Weston	Recurring role
2017	This Is Us	Duffy Collins	Episode: "Number One"
2018	NCIS	Alan Newhall	Episode: "Dark Secrets"
2018	General Hospital	Gregory Chase	Episode #1.14096
2022	The Orville: New Horizons	Admiral Paul Christie	Episode: "Shadow Realms"

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Better Angels	Abraham Lincoln	play at the Colony Theatre in Burbank, California
2012	King Lear	Albany	play at the Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox, Massachusetts
2012	The Tempest	Antonio	play at the Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox, Massachusetts