Richard Gilliland has passed away at the age of 71. Richard was most well known for his role in the 1980s sitcom, Designing Women, where he played the love interest of Mary Jo Shively. However, he had plenty of other roles throughout his career, as well. He was married to his Designing Women costar, Jean Smart, for 30 years and the couple had two children together, Connor, 31, and Bonnie Kathleen, 12.
No details have been released about his passing, other than he died from a “short illness,” pointing to the likelihood he passed suddenly.
Gilliland was born in Fort Worth, Texas, but had the desire to become involved in acting at an early age. He left Texas to study at Chicago’s Goodman School of Drama where he began to be noticed for his talent.
After leaving college, Gilliland scored guest-starring roles on a number of different television shows: Operation Petticoat, McMillan & Wife, Matlock, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and The Waltons.
He talked about moving from the theater to television with The Sport of Acting: “There was a conflict in the sense that I did, I considered myself a very serious actor and I had only done theater and stuff like that. I approached the sitcom realm way back when the same way I would’ve approached a play. I prepared. I knew my lines. I was prepared and I was quite shocked when I would find someone who hadn’t done that, you know, that you know, was kinda learning on the fly.”
Richard said that he took the job so seriously that one network executive reminded him, “This isn’t real. It’s television.”
Rest in peace, Richard. You will be missed!