'Adam-12's' Kent McCord on-call for fans via GalaxyCon’s virtual Meet and Greet

If you’re curious about the career of “Adam-12” actor Kent McCord, he invites you to chat one-on-one via GalaxyCon’s virtual Meet and Greet on Saturday.

“I’ve done several of these online over the last two years and always enjoy talking with fans,” said McCord from his Los Angeles home. “Unfortunately, it’s still too risky to meet in large groups at the moment.”

McCord’s Hollywood career can be traced to his college days in early 1961 when a fellow student invited him to participate in a friendly game of touch football. The participating teams were captained by Ricky Nelson and Elvis Presley!

The informal match led to a friendship with Nelson that sparked McCord’s five-decade-long film and television career including a recurring role in “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” and most notably co-starring alongside Martin Milner (1931-2015) in the crime drama “Adam-12” (see kentmccord.com).

“I got a 5-year role playing Rick’s fraternity brother in Ozzie and Harriet,” noted McCord, who still recalls his only line — “Rick who?” — during a 1962 episode (‘Rick, the Host’). It was his first on-screen speaking part.

The popular series was produced by patriarch Ozzie Nelson, who also wrote and directed many episodes. “Ozzie could have picked anyone for the role, and I’m sure he chose me because I was Rick’s friend,” he said. “But those two little words I first spoke changed my life.”

Initially, that included uncredited roles in five Elvis Presley movies, followed by more substantial parts in film and television and eventually meeting “Dragnet” creator Jack Webb who brought McCord in to play Officer Jim Reed in several episodes of the revival series “Dragnet 1967.”

“I’ve had the honor of working with two television pioneers, Ozzie Nelson and Jack Webb,” said McCord. When Webb co-created the police drama “Adam-12” in the late '60s, McCord and Milner were hired for the leads throughout the show’s seven-season run.

"The charm of ‘Adam-12’ was its simplicity,” said McCord. “Just two cops in a black-and-white patrolling the streets of Los Angeles. The moral of the stories was simply that crime doesn’t pay.”

McCord recalls meeting Milner, some 10 years his senior and already a seasoned actor, in the Universal parking lot as the pair waited for a ride to shoot the pilot on location.

“Marty was yawning and told me how he couldn’t sleep the night before beginning a new show,” recalled McCord. “I’d had a restless evening too, so hearing that from a veteran actor was very reassuring. From that moment on our relationship was cemented.”

The series also changed McCord’s view of police, especially after riding patrol with a real officer to prepare for the series.

“Growing up, my attitude was the same as many people — they’re never around when you need them, but they’re always there when you don’t!” he said. “Suddenly, I saw the reality when we responded to a noisy party and the angry homeowner cursed the officer I was with. The hair stood up on the back of my neck, but he’d been trained to just let that stuff roll off his back.”

McCord contributed to other areas of the industry, including serving on the Screen Actor’s Guild’s Board of Directors and as vice president where he worked to help protect child performers. While his “Adam-12” role brought recognition from audiences around the world, he and Milner also inspired young viewers as well as police organizations that used episodes as training videos.

“To this day I get police officers telling me they became cops because of ‘Adam-12,’” said McCord. “Others remember how kids approached them differently before and after the show aired. Its positive impact meant a lot to Marty and me.”

Fans can sign up to talk with Kent McCord at the GalaxyCon website (galaxycon.com).

Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, in Alabama, and has written features, columns, and interviews for numerous magazines and newspapers. See tinseltowntalks.com.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Kent McCord of 'Adam-12' to hold virtual meet and greet