The first time that American actor Bruce Boxleitner set foot on stage, it was with a total of four hours' preparation. While in high school, Boxleitner was forced to jump into the role of My Fair Lady's Henry Higgins when the young man originally cast in the part came down with mononucleosis the day before the show. The applause that greeted Boxleitner's debut was enough to inspire him to continue studying drama at the Goodman Theatre. His first Broadway play flopped, but he managed to secure steady work in a series of villainous supporting roles in Hollywood. With the help of fabled super-agent Jay Bernstein, Boxleitner climbed to stardom, reaching a particularly lofty rung with his four season-stint (from 1983 to 1987) as government agent Lee Stetson on the TV series Scarecrow and Mrs. King.A native mid-westerner, Boxleitner received his formal training on stage. Bruce relocated to Los Angeles in 1972 and quickly landed a guest spot on an episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show. This earned him his Screen Actors Guild card and he promptly embarked on a series of screen tests and auditions. One of Hollywood's most popular romantic leading men, Bruce Boxleitner is know to many fans for his role as James Arness' nephew Luke in the TV movie The "Macahan's" which evolved into the ambitious series of 24 two-hour films under the title, "How the West was Won" TV movies between 1976 and 1980. He later appeared in two more TV movies: Red River and Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice. In 1980 he co-starred with Sam Elliott in Wild Times and the first Kenny Rogers "The Gambler" TV movie. Three Gambler sequels followed. In 1983, he was cast as Wyatt Earp in the TV movie "I Married Wyatt Earp". He also appeared in the 1994 movie Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone.
