This article is about the New Zealand/Australian actor. For the singer, see Alan Dale (singer).

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Alan Dale
Birth name	Alan Hugh Dale
Born	May 6, 1947 (1947-05-06) (age 60) Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand

Alan Dale (born May 6, 1947 in Dunedin, New Zealand) is an New Zealand actor who also has been on many Australian TV Shows. He is best known for his roles as Jim Robinson in Neighbours, Caleb Nichol in The O.C. and Bradford Meade in Ugly Betty.

Biography

Career

1980s: Dale first became widely recognised through a three-and-a-half year stint playing the bad tempered and enigmatic Dr. John Forrest in Australian soap opera The Young Doctors. After The Young Doctors he was cast as the lead in the Grundy serial Possession but the series was not a success. Dale then played the key continuing role of Jim Robinson in soap opera Neighbours. Dale continued with the role of Jim for eight years, from 1985 until 1993. In addition to being successful in Australia, both The Young Doctors and Neighbours also became popular in the United Kingdom. During his run in Neighbours he also acted in horror movie Houseboat Horror (1989).

1990s: Dale relocated to Los Angeles, California where he continued his acting career. There he appeared in many well known television series including American Dreams, ER, JAG, The West Wing and NCIS.

2000s: Dale played the "Toothpick Man" in three episodes of The X-Files, including the series finale. He then took the recurring role of Vice President of the United States Jim Prescott for several episodes of the second season of 24. That year he played the guest role of Romulan Praetor Hiren in Star Trek: Nemesis.

In 2003, Dale guest starred on the FOX summer TV series, The O.C. playing Caleb Nichol, a wealthy tycoon and father of Kirsten Cohen, Lindsay Gardner, and Hailey Nichol (Kelly Rowan, Shannon Lucio, and Amanda Righetti) and grandfather of Seth (Adam Brody). The producers saw that the character had further potential, and was made into a recurring, and then regular character in the series.

After his role in The O.C. ended, Dale appeared in the second season finale of Lost, as the wealthy father of Penny, Desmond's ex-fiance, in one of Desmond's flashbacks. It was revealed that Dale's character had intercepted all of Desmond's letters to Penny from prison in order to cut him out of her life, and he offered Desmond a large sum of money to stay away from her. Desmond in turn refused and entered into a race around the world sponsored by Dale's character. Desmond's boat would crash during the race in a storm on the island. Coincidentally, Desmond's boat is registered in Newport Beach, CA- the posh Orange County township in which Dale's character on The O.C. lived.

As of 2007, he is appearing as the patriarch of the embattled business everyone wants to run on the TV series Ugly Betty. He plays Bradford Meade, the owner of Meade Publications, which publishes the fashion magazine MODE (which is actually owned by his wife Claire), and is the father of eccentric womanizing editor Daniel Meade and post-op transgendered daughter Alexis Meade.

On March 1 2007, Dale revealed his feelings about his former employers when he worked on Neighbours. "I didn't like it there, they were not nice people." "When we decided that we hated each other, the company and me, one of the things the company did was to market everything they could out of us and pay us nothing," Dale said.[1]

On July 16 2007, it was reported that Dale would be appearing in the second series of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood. [2] He is notable as being one of only seven actors to appear in both the Star Trek and Doctor Who franchises. The others are Daphne Ashbrook, Maurice Roëves, Christopher Neame, Olaf Pooley, Guy Siner and John Franklyn-Robbins.

Personal life

When he was 21 he married Claire Dale, and had 2 children, Simon and Matthew Dale. Both are involved in the entertainment industry, as a radio announcer at Kiss 100 and writer/actor/musician respectively. This first marriage ended in divorce in 1979. During the marriage Alan lived in Auckland but after the divorce moved to Sydney. Since April 8 1990 he has been married to the 1986 Miss Australia, Tracey Pearson. He has two children from this marriage as well.

Trivia

• Has played two characters who have died from heart problems: Caleb Nichol from The O.C. and Jim Robinson from Neighbours.

Quotations

On how he unwinds: "By watching rugby. Especially the (New Zealand) All Blacks. Definitely when they beat England". This comment was made for broadcast in the UK, and reported in the New Zealand Herald on 2 June, 2007.

On being a New Zealander or Australian:
"I like both places but I get a lot more respect and recognition from Australia than I do in New Zealand. New Zealanders don't want to know me at all, really. I've been Australian for 20-odd years. Everywhere I went I was the guy from Neighbours so I was Australian. Then when I came here [Hollywood], because I have a New Zealand passport I became a New Zealander again. It's odd." [3]

References

External links

• Alan Dale at the Internet Movie Database
• Alan Dale article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
• Alan Dale at TV.com
• "Alan Dale shares his Hollywood highs and heartbreak" from New Zealand Herald (February 15, 2007)
• Broadband video interview with Alan Dale, discussing Ugly Betty. at Neighbours Girls and Boys