Bulky, blustery American actor Pat Corley came to films in the early '70s after several years of stage character parts. He appeared conspicously (it was hard for a man his size to be inconspicuous) in such films as The Super Cops (1973), The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977), Coming Home (1978), True Confessions (1982) and Against All Odds (1984), often cast as an antagonistic athlete or a law enforcement officer. He also showed up on episodic television, co-starring as shifty baseball-team owner Ray Holtz on Bay City Blues (1983) and bumbling police chief Walter Padgett on He's the Mayor (1986). Since 1989, Pat Corley has been on duty as Phil, the affable bar owner on the Candice Bergen sitcom Murphy Brown.
Pat Corley
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- Spent three seasons dancing with the Stockton Ballet in Stockton, CA, when he was a teenager.
- Attended the College of the Pacific on the G.I. Bill, following his service in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
- Acclaimed thespian Sir Laurence Olivier once called to compliment him on his performance as Chief Coroner Wally Nydorf on Hill Street Blues, reportedly telling him, "That's the finest television acting I have ever witnessed."
- Best known for his role as a wise bartender on the CBS hit sitcom Murphy Brown.