Michael Des Barres

Lord Michael Philip Des Barres (aka Marquis Des Barres) (born 24 January 1948) is a British actor and rock singer. He is known for playing the recurring role of Murdoc on the television show MacGyver and for replacing Robert Palmer in the band Power Station, fronting the band at the 1985 Live Aid concert. He is also the ex-husband of groupie, actress and author Pamela Des Barres and is written about extensively in two of her books, I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie and Take Another Little Piece of My Heart. --- The only child of Marquis Philip and Marchioness Irene Des Barres, Michael Des Barres grew up in Surrey and attended a boarding school. He later attended the Corona Academy drama school in London and appeared in several plays. Married in England, he divorced his first wife (Wendy) after meeting Pamela in 1974. He married Pamela on 29 October 1977; the couple were divorced in 1991, remaining friends. Their son, Nicholas Dean Des Barres, was a contributor to the video game magazine GameFan, writing many of his articles under the pseudonym "Nick Rox,"; Nick also designed the Resident Evil film poster, and is currently a game writer at video game developer PlatinumGames. A heavy alcohol and drug abuser during the 1970s, Des Barres has been sober since June 1981. In the mid-80s he was one of the founding members of Rock Against Drugs. He later did volunteer addiction counseling and worked with homeless teens. Des Barres has also organised and hosted the annual Don't Knock the Rock Film Festival, which first took place in 2003. --- Des Barres formed his first teenage band the Orange Illusion with Nicholas Young, Darryl Read and Kit Williams, whilst they were all attending Corona Academy Stage School studying to be actors. The lineup, despite being broken up by the school's agent Hazel Malone, all went on to do greater things individually. Des Barres then formed Silverhead in England in 1972. They recorded two albums and toured the US, Europe and Japan, before disbanding in 1974. After moving to Los Angeles, he formed the band Detective in 1975. They recorded two albums that were released on Led Zeppelin's Swan Song Records label, before breaking up in 1978. A solo album, I'm Only Human, followed in 1980, with a solo tour of the US and UK. The album was recorded on Dreamland Records and produced by Mike Chapman (composer of "Mickey" and producer of "My Sharona"). His musicians at this time were the session band Zoo Drive featuring John Goodsall (guitars), Paul Delph (keyboards), Doug Lunn (bass) and Ric Parnell (drums). On the recording and in significant gigs Nigel Harrison (Blondie) replaced Doug Lunn on bass. He was part of the band Chequered Past from 1982 to 1985, which included Steve Jones from Sex Pistols, Clem Burke and Nigel Harrison from Blondie and Tony Sales of Todd Rundgren ('Runt) and Tin Machine fame. --- Des Barres has had a diverse and prolific acting career, having appeared in one or two films every year, as well as dozens of television appearances. His first film role was as a supporting cast member in the classic 1967 film To Sir, with Love playing an East End pupil who always wears dark sunglasses indoors and out, followed by a few other minor roles before he decided to pursue a career in music instead. After 1986, he concentrated his energies on acting again and was quickly cast in Nightflyers as a charismatic empath. In 1989 he played along with Clint Eastwood in the film Pink Cadillac. His lead film roles have been in Midnight Cabaret, Under Siege, Poison Ivy: The New Seduction, and Sugar Town. He also appeared in the 2004 film Catch That Kid. On television, besides the role of Murdoc in MacGyver, Des Barres was also a lead cast member of The New WKRP in Cincinnati during the 1991-92 season as part of a husband-and-wife morning team. He had previously appeared on the original WKRP in Cincinnati as the lead singer of a punk band, Scum of the Earth. During this same time, he played a gay man (Leon's boyfriend) in two episodes of Roseanne. He also played one of Darlene's baby's doctors on one of the final episodes of the series.