Kent McCord appears in the Mark 7 Universal drama "Adam-12" as Officer Jim Reed. Mr. McCord's acting career began as a result of football. Playing on a team captained by Rick Nelson, he formed a lasting friendship with Nelson. As a frequent visitor to the studio where the Nelson family television series was being filmed, Kent, who was still in high school, was given small roles. From work as an extra, he progressed to one-line parts, and then was given a regular berth on the show as one of Rick's fraternity brothers. At that time he considered acting as just fun and after a short stay in Citrus Junior College, he decided to accept one of twenty football scholarships offered to him at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. At Utah the acting bug struck. Now he began to take acting seriously.
While making the rounds of the studios, Bob Thompson, then head of new talent at Universal showed interest. Mr. McCord presented a scene for him which led to a screen test and subsequently a long-term contract. Since then Mr. McCord's acting credits have included five of Universal's "World Premiers," two motion pictures, "The Young Warriors," and "Did You Hear the One about the Traveling Saleslady?" and TV shows such as "McHale's Navy," and "The Virginian," and an episode of "Dragnet" where he was discovered by Jack Webb. "You could put Kent in an L.A.P.D. squad inspection group," says Webb, "and I don't think even the Chief would spot him as an actor."
"Adam-12" is currently going into its seventh season and the L.A. born McCord attributes much of the series' success to the viewers liking the personal relationship between Marty Milner and himself. And, in fact, Mr. McCord and Mr. Milner are friends off-camera as well.
