Robert Ginty

Robert Winthrop Ginty (November 14, 1948 – September 21, 2009) was an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and director. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Ginty took interest in the arts at a young age and went on to study acting at Yale University. Ginty worked in theatre until he moved to Hollywood in the mid-1970s. He started to play supporting roles on television and films, most notably a recurring role on the series The Paper Chase and two Hal Ashby films: Bound for Glory (1976) and Coming Home (1978). Ginty became an action film lead with his breakthrough role in James Glickenhaus's vigilante film The Exterminator (1980), which became a box-office success. Up to the early 1990s Ginty acted in action oriented films such as The Act (1982), White Fire (1985), Mission Kill (1986), Programmed to Kill (1987), Out On Bail (1989). He also directed and starred in The Bounty Hunter (1989), Vietnam, Texas (1990) and Lady Dragon (1992). In the 1990s, Ginty focused on directing episodic television, including China Beach (1988), Xena: Warrior Princess (1995), Nash Bridges (1996), Charmed (1998), Tracker (2001), etc. In the last decade of his life, Ginty, who died in 2009, became a theatre director and an artist in residence at Harvard University.