Major Dad Gets Sentimental

Major Dad Gets Sentimental

An actor famed for playing tough guys melts when Patsy Cline sings about eternal love

 

By Marc Myers in the Wall Street Journal

 

Actor Gerald McRaney, 67, starred on TV’s “Major Dad,” “Deadwood” and “House of Cards.” His new film, “Best of Me,” opened Oct. 17. He spoke with Marc Myers.

When I arrived on the doorstep of Delta Burke ’s house in Los Angeles in 1987 to take her out on our first date, I heard Patsy Cline singing “Always.” Delta had turned on the radio so I could listen in the living room while she finished getting ready.

I’ve always loved Cline’s 1963 country version of “Always” [by Irving Berlin], and so has Delta. We’re both from the South—I’m from Mississippi and she’s from Florida—so Cline’s voice reminds us of home.

I first met Delta at a luncheon about three months before our first date, and we worked together for a few days afterward on her series “Designing Women.” Though I fell in love with Delta immediately, I didn’t ask her out until after we finished filming. At dinner, Delta and I realized we had a lot in common, so a few days later I called to ask her out on a second date. We went to Trader Vic’s in Beverly Hills. After we ate, I proposed, and she said “yes.”

We were engaged for two years before we married, and during that time we talked often about our song. The opening lines say it all: “I’ll be loving you always / With a love that’s true always.” Cline sings it slower than any other version I’ve heard and pulls everything out of it. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful.

In 1990, during Operation Desert Storm, Delta and I visited our troops in Saudi Arabia over the Christmas holidays at the invitation of the U.S.O. Just after the war, the U.S.O., as thanks, presented us with special medals on the “Major Dad” set.

After the ceremony, the Marine general who officiated said the divisional band had a song it wanted to play for Delta. Days earlier, I had told him her favorite song was “Always.” When they finished playing “Always,” the musicians played “The Marine’s Hymn” and the lights came up. The stands were filled with Marines from the First Marine Division that we had visited, and Delta was in tears.

To this day the song remains special. The inside of our wedding bands are engraved with our wedding date and one word: “Always.”