In revisiting many of the television series I loved as a kid, I’ve realized that TV production in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80 must’ve been a very small world. Watch enough of these old shows, and you’ll see the same familiar faces over and over again. For example, part of the fun of watching The Andy Griffith Show, for me anyway, is seeing all the guest stars who also appeared on Star Trek. I don’t notice this phenomenon quite as much these days, probably, I would imagine, because the barrier between TV and movies is so much more permeable than it used to be, which means there’s a much larger talent pool to draw from, and also perhaps because the last vestiges of the old studio system — in which actors were signed to exclusive contracts and used in everything the studio made — are long gone. But back in the day, it seemed like I was constantly snapping my fingers (yes, I would actually snap my fingers!) and saying, “hey, that’s the guy from — !”

One of those familiar faces from my childhood is the gentleman you see above, Jeff Mackay. He was a favorite of Donald Bellisario, who created many of the most popular one-hour action shows of the late ’70s and early ’80s. Mackay appeared in episodes of the original Battlestar Galactica, Baa Baa Black Sheep (a.k.a. Black Sheep Squadron), Airwolf, Quantum Leap, and, more recently, JAG, all Bellisario shows (except for Galactica, which Bellisario produced, but did not create). He also turned up in The Greatest American Hero and Hardcastle and McCormick, a couple of series created by Bellisario’s rival in action, Stephen J. Cannell. But he’s probably best known for two recurring roles in Bellisario programs. He was the loyal sidekick and bumbling airplane mechanic Corky in Tales of the Gold Monkey (a role inspired, I believe, by Walter Brennan’s character in To Have and Have Not, except that I don’t recall Corky being a drunk like Brennan’s Eddie was). And he was Thomas Magnum’s Navy buddy Mac on Magnum, PI, a part that ended rather shockingly when Mac was blown to kingdom come by a bomb meant for Magnum that was planted in the famous red Ferrari; Mackay returned the following season as a different, lookalike character who fulfilled pretty much the same function.

With his stocky build and slightly hangdog features, Mackay was almost always the sidekick, never the hero, but he had an amiable persona, and I remember thinking when I was a kid that I’d love to have a friend like Mac or Corky. I instinctively liked the guy.

I just learned via TVShowsOnDVD.com and a Gold Monkey fan site that Mackay died last week at the age of 60. The only obituary I’ve been able to find for him is a brief piece in Variety, which notes that he died of liver failure and was a cousin of Robert Redford.

It’s funny how your childhood fantasies continue to ripple on down throughout your life, isn’t it? I used to imagine that I would grow up to be like — no, to actually be — Thomas Magnum or Jake Cutter, the hero played by Stephen Collins in Gold Monkey. Well, I didn’t turn out much like either of those characters, and I don’t have anyone like Corky or Mac in my life… and maybe that’s why I feel so genuinely sorry that the man who played them is gone, and that I’ll never again spot his face in something, snap my fingers, and say, “hey, that’s the guy from…”