· Image Search

In our continuing two-part mini-series on H!ITGs! currently appearing on 24 (see also: McCrane, Paul), we point you toward the good person of Mr. William Devane, who plays James Heller, father of Audrey Raines, Secretary of Defense, and audacious neck-puncher to Jack Bauer, last seen sailing off a cliff (!) to his death (?) or not (!?!).

What can we say about William Devane, who's such a classic H!ITG! that he should be named Hey! It's That Devane!

Has he appeared in multiple movies playing similar parts? Check. (Secretary of State Berryhill in The West Wing; President Hayes in Stargate SG-1; "The Lawyer" in McCabe & Mrs. Miller.) Does he have one iconic role with which he'll always be associated? Check. (Gregory Sumner on Knots Landing, 1983 to 1993.) Did he ever play Al Capone? Check. (Lois & Clark, 1994.)

In fact, he's so familiar, so reliable, so damned worn-sweater comfortable that when Devane showed up this season to aid Jack Bauer on 24 (STOP READING NOW IF YOU'RE BEHIND IN YOUR VIEWING), you honestly did feel like everything was going to be okay, even though there were, like, seven hours left in the day. (Time for a catnap, perhaps?) That is, until he punched Jack in the neck then decided to confront the President himself, screwed it up, and then wound up driving himself off a cliff so that he couldn't be used to blackmail his daughter. Then it turned out he's not really dead. Maybe.

Of course, dead or not, Devane will never disappear - one character can drive off a cliff, but there will always be another movie in need of a stern authoritarian with clipped grey hair, looking both grizzled and wise. In need, in other words, of what we like to call a little Devane Intervention.

Amen.