CBS started promoting the new arrival with the New Year’s parades. Miguel Ferrer, once the tough-guy boss on Crossing Jordan, then the tough-guy boss (or cop or agent) on one show after another, just finished up an arc on Desperate Housewives…and now he is “joining the cast” on CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles, possibly for the rest of the season.
As we said back in September when the DH arc was announced, Miguel is more than just a familiar face. He is surrounded by legends. It’s actually genetic: his father was Jose Ferrer, the first Latino actor to win an Academy Award (for The Caine Mutiny). His mother was the equally legendary singer Rosemary Clooney, and Miguel toured with her and Bing Crosby when he was a boy (in fact, he didn’t start taking acting seriously until after Crosby died.) George Clooney is his cousin. So is Carlos Campo, the first Hispanic president of Regent University. He’s bandmates with Bill (Lost in Space) Mumy. Debby (You Light Up My Life) Boone is his sister-in-law.
And those are just the friends and relatives. He also played drums on a Keith Moon album in 1975; he was good friends with the late Brandon Lee and he’s still friends with Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher). He even helped her prepare for the role, back in the Year Zero. He won a Grammy. And an Imagen. And he has been in more classic movies than most people have seen, from Star Track III: The Search for Spock to RoboCop to Twin Peaks to Traffic (for which he shared a Screen Actors Guild Award). He’s probably best-remembered for his seven-year stint on Crossing Jordan, where he perfected his gravel-voiced tough-guy-with-a-heart character that’s reappeared, in one form or another, on everything from the short-lived Bionic Woman reboot to the recently and quickly deceased The Protector. Now we are seeing the entirely dark version of the character on NCIS: L.A.
Virtually everyone agree, it’s a pleasure to watch him work. There’s no artifice, no “doing funny voices and pulling faces,” as Hugh (House) Laurie recently called ‘acting.’ And for all his history of walking among Hollywood royalty, Miguel Ferrer consistently displays an honesty, authenticity, realness that can’t be denied.
SO welcome, NCIS Assistant Director Owen Granger. His first appearance was Tuesday, January 3, but it won’t be his last. And though he may seem strangely familiar…it’s good to see him back.
