William Lucking

William Lucking was a veteran character actor who has lent his formidable presence to more than 150 film and television productions. A tall, solidly built man with average-Joe looks, he managed to have a decades-spanning career largely due to his slightly intimidating appearance. Winning his first screen roles in the late 1960s, Lucking appeared in dozens of major television shows during the 1970s and continued his run of mostly one-off spots into the 1980s, while picking up occasional supporting movie roles. In 1982, he was featured in the lauded Civil War miniseries "The Blue and the Gray" (CBS), and he remained a go-to TV guest star, notably appearing in a recurring role on the sci-fi show "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (Syndicated, 1993-99). In 2008, he finally found a regular gig on the biker saga "Sons of Anarchy" (FX, 2008-14), and was featured on the show for three years. Though Lucking's name isn't readily recognizable, his prolific career has covered enough ground that his face will ring a bell for almost any casual movie or television viewer.

A man of hearty Midwestern stock, Lucking was a Michigan native who made good in Hollywood after attending UCLA. From "The Partridge Family" (ABC, 1970-1974) to "The Rockford Files" (NBC, 1974-1980), he was featured in guest spots throughout the 1970s, with one of his rare significant movie roles in a long-forgotten adventure flick, "Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze" (1975). After his part in "The Blue and the Gray," Lucking landed a guest stint on the hugely popular action series "The A-Team" (NBC, 1983-87) and he even snagged a starring turn on the quirky cowboy show "Outlaws" (CBS, 1986-87), though the program was short-lived. In 1986, he founded the Santa Paula Theater Center along with fellow TV mainstay Dana Elcar, but stayed active on screen with guest spots aplenty. In 1994, Lucking had a supporting part in the feature thriller "The River Wild" (1994), and he subsequently cemented his geek cred with a stint as an alien on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and a memorable role in "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'," one of the oddest and most beloved episodes of "The X-Files" (Fox, 1993-2002). Seemingly never lacking work, Lucking was eventually paired with his most substantial role when he was cast as Piney Winston, one of the senior members of SAMCRO on "Sons of Anarchy." Following his long run on the show, he slowed down a bit, with a small part in the Mark Wahlberg thriller "Contraband" (2012). William Lucking died on October 18, 2021 in Las Vegas, NV at the age of 80.