Rod Masterson

Rodney Gregory Masterson, Jr., known as Rod Masterson (February 14, 1945 – September 12, 2013), was an American film and television actor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Background A native of Alexandria in Central Louisiana, Masterson was one of four children born to Rodney Masterson, Sr., a physician originally from St. Louis, Missouri, and Elizabeth F. Masterson, a native of Jonesboro in Jackson Parish in North Louisiana. He graduated in 1963 from Holy Savior Menard Central High School, a Roman Catholic-institution in Alexandria and in 1967 from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He served in the United States Marine Corps, first as a drill sergeant

In addition to his acting, Masterson operated a Bikram Yoga clinic in Baton Rouge.

Acting career Masterson made his screen debut in the NBC television film, The Life and Assassination of the Kingfish, which aired on March 21, 1977. It is written and directed by Robert Lee Collins. Masterson was cast as Murphy Roden, one of several bodyguards of then U.S. Senator Huey Pierce Long, Jr. Roden fired at close range upon Carl Austin Weiss, the Baton Rouge physician and Long's presumed assassin, at the Louisiana State Capitol on the night of September 8, 1935. Ed Asner plays Long in the film; Diane Kagan, Rose McConnell Long; and Steven Ramay, the teenaged son, Russell B. Long.

In 1978, Masterson was cast as Oscar Weinberg in the episode "Rosendahl and Gilda Stern Are Dead" on James Garner's NBC detective television series, The Rockford Files. That same year he had minor parts on CBS's Lou Grant, starring Ed Asner in the title role, and David Cassidy: Man Undercover, a ten-episode crime drama on NBC starring David Cassidy. In 1979, Masterson played an unnamed police officer in the film Walk Proud, starring Robby Benson as a confused Chicano gang member. The script of the film was written by Evan Hunter who had penned Glenn Ford's The Blackboard Jungle twenty-five years earlier.

Masterson was cast as Patrolman Gallo in the 1984 film, Tightrope, starring Clint Eastwood and Jennifer Beck, the story of attacks on prostitutes in New Orleans.

In 1988, he played the character Morris in the two-part pilot for the Carroll O'Connor NBC crime drama series, In the Heat of the Night. In 1994, he had a minor role as a reporter in the film, Blue Sky, with Tommy Lee Jones, Jessica Lange and Powers Boothe, a drama about 1950s weapons testing in the United States.

Masterson's last role was as Ann's father in the 1998 film Dangerous Proposition, filmed in Baton Rouge. In the story line a wife tries to determine if her husband is engaged in an affair by hiring another woman to entice him into adultery and to record the encounter.

Death Masterson died in Baton Rouge in 2013 at the age of sixty-eight after having been stricken for some fifteen years with Parkinson's disease.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1979 Walk Proud Policeman #2 1984 Tightrope Patrolman Gallo 1989 Blaze Town Talk Reporter #1 1992 Delta Heat Crawford 1994 Blue Sky Reporter #2 1998 Dangerous Proposition Ann's Father (final film role)