The “Golden Hits From The 70s” 

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MICHAEL PARKS

LONG LONESOME HIGHWAY

(James Hendricks)

MGM 14104

No. 20   April 18, 1970

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With an eye to the success of Easy Rider, NBC con­structed a TV series about a youth, his motorcycle,

and the search for the meaning of life.   Each week for a year, America watched stone-faced, alienated

Jim Bronson as he moved about meeting faces and places and doing his thing,  man.   While the series–

“Then Came Bron­son”–was warm, Mike had MGM Records issue his “Long Lonesome Highway.”   When

the series left the scene, so did Mike’s singing career.

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Born a truck driving man’s son, on April 4, 1938, in Corona, California, Michael’s real life was much like

that of Jim Bronson.   As a teen, he left home and took up odd jobs trying to get a fix on his place in the

universe and a spot on the mammoth movie screen.   During the ’60s, he guested as off-beat characters

on TV shows like “The Asphalt Jungle,” “Bus Stop,” and “The Detectives.”   In 1966, Mike played the

nudie role of Adam in John Huston’s The Bible.   Other movie roles followed: The Happening (1967), The

Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977), The Evictors (1979), The Return of Josey Wales (1986), The

Hit Man (1991), Caged Fury (1990); the lat­ter he co-associated produced.   In 1980, he did some

episodes for a TV pilot called “Reward.”   The program was to be about an alienated cop.   But alienation

was no longer hip, and the series was shelved.   For two sea­sons–the fall of ’85, through the spring of ’87-

-Parks was the brother of Jeff Colby, the main player in the “Dynasty” spin-off series “The Colbys.”