Local actor T. Max Graham dies

T. Max Graham, one of Kansas City’s most popular actors, died Thursday after a struggle with cancer.

Graham, who once told The Star that he was raised on a farm in eastern Jackson County and hit the road as a kitchen-gadget salesman after high school, was a character actor who excelled at comedy but could handle dramatic roles.

He once said he began his career in San Francisco in 1968.

Graham also spent time in Los Angeles in the late ’60s and ’70s and made his film debut in “Angel Unchained,” a 1970 biker film in which he played a gang member named Magician. He was credited as Neil Moran, his real name. He portrayed the factory manager in David Lynch’s feature film, “Eraserhead.”

It was after he settled in Kansas City in the 1980s that he came into his own. He performed at most of the professional theaters in town but became a local star appearing in comedies at the city’s two dinner theaters at the time — Tiffany’s Attic and the Waldo Astoria. Often he was paired with Vicki Oleson, a gifted comedienne whose small physical stature stood in sharp contrast to Graham’s beefy appearance.

Even after relocating here, Graham worked in feature films, miniseries and TV movies, often playing sheriffs and police chiefs. He played a preacher with a large appetite in director Ang Lee’s 1999 border-war epic, “Ride With the Devil,” which was shot on locations in the Kansas City region.

In recent years Graham was able to show off his dramatic abilities. In 2009, for example, he played the title role in “Galileo,” about the astronomer persecuted by the church for his contention that the Earth was not the center of the universe.

Dennis Hennessy, co-owner of the New Theatre, said there was a time when Graham’s name helped sell out shows.

“Max was really one of a kind,” he said. “In the good old days of Tiffany’s Attic, he was a headliner. People would come just to see him.”

Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Speaks Suburban Chapel, near 39th Street and Missouri 291 in Independence. The service will be there at 10 a.m. Thursday.