Elliott Gould: More than Ross and Monica’s dad on “Friends”

Elliott Gould in the 1981 movie "The Devil and Max Devlin".

Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082263/mediaviewer/rm1043090432/

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Long before he was Ross and Monica Geller’s dad on “Friends”, Elliott Gould was the original “Trapper” John McIntyre; an agent of Satan; star of failed sitcoms; part of “ER”, but not the one you may think, and much more.

He has had a diverse and prolific career and, on the occasion of his birthday, it is time to reflect on “The One About Elliott Gould”.

In the beginning
Elliott Gould got his start in 1964 in the movie “Quick Let’s Get Married”, and followed it up in 1968 with “The Night They Raided Minsky’s”. He had his breakout role a year later in “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice”, where he starred with Natalie Wood, Natalie Wood and Dyan Cannon in a comedy about two couples. Gould received an Oscar nomination in 1969 for Best Supporting Actor for is role in “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice”.

His next movie was “M*A*S*H” in 1970, where he originated the role of “Trapper” John McIntyre. By the time I saw the movie, I had seen the TV show and, to me, “Trapper” John McIntyre was the curly-haired jokester played by Wayne Rogers. He did not have a big moustache like Gould did. I did like that he threw around a football though. Interestingly, I have seen the first part of the movie “M*A*S*H” several times, but fell asleep every single time part way through. To this day, I have never seen all of the movie.

For his efforts, Gould received a Golden Globe nomination for “M*A*S*H” for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

He worked steadily through the 1970s in a lot of movies, including “The Long Goodbye” as legendary private detective Philip Marlowe; “S*P*Y*S” where he starred opposite Donald Sutherland, his co-star in “M*A*S*H” who played “Hawkeye” Pierce; “A Bridge Too Far”, a Second World War movie; “Capricorn One” with James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson, about a faked mission to Mars and the conspiracy to perpetuate the lie; “The Muppet Movie”; and much more.

Dawn of the decade
Gould began the 1980s with “The Last Flight of Noah’s Ark”, which I am sure I saw on Walt Disney Presents on Sunday night. Gould plays a pilot who gets involved in adventure when he flies an evangelist, a bunch of animals, and two stowaways to the South Pacific in a B-29. Ricky Schroder also stars.

His next movie was one of my favourites of the decade.

“The Devil and Max Devlin”
In 1981, my sister and I travelled to the College Cinema in the Woolco Mall in Lethbridge to see a movie called “The Devil and Max Devlin”.

Gould played Max Devlin, a tenement landlord and despicable human who is killed when hit by a car. He is confronted by the devil, in the form of Bill Cosby before he actually became one, who offers Max the chance to save his soul.

All he has to do is deliver the souls of three young, innocent teens to save his own soul. One is a struggling singer, another is a teen who wants to race dirt bikes, and a third just wants a family. In the end, Max redeems himself when he refuses to deliver the souls.

In the case of the singer, it wasn’t Max’s powers of the occult that made her successful. She just found her confidence. In the last scene, she sings her hit single all on her own as Max looks to Heaven and mouths a thanks to God.

That singer was Julie Budd, and her songs in “The Devil ad Max Devlin” really resonated with me.

She was incredible.

It was not the last I saw of Elliott Gould either.

TV Time
Elliott Gould continued acting in the ‘80s in a lot of movies including “The Muppets Take Manhattan”.

Gould also transitioned into television, playing the Giant in the “Jack and the Beanstalk” episode of “Faerie Tale Theatre” in 1983.

He had his first recurring role in a series in the comedy “E/R” or “Emergency Room“ in the 1984-1985 season. Gould played Dr. Howard Sheinfeld, an ear, nose and throat specialist who moonlights in an ER in Chicago to make his alimony payments. Unlike a later show called “ER”, this one lasted just 22 episodes before it was cancelled.

In 1986, he was in this incredible movie called “Vanishing Act”, where police go through an elaborate scheme to trick a man, played by Mike Farrell, into admitting he killed his wife. Gould played Lieutenant Rudameyer.

Later that same year Gould was in an unforgettable episode of “The Twilight Zone” called “The Misfortune Cookie”, where he plays a ruthless food critic who literally gets his just desserts.

Also in 1986, Gould tried his hand at another comedy. This one was called “Together We Stand” where he starred with Dee Wallace as a couple with three children who adopt two more. One, Sam, was played by Ke Huy Quan, who had just entertained crowds as the boy Short Round in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”. Gould’s character was killed off after six episodes, and the show shifted its focus to his wife trying to cope with his death. The show lasted just one season and 19 episodes

My one memory of the show, which aired on Channel 7 of the peasant vision dial, was the way Sam tried to say Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it never came out right. The next day in Social Studies 30 class, Shawn Kingston, who sat in front of me, referred to that scene, imitating Sam’s attempt to say Schwarzeneger.

Gould would appear in a number of TV movies, and close out the decade with an appearance in “Murder, She Wrote”.

The years after
Elliott Gould continues to appear in movies and TV to this day.

His movies have included “Bugsy”; “The Player”, as himself; “Amore!”: “American History X”; “Ocean’s Eleven”; “Ocean’s Twelve”; “Ocean’s Thirteen”; “Ocean’s 8”; and much more. His most recent film was “You People” in 2023.

Gould has also done a lot of television work including “The Hitchhiker”; “The Ray Bradbury Theatre”; “L.A. Law”; “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”; “Burke’s Law”; “Cybill”, as himself; “Touched by an Angel”; “Diagnosis: Murder”; 17 episodes of “Getting Personal”; 14 episodes of “Baby Bob”; “Las Vegas”; “Drop Dead Diva”; “Law and Order”; “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”; “The Cape”; “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”; 19 episodes of “Ray Donovan”; three episodes of “Sensitive Skin”; 13 episodes of “Mulaney”; “Hawaii Five-O”; “Grace and Frankie”; and much more.

Most notably, he appeared in 20 episodes of “Friends” as Jack Geller, the father of Ross and Monica, played by David Schwimmer and Courtney Cox.

Gould’s most recent work was five episodes of “The Lincoln Lawyer” in 2022 and 2023.

Parting thoughts
Elliott Gould has portrayed a number of great characters from “Trapper” John McIntyre to Jack Geller. Yet, to me, when I hear the name Elliott Gould, I will always think of “The Devil and Max Devlin”. One of the running gags in the movie was that Max seemed to knick himself shaving in a different place every morning. It was a nice touch.

It just shows, Elliott Gould is much more than Ross and Monica’s dad on “Friends”.