Ben McCain (born 25 June 1955) is an American actor, broadcaster, producer and one half of The McCain Brothers, a singing-songwriting duo. McCain appeared as news anchor Aries West in MGM's comedy Bio-Dome, the character, Travis, in Roger Corman's remake Humanoids From The Deep, and the Mayor of Gold Lick in Bruce Campbell's My Name Is Bruce. Ben and his brother, Butch McCain, also wrote and performed the theme song in My Name is Bruce titled "The Legend of Guan Di". McCain had a recurring role as news anchor Brock Thompson in ABC's Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and another recurring role as newscaster Don MacDonald in SyFy's Black Scorpion.
| Ben McCain | |
|---|---|
 McCain at the Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards (2011) | |
| Background information | |
| Born | June 25, 1955 Muleshoe, Texas, U.S. |
| Origin | Bovina, Texas |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, TV host, producer, singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1973–present |
Early life
editBorn in Muleshoe, Texas, and raised on a farm near Bovina in Parmer County. McCain is a graduate of Bovina High School, South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, and West Texas State University now West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.
Career
editBen McCain and his brother, Butch McCain, co-hosted a morning television program in Oklahoma City from 1981 to 1987 at KTVY (NBC affiliate) and from 1987 to 1994 the brothers hosted "Good Morning Oklahoma" and anchored the noon newscast at KOCO-TV (ABC affiliate). Ben anchored the news and Butch served as the weather anchor.[1]
While hosting their daily morning television program, the brothers appeared on the syndicated TV show Hee Haw twice in the 1980s as well as ABC soap operas General Hospital, All My Children and Loving.[3] Ben and his brother, Butch, made 3 appearances on General Hospital.
The McCain Brothers did live segments on the KCBS-TV morning show in Los Angeles in 2000.
The McCain Brothers have recorded four CDs on Rise and Shine Records. The country single, "If Love Was a Crime I Couldn't Get Arrested" went number one on 50,000-watt KOMA radio in 1985.[2] They also hosted a syndicated TV music show called "The McCain Brothers Show."[2]
Ben and his brother, Butch, have appeared in numerous films together including MGM's comedy Bio-Dome,[4] Roger Corman's Humanoids from the Deep and Bruce Campbell's My Name is Bruce, where they wrote and performed the theme song, "The Legend of Guan Di".[5] In the movie, Ben plays the mayor and Butch has dual roles as the sheriff and a uni-browed farmer. In a 1997 Daily Variety article, columnist Andrew Hindes described the McCain Brothers as "multi-hyphenated".[6]
McCain has been nominated twice for Los Angeles Area Emmy awards. The first time in 2010 as Producer and Host for the program "So-Cal's Best Iconic Movie Locations"[3] and again in 2012 as Producer for the program "Leimert Park Today".[4] McCain worked as a producer, host and reporter for Time Warner Cable from 2002 to 2012.
McCain narrated the audio book NICHOLAS: The Fantastic Origins of Santa Claus in 2013.
Ben McCain began co-anchoring a news show for Torrance CitiCable in 2000. On April 9, 2020, McCain began anchoring live COVID-19 updates for Torrance CitiCable. April 15, 2021 McCain announced that it would be his final time anchoring for Torrance CitiCable's "COVID-19 Today" stating that he was moving to Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife and son.[5]
Filmography
edit| Year | Film | Role | Other notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985-1988 | Nashville Now | |||
| 1988 | Dark Before Dawn | (News Reporter) | ||
| 1993 | General Hospital | Medical Examiner | ||
| 1996 | Bio-Dome | Anchor Aries West | ||
| 1996 | Humanoids From The Deep | Travis | ||
| 1997 | Click (U.S. TV series) | Tofu Man #2 | ||
| 1997 | Midnight Blue (film) | Second Executive | ||
| 1995-1997 | Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman | Brock Thompson | 9 episodes | |
| 1997 | Two Came Back | Coast Guard Official | ||
| 1998 | The Adventures of Pug and Zero | Sheriff | ||
| 1998 | The Pretender | Jordon Brock | ||
| 1998 | Outside Ozona | Radio Furniture Salesman | ||
| 1998 | Under The Legs of Clouds | Preacher | ||
| 1999 | The Sex Monster | Radio Shock Jock | ||
| 1999 | Born Bad | Deputy | ||
| 2000 | Martial Law | Airline Pilot | ||
| 2000 | Arrest & Trial | Narrator | ||
| 2001 | Skippy (2001 film) | TV Anchor | ||
| 2001 | Accidents Don't Happen | Film Critic | ||
| 2001 | Fire & Ice (2001 film) | Commentator | ||
| 2001 | Black Scorpion | Don MacDonald | 16 episodes | |
| 2002 | Don't Let Go | Tex | ||
| 2005 | KatiBird *Certifiable Crazy Person | Groundskeeper | ||
| 2005 | Blood Deep | Officer Ben Lucas | ||
| 2007 | My Name Is Bruce | Mayor | ||
| 2007 | Stall 60 on the Sunset Strip | The Boss | ||
| 2008 | Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight | Elistan | ||
| 2008 | Killer Tumbleweeds | Brock McDonald | ||
| 2009 | Breaking News: The Invasion Begins! | Dack Tamblyn | ||
| 2010 | Leave It on the Court | John Henderson | ||
| 2010 | Love Chronicles: Secrets Revealed | Doctor | ||
| 2010 | The Talking Head | Phil Rose | ||
| 2011 | Fresh Starts 4 Stale People | Burt Kringle | ||
| 2012 | The Amazing Adventures of the Living Corpse | Bruce | ||
| 2013 | In Vacuo | Ron Shelby | ||
| 2013 | Julian | Jack Cameron | ||
| 2014 | "Homecoming" | Officer Ben Lucas | ||
| 2016 | "House of Cards" (Season 4) | Radio Newscaster | ||
| 2018 | "Call for Fire" | TV Newscaster Kevin Matney | ||
| 2019 | Dead End | Cop # 2 | ||
| 2022 | "Negative Thoughts" | Radio Newscaster | ||
| 2023 | Women, Guns and Ammo | Dr. Steel | ||
| TBA | Killer Tumbleweeds 2 | Brock MacDonald |
Music
editBen and his brother, Butch form the singing-songwriting duo, The McCain Brothers. They have recorded 6 albums. Film legend Roger Corman was the first producer to use their songs in a movie. The single, "If Love Was a Crime I Couldn't Get Arrested", went number one on 50,000-watt KOMA radio in Oklahoma City. Ben and Butch also hosted a syndicated TV music program called The McCain Brothers Show.
References
edit- ^ "KOCO Takes McCain Brothers Off the Air". Newsok.com. 8 May 1994. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
- ^ a b "McCain Duo Bringing "Jobless Tour" to Fair". Newsok.com. 16 September 1994. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
- ^ "62nd Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards Nominations & Winners".
- ^ "64th Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards Nominations & Winners".
- ^ "Torrance CitiCable's YouTube Channel "Ben stating his final time with the channel at 10:05"". YouTube.