Rescue Me's Killed-off Star: "I Don't Know What I Did...."
Jack McGee with Denis Leary, Rescue Me
FX's
Rescue Me (Wednesdays at 10 pm/ET) once again reminded its fans to expect the horribly unexpected, as its June 27 episode concluded with the gunshot suicide of firehouse chief Jerry Reilly. But the plot turn was downright devastating for
Jack McGee, the actor who played the gruff, lovable chief.
Speaking to TV Guide in March during his last day on set, McGee alleged that the decision to off his character derived from an unnamed animus from the show's star and executive producer, Denis Leary. He claims the two were once close but that in recent years Leary had barely spoken to him off camera. "I don't know what I did to him," McGee says. What's worse, he added, is that Leary didn't break the news personally. "He handled it like a mutt," McGee grouses.
Leary counters that he simply doesn't handle personnel issues. "It's hard enough to deal with the actors when I'm acting with them," he says. Noting that the series has seen his own character's son and brother suffer sudden demises, Leary says, "It's amazing to me that actors can think that the end is not going to be around the corner."
However, in what should be reassuring news to McGee, Leary added, "When you die on Rescue Me, your part just gets bigger, because everybody comes back as a ghost."
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