In 2005 he was awarded both the Purple Heart and Silver Star by California Congressman David Dreier after McEachin participated in a Veterans History Project interview for his office. When Dreier's aide, Carlos Cortez, learned that McEachin had no copies of his military records, he quickly had the records traced and notified McEachin of the Silver Star commendation. Dreier awarded McEachin all seven of his medals of valor shortly thereafter, fifty years after his service.
Following his military career, McEachin dabbled in civil service, first as a fireman and then a policeman in Hackensack, New Jersey, before he moved to California and became a record producer. Known as Jimmy Mack in the industry, he worked with young artists such as Otis Redding and went on to produce The Furys. He began his acting career shortly after, and was signed by Universal as a contract actor in the 1960s.
McEachin played Mr. Turner, a tax collector for the Internal Revenue Service, and later a character named Solomon Jackson, a co-worker that Archie Bunker tries to recruit for his social club, on the television show All in the Family. He played the deejay Sweet Al Monte in Play Misty for Me (1971) with Clint Eastwood. In 1973, he starred as Harry Tenafly, the title character in Tenafly, a short-lived detective series about a police officer turned private detective who relied on his wits and hard work rather than guns and fistfights. As the star of that show, he is (along with Susan Saint James of McMillan and Wife) one of the last surviving actors to have starred as a title character from a series featured on the 1970s' NBC Mystery Movie. McEachin also appeared occasionally as Lieutenant Ron Crockett on Emergency!. In 1978, he played a police officer in Every Which Way But Loose. In 1979, he played the role of a jaded ex-marine high school baseball coach in an episode ("Out at Home") of The White Shadow.
He made his third film with Eastwood in 1983 when he starred as Detective Barnes in the fourth Dirty Harry movie, Sudden Impact. He also appeared as Dr. Victor Millson, chairman of the fictitious National Council of Astronautics in the 1984 movie 2010. In addition to his appearing in a role with Roy Scheider, his character often appears in video in dispatches transmitted to the American astronauts in the film.
While continuing to guest star in many television series and appearing in several feature-length films, McEachin landed his most memorable role, that of Police Lieutenant Brock in the 1986 television movie Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun. He would reprise this role in more than a dozen Perry Mason telemovies from 1986 until 1995, starring opposite Raymond Burr. He appeared in the 1994 crime thriller Double Exposure.
In the 1990s, he semi-retired from acting to pursue a writing career. His first work was a military history of the court-martial of 63 black American soldiers during the First World War, titled Farewell to the Mockingbirds (1995). It won the 1998 Benjamin Franklin Award.[2]
His next works, mainly novels, included The Heroin Factor (1999), Say Goodnight to the Boys in Blue (2000), The Great Canis Lupus (2001), and Tell Me a Tale: A Novel of the Old South (2003). He published Pebbles in the Roadway in 2003, a collection of short stories and essays which he describes as "a philosophical view of America and Americans".
In 2005, McEachin produced the award-winning[3] audio book Voices: A Tribute to the American Veteran.
In early 2006, McEachin starred with David Huddleston in Reveille, a short film that played to troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many people requested copies of the film. The film was posted on video.google.com and quickly garnered 1.5 million hits and a deluge of fan mail to the jamesmceachin.com website.
McEachin was inspired to create, direct, produce, and star in the short Old Glory. It won Best Narrative Short at the 2007 GI Film Festival.[4]Old Glory was McEachin's directorial debut.
In 2001, McEachin received the Distinguished Achievement Award[5] from Morgan State University. In 2005, he became an Army Reserve Ambassador; this distinction carries the protocol of a two-star general.[6] As part of his work on behalf of the military and veterans, McEachin has participated in ceremonies for Purple Hearts Reunited, a charitable organization that works to return lost and stolen military awards to the recipients or their families.[7]
Personal life
McEachin married the former Lois Emma Davis in 1960. Their three grown children are Alainia, Lyle, and Felecia. The second daughter was personal assistant to, among others, Ice Cube and (the late) Emmy Award-winning director, producer and writer Sam Simon. She is currently owner of The Assistant Company.[8][9] Lois McEachin died in 2017, in Encino, California.[10]
The pronunciation of "McEachin", as he used it in a public service ad for the Army Relief Agency, rhymes with "beach in".
