Beyond Rivalry

Comic and dramatic actor Craig Nelson was born on 4 April 1944 in Spokane, WA. I haven't watched him in dramatic shows of late (as Chief Jack Mannion in The District, 2000-04), but I still watch our VHS tapes of Coach (1989-1997), which is IMO the funniest American sitcom ever to air, largely because of his "deadpan slow-burning" characterisation of Coach Hayden Fox, head coach of the Minnesota State Screaming Eagles football team. His chemistry with Jerry Van Dyke (Dick's brother), who played Asst. Coach Luther Van Dam, was also genius. The crew later moves to Orlando, FL to coach an expansion professional team, but those shows aren't as good. The series re-airs on the USA Network now.

I also loved watching Nelson as Col. Raynor Sarnac in Call to Glory, which aired in 1984 and 1985, but I was apparently the only one. 

Besides being an actor -- first noticed in film in 1979, as Frank Bowers in And Justice For All, which starred Al Pacino -- Nelson is or has also been a producer, comedy writer (for The Tim Conway Show and The John Byner Comedy Hour), stand-up comedian (performing with Barry Levinson), director, documentary writer (writing about "artists who chucked the urban grind for a rural lifestyle," as he did for 5 years in the 1970s, for part of the time receiving food stamps and welfare), screenwriter, teacher, carpenter, lumberjack, janitor, plumber, and surveyor (per Hollywood.com).  He was the father in the "first, best Poltergeist," and was "a high school football coach in the early Tom Cruise film All the Right Moves." He's also the voice of Mr. Incredible in The Incredibles (2004).

Asked in a 2004 interview what super power he would choose if he could have only one, he chose compassion: "Because that's what I think it takes to make it through life -- an understanding, a give and take. It saves an awful lot of resentment." 

Watch Hayden and Luther destroy Christine's white-carpeted apartment on YouTube: Christine to Hayden: "What I do care about is you telling me the truth. That's what makes us close. That's what makes a relationship."  Hayden replies: "I don't know why I can't learn that!"

Sources:

CTN at IMDB 

CTN at NNDB 

CTN interviewed at The Reel Deal (in 2004) 

CTN at Hollywood.com 

CTN at Wikipedia ; Coach at Wikipedia

CTN at Everything2