Introduced as a Texas Ranger who even wears a gallon hat and spurs, Waylon Gates first appears on Season 10 of “Blue Bloods.” He travels to New York in order to arrest a fugitive, the Lone Star Killer, who is now involved with local drug trafficking. Gates and Detective Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) work together on the case, with both finding common ground as former Marines turned law enforcement professionals. He even tells Danny that he’d have made a good Texas Ranger.
Gates later returns in Season 12 when he needs to intercept a drug shipment that traveled across the Mexican border. Gates and Danny then have to team up again and locate the drugs before they arrive on the street. Actor Lyle Lovett is actually known best as a country musician. But over the years, Lovett has appeared in critically acclaimed films as well as network dramas. Here’s where you’ve seen him before.
Lyle Lovett’s first major screen role was in The Player
Lyle Lovett’s first screen credit was a singing cameo in the TV movie “Bill: On His Own”. But the musician really came into his own as an actor when director Robert Altman cast him as an eccentric, intense detective in 1992’s “The Player.”
Detective DeLongpre (Lovett) is a Pasadena police officer investigating the murder of screenwriter David Kahane (Vincent D’Onofrio), alongside Detective Susan Avery (Whoopi Goldberg). Both DeLongpre and Avery have a “good cop and bad cop” routine, with DeLongpre acting as the “bad.” They also correctly deduce that studio executive Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) killed Kahane.
However, in keeping with the Hollywood satire, neither of them can prove the truth, and they don’t seem that interested in solving the case. Avery even seems more amused by the investigation than anything else.
“The Player” was the first of several collaborations between Lovett and Altman. The actor later said during an interview with The Independent, “Altman was a great teacher. One of the ideas he reinforced to me was to stick to your idea and be confident about it.”
Lovett worked with Altman again on Short Cuts
Robert Altman’s adaptation of several Raymond Carver stories, “Short Cuts,” has a massive ensemble cast. But it’s Lyle Lovett who has one of the most crucial parts of the sprawling movie. Lovett plays baker Andy Bitkower, who is hired to make a cake the day before Casey’s (Zane Cassidy) 8th birthday. However, Casey is hit by a car and eventually falls comatose. His parents Howard (Bruce Davison) and Ann (Andie MacDowell) are so distraught that they never pick up the cake or cancel the order.
Irritated, Bitkower continually calls them about the order. When Casey dies in the hospital, Howard and Ann then come to Bitkower’s bakery to angrily confront him. However, when he discovers the truth, Bitkower apologizes and shows the grieving parents real compassion and grace. In their last scene together, the couple sits down as the baker makes them some warm food. It’s a crucial, emotional moment in the movie and one that probably wouldn’t work as well without Lovett’s tenderness and naturalism.
He’s Dizzy’s dad in The New Guy
“The New Guy” was likely Lyle Lovett’s biggest film yet at the time of release in 2002, even if he’s only playing a supporting role in the high school comedy. Dizzy Gillespie Harrison (DJ Qualls) is a nerdy high schooler who lives with his dad, Bear (Lyle Lovett), in Austin, Texas. After a series of mishaps, Dizzy is arrested and sent to prison. Once he’s inside, the teen befriends Luther (Eddie Griffin), an inmate who helps him learn how to be cool. Dizzy then uses Luther’s teachings to enroll at a new school with a new name, “Gil Harris.”
Bear, like many parents in high school movies, isn’t especially crucial to the main plotline. However, he does seem to care about Dizzy, even quitting his job and selling his house so he can supervise him. Lovett’s offbeat presence as an actor also works perfectly with the film’s dark humor.
“The New Guy” largely received negative reviews from critics, but it did make $31 million at the box office on a small budget.
Lovett played a recurring character on The Bridge
Where the original series took place on the Danish-Swedish line, FX’s 2013 remake of “The Bridge” instead depicted the discovery of a dead body on the border between the United States and Mexico. As detectives Sonya Cross (Diane Kruger) and Marco Ruiz investigate — one from El Paso, the other from Chihuahua — it becomes clear that a serial killer is active in both countries.
One of the many colorful recurring characters on the series is Monte P. Flagman (Lyle Lovett), a drug cartel lawyer whose deadpan expression conceals his intelligence and cunning. Lead writer Elwood Reid had even requested a “Lyle Lovett-type” for the part when cast member Annabeth Gish revealed she was friends with the real deal.
Lovett seemed to enjoy being on the show as well, telling Texas Monthly, “I get to work with great people, wear a hat and boots and drive a 1970 Coupe DeVille.” But unfortunately, “The Bridge” was canceled after two seasons on FX due to declining ratings.
The actor plays Tex on ABC’s Big Sky
Lyle Lovett’s most recent screen appearance has been on multiple Season 3 episodes of ABC drama “Big Sky,” also run by “The Bridge” writer Elwood Reid. The character actor is perfectly cast as Tex, a small-time criminal, tracker, and musician who works alongside Possum (Darius Rucker).
Tex originally appears in “Come Get Me” as muscle for Tony (West Liang) while he tries to find a couple — Luke (Anirudh Pisharody) and Paige (Madalyn Horcher) — who stole cartel money. He then returns for the two-part season finale when he’s seen stalking Carla (Angelique Cabral) and awaiting Tony’s instructions. However, it seems like the cowboy criminal does have some limits.
When he discovers Tony is responsible for the abduction of Emily (Cree Cicchino), Beau’s (Jensen Ackles) daughter, Tex is disgusted at the idea of harming children. He walks away from Tony — and the job — right then and there. Tex wasn’t involved in the carnage at the end of the season, so hopefully, his character will return for “Big Sky” Season 4.