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A New Orleans native, Patrick John McNamara became known on screen as 'J. Patrick' to avoid confusion with another Actor's Equity member of longer standing. McNamara initially started out performing in plays at the University of New Orleans in order to improve his public speaking, because (in his own words) "I knew that I was going to be a lawyer. I did a play, I was good at it, and that was that. Then I went to law school and hated it." After briefly working for Flying Tiger Airlines in New York, McNamara returned to his home town to complete a degree in theater studies. Before long, he was 'on the boards' performing on stage, including at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He further honed his newly acquired skills at Wayne State University in Detroit and subsequently secured a job teaching voice at the National Academy of Drama, Carnegie Hall.

McNamara resumed his acting career at an avant-garde Off-Broadway club in Manhattan's East Village where he spent the next three years. After that, he taught drama classes at Antioch College in Ohio and then spent time in Europe before returning to New Orleans. He operated a theatrical company there from 1974 to 1977, but the venture proved unprofitable, and, therefore, short-lived. Turning to screen work, McNamara joined Equity and began to amass a solid number of film and TV credits which included two pictures directed by Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and 1941 (1979)), Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) (and the sequel - as Bill Preston's dad), an oilman in Dallas (1978) and Dr. Katherine Pulaski's former commander in a season two episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). He was frequently cast as professors, doctors, psychologists or senior executives.

McNamara retired from acting in 2016 and spent his remaining years in New Orleans, devoting time to his favorite hobby: playing poker.

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