VALDOSTA — Oscar-winner and Valdosta State University Theatre graduate Ray McKinnon returns to his alma mater Tuesday to discuss acting and making movies while meeting with theatre students and sitting for a public question-and-answer session.

McKinnon, wife Lisa Blount, and friend Walton Coggins won the Academy Award for best live-action short film for writing, directing, acting and producing “The Accountant,” a movie about two brothers who hire an eccentric accountant to help them save the family farm.

As an actor, McKinnon may be more familiar to fans of HBO’s Western “Deadwood” as the Rev. H.W. Smith. He has also appeared in several movies and television shows, such as “Driving Miss Daisy,” as a scientist in the Tom Hanks movie “Apollo 13,” a cop in “Goodbye Lover,” with Sandra Bullock in “The Net,” as an obsessively ticket-writing cop in Stephen King’s “Needful Things” and notably as Vernon T. Waldrip, the suitor who decks George Clooney in “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou.” In the upcoming “Comanche Moon,” he reprises his role of Long Bill Coleman from the TV mini-series “Dead Man’s Walk” as part of Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove” saga.

At VSU, McKinnon is scheduled to meet with theatre students. On Tuesday evening, he will sit down for a free public question-answer discussion with Dr. Randy Wheeler, who retired from VSU Theatre last year. Wheeler’s first academic year at Valdosta State, fall of 1980, as a professor marked McKinnon’s last year, graduating in the spring of 1981, as a student.

Wheeler recalls McKinnon directing the Valdosta State student production of “A Hatful of Rain.” In the 1980-81 VSU Theatre season, Wheeler also recalls McKinnon performing as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm in “A Little Night Music,” and Conjur Man in “Dark of the Moon.”

VSU College of the Arts Outreach says this public session with McKinnon will be similar to the format of “Inside the Actor’s Studio.”

Coming to VSU is like coming home for McKinnon.

He grew up in Adel, the son of Raymond and Dorothy McKinnon. His father was a car dealer. His theatrical side may have come from his mother who, as a young woman, acted in touring shows along the Eastern seaboard.

Growing up, though, Ray McKinnon showed little interest in theatre. “He was mostly interested in sports, tennis, basketball, baseball. He played them all,” his mother said in a past interview with The Valdosta Daily Times. He enjoyed driving South Georgia’s back roads in his 1973 Plymouth Duster.

As a Valdosta State student, he had considered a career in journalism, Ray McKinnon told The Valdosta Daily Times in a phone interview the day after he won his 2002 Oscar. He wanted to be a journalist to nurture his love for writing. His discovery of theatre led to his major and his career in films and TV.

From Valdosta State, McKinnon moved to Atlanta where he worked as a hotel night clerk while auditioning for roles and acting in plays. He started a rug-cleaning service while he starred in plays such as “The Nerd.”

His big break came in the late 1980s when he was cast as a state trooper in “Driving Miss Daisy.” The role landed him an agent who suggested McKinnon move to Hollywood. Driving to California, McKinnon had hopes of stardom but he remained pragmatic. He took his rug-cleaning equipment with him.

He found plenty of work as a supporting and character actor in film and television. With his Ginny Mules production company, McKinnon wanted to demonstrate he could write, direct, act and produce. His efforts earned him the Academy Award.

The day after winning the Oscar, McKinnon said he was overwhelmed arriving at the Oscars but felt a sense of calm as he, Blount and Goggins walked to the podium to accept the award.

“I think that I felt that all of these stars are just people and I’m a person,” McKinnon said. “I was able to not be so caught up in the spectacle and was just able to say the things that I wanted to say.

“I now know what they mean though about it taking a while for the shock to wear off and letting the whole thing sink in.”

That night, McKinnon could go wherever he wanted. The new Oscar was a key and doors opened. But he was well aware of Hollywood’s pretensions and its ways. Of the Oscar, he said, “I don’t think it would get me in the Hamburger Haven two weeks from now without buying a hamburger.”

But that’s the guy Ray McKinnon is. He may have spent the Oscar night of 2002 speaking to Sir Elton John but he returned a call from his old hometown newspaper the next day.

On Tuesday, he comes home again to share what he’s learned with students in the same place he was a little more than 25 years ago.



The Reel Deal with Ray McKinnon

Oscar winner and VSU Theatre grad Ray McKinnon is interviewed by retired VSU Theatre professor Dr. Randy Wheeler in a public forum.

When: Public reception, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday; the discussion begins 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Where: Auditorium, Hugh C. Bailey Science Center, VSU campus.

Admission: Free.

More information: Call the College of the Arts, 333-5832.