At the center of "Hacks" is the complicated Deborah Vance, portrayed by three-time Emmy winner and actor Jean Smart. Deborah is past her prime as a stand-up comic, still smarting from a broken marriage and lost professional opportunities long ago, who now gets paid a lot of money to entertain tourists in Las Vegas.
Smart's real-life husband: actor Richard Gilliland, whose credits stretch back to early '70s TV shows like "The Streets of San Francisco" and "Medical Center," and '80s movies, including "Airplane II: The Sequel." From 1986 to 1991, Gilliland played baseball scout J.D. Shackelford, the boyfriend of Mary Jo Shiveley (Annie Potts) on "Designing Women." On the set of that sitcom, he met Smart, who portrayed Charlene Frazier-Stillfield.
"I met him when he was kissing someone else," Smart quipped to Northwest Prime Time. She sent castmate Delta Burke to inquire if Gilliland was unattached. "Naturally, Delta walked up to him and blurted, 'Jean wants to know if you're married.'" In June 1987, according to USA Today, Smart and Gilliland got married in the rose garden at the home of "Designing Women" co-star Dixie Carter. Gilliland had two children with Smart, son Connor and daughter Ani, and they often worked together, in plays like "Love Letters" and on the Fox thriller, "24" — Smart played the First Lady, and Gilliland portrayed Captain Stan Cotter.
After an illness, Gilliland sadly died in Los Angeles in March 2021. He was 71 years old.
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