James Handy girlfriend's son charged with actor's murder, faces up to 26 ⁠years in ⁠prison

Prosecutors filed murder charges on Friday against the man arrested in the fatal stabbing of veteran Hollywood actor James Handy, a familiar face in dozens of films and television shows for half a century and the boyfriend of the suspect's mother. If convicted, Michael Gledhill, 44, who was jailed as a suspect on Wednesday, faces up ‌to 26 ⁠years in ⁠prison, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.

In a separate statement on Thursday, police said ​Gledhill was arrested after he flagged down police near the murder scene in the city's Tarzana ​neighborhood on Wednesday and told officers he was the one they were looking for.

Police said officers were dispatched in answer to a cryptic emergency-911 call from ​a man who told operators: "I am the son of ⁠man. I ‌just killed the man of sin."


Responding officers found an 81-year-old ​man unconscious on ​the front lawn of his girlfriend's home with a stab ⁠wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead shortly ​afterward at a nearby hospital, the Los Angeles Police Department ​said. Gledhill lived at his mother's home, police said.

The victim was later identified as Handy, a prolific character actor whose movie credits included supporting roles in "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "Arachnophobia," "Jumanji," "Unbreakable" and "Logan."

His last big-screen appearance was playing an older bartender named Jimmy in a bar frequented by military fighter pilots in the 2022 Tom Cruise hit "Top ‌Gun: Maverick."

Handy also appeared in scores of television shows dating back to the 1970s, often portraying law enforcement characters or authority figures.

Police ​described the ​killing as an isolated ⁠incident but offered no possible motive for the slaying. Gledhill was slated to make his first court appearance on Friday, but it was not immediately known whether he ​had obtained legal representation.

The Handy killing marked the second high-profile celebrity stabbing death in Los Angeles in six months. In December, actor-director Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer-producer Michele Reiner, were killed at their Brentwood mansion. Their younger son, Nick Reiner, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder for their slayings.