​George William Bailey was born on August 27, 1944, in Port Arthur, Texas. Bailey started college at Lamar University in Beaumont and eventually transferred to Texas Tech University in Lubbock; but he did not complete his studies. He worked at local theater companies during the mid 1960s until his move to California in the 1970s. Here he began work on television series such as Starsky and Hutch (1975), Charlie's Angels (1976) and CHiPs (1977). He eventually got a movie debut role in the Chuck Norris movie A Force of One (1979) before landing the role of Luther Rizzo in MASH (1972-1983). In 1993, he returned to Texas to study again at Southwest Texas State University. In 1994, he graduated with a Bachelor's degree of Fine Arts Theatre; and, for the 1999-2000 school year, he was the Artist in Residence.