5 Characters Named HAWK from 80s and 90s Television

There’s no doubt that the 80s and 90s had the best of action television, and some of the best characters to visit us on the small screen were named “Hawk”. It’s no wonder some of the coolest heroes on tv took their names after these awesome birds of prey. Afterall, hawks are strong, fast and stealthy, much like 80s and 90s action tv protagonists. So, let’s explore five of those television heroes named Hawk from the 80s and 90s.

“Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” (1979 - 1981)

Created by the great Gen A. Larson and Leslie Stevens, this two-season series followed Captain Buck Rogers, a NASA astronaut from the 20th century who is frozen in time, only to awaken more than 500 years later. He joins Colonel Wilma Deering and the Defense Directorate to protect the Earth from alien enemies, and help those in need across the stars.

In the second season episode, “Time of the Hawk”, Buck Rogers is on a mission to track down Hawk, the birdman who is attacking human outposts and ships in retribution for a human pirate raid that slaughtered his people. Hawk does so in a super-cool, hawk-shaped fighter with retractable talons. To lure and capture Hawk, Buck abducts his wife, Koori, and an epic space dogfight ensues. However, Koori is mortally injured on accident and dies. Hawk is now the only one left of his kind.

The strong, silent Hawk is then brought before the Galactic Court to face justice. Knowing that his sentence will surely be death, and empathizing with Hawk for his plight, Buck Rogers defends Hawk and convinces the court that Hawk become part his crew to help defend the galaxy. In exchange for his services as a badass, Hawk can voyage with Buck and the crew in search of possible survivors of his race.

Hawk was played by Thom Christopher of Queens, NY. Thom as had a number of supporting roles in television, but I find his filmography particularly interesting. He played Eddie Bronzi in the 1980 sexy spy film, ‘S*H*E’. He played a psychic alien called “Flightplan” in the 1983 space adventure ‘Space Raiders’. Incidentally, the lead in this film is called Captain C.F. "Hawk" Hawkens, played by Vince Edwards. Thom Christopher also played the evil wizard, Shurka, in the 1985 sword and sorcery film ‘Wizards of the Lost Kingdom’, which had the honor of being riffed on MST3K in 2017. He portrayed an evil sorcerer yet again as Troxartes in the 1988 fantasy film, ‘Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell’.

I must admit that I have never seen any of these films, so now they must be reviewed on The 80s and 90s Overlooked!

“G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” (83-86, 89-92)

The quindecinnial cartoon-toy tie-in of the 1980s was ‘G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero’, based on Hasbro’s action figure line. The show follows the adventures of a group of special soldiers with badass equipment who must battle with an evil terrorist organization called Cobra. I always believed there was just one cartoon in the 80s, but it turns out, there were technically two!

The first, which ran 95 episodes in syndication from 1983 to 1986, derived from Marvel and Sunbow Productions’ animated commercials advertising their G.I Joe comic books. These lead to a five-part miniseries and subsequent television series. However, with a botched attempt at a theatrically released animated film, Sunbow failed to produce a new season of G.I. Joe in time to retain their license. In typical DIC Enterprises fashion, they stepped in to continue the show for 44 episodes from 1989 to 1992, but at significantly less cost than Sunbow. Thus, even though these shows have the same name, they are considered separate and distinct.

Following a debasing defeat dealt to them by the forces of Cobra, General Hawk arrived to lead G.I. Joe in in the second season premiere episode "Arise, Serpentor, Arise! (Part One)". He, along with his gruffy Seargent Slaughter, whip the Joes back into fighting form. Hawk’s 1982 action figure was pretty basic as he was included as an operator of the Mobile Missile set. He became a standalone figure in 1986 for the Sunbow series. Hawk’s ultimate upgrade came in 1991 when he got a wicked jetpack for both the DIC cartoon and corresponding toy.

Hawk was first voiced by Ed Gilbert throughout the Sunbow era and the first season of the DIC series. Interestingly, in addition to being a prolific actor, Ed Gilbert was also an entomologist who discovered a new species of beetle. When TaleSpin was being animated in 1990, producers realized that Baloo the Bear’s original voice actor, Phil Harris, was too old to provide the character’s distinctive voice. However, after putting in hours of practice, Ed Gilbert was able to fill the role and you would be hard pressed to hear the difference. Ed passed away in 1999.

In 1991, now-legendary Canadian voice actor David Kaye took over as the voice of Hawk in one of his first North American productions (he had done voiceover for Japanese anime prior). Since then, Kaye’s voice work in animation has been copious and extensive. In fact, he has been the voice of both Megatron and Optimus Prime in the ‘Transformers’ franchise, the only actor to do so! Adults might recognize him from his narration and segment voiceover work on ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’.

For the 2009 live action film, ‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’, General Hawk was portrayed by the great Dennis Quaid.

“Street Hawk” (1985)

I could describe this 1985 action television show, but narrator Ernie Anderson does a great job of doing this before every one of the 14 episodes. Take it away Ernie!

“This is Jesse Mach, an ex-motorcycle cop, injured in the line of duty. Now a police troubleshooter, he's been recruited for a top-secret government mission to ride Street Hawk - an all-terrain attack motorcycle designed to fight urban crime, capable of incredible speeds up to three hundred miles an hour, and immense firepower. Only one-man, federal agent Norman Tuttle, knows Jesse Mach's true identity. The man...the machine...Street Hawk.”

There were a number of motorcycles used for the show, all Hondas of some type, or combination of types, with many modifications and customizations. Honda actually sued the show’s producers because Honda felt the name “Street Hawk” was too similar to their “Nighthawk” brand of motorcycle. I guess they couldn’t decipher a difference between “Street” and “Night”. The charges were dropped though since the show only lasted one season and was cancelled.

Jesse Mach was played by actor Rex Smith. Rex is a skilled motorist himself and did most of his riding (leaving the very dangerous stunts to professional stuntmen). Incidentally, long before Ben Affleck or Charlie Cox, Rex Smith was the first live-action actor to play Marvel’s Daredevil in 1989’s ‘The Trial of the Incredible Hulk’. It’s also said that Rex is a real estate agent on the side.

Don Johnson was considered for the lead role in ‘Street Hawk’ but went to play Sonny Crocket in ‘Miami Vice’ instead. In retrospect, I’m sure Don is pretty happy about that. George Clooney also successfully screen-tested but was blocked by the studio. Looks like George did alright for himself anyway. The original two-hour pilot episode guest starred the great Christopher Lloyd as cop-killing villain Anthony Corrido. Just when I think I knew everything Christopher Lloyd has been in, he surprises me yet again!

“A Man Called Hawk” (1989)

If you do a search for characters called Hawk from 80s and 90s television, you will likely see 1989’s ‘A Man Called Hawk’ because… well, he’s a man called Hawk. To state the fact succinctly: The man called Hawk was one of the coolest cats in TV history. Played by the equally cool Avery Brooks, Hawk had a clean-shaven head, wore sunglasses at night, drove a BMW 635si, and carried a Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver. Although known for being streetwise, Hawk was also a stylish sophisticate who played chess and had an appreciation for African art. So cool!

The Hawk character originally appeared in the tv series ‘Spenser: For Hire’ which ran from 1985 to 1989. Similar to Buck Roger’s Hawk, Avery Brooks played an anti-hero of sorts. Spenser and Hawk started out on opposite sides, but Hawk switched over to help Spenser because, although he is a hired gun, Hawk has an ethical code similar to that of Spenser. The sharp-dressed enforcer was so popular that Hawk got his own show in 1989. Hawk leaves Spenser’s Boston and returns to his home city of Washington D.C. While helping people in danger, Hawk must also confront some nefarious characters from his past who come to collect their dues.

In addition to Avery Brook’s Hawk, Moses Gunn (who shares the same birthday as Avery, October 2) plays a mentor figure known only as “Old Man” (which, incidentally, would be the same nickname Avery’s character Ben Sisko would call Jadzia Dax on Deep Space Nine). The show also had amazing guest stars such as Angela Bassett, William Fitchner, Charles S. Sutton, Wesley Snipes, Keith David and Samuel L. Jackson among others.

As cool and star-studded as it was, ‘A Man Called Hawk’ only lasted for one season of 13 episodes. Maybe Hawk was so cool that he turned televisions into refrigerators? However, Avery’s Hawk would return in the Spenser television movies four times in the 1990s. Whatever is currently on your watch list now can wait because ‘A Man Called Hawk’ is available to watch for free on Tubi. If you haven’t seen this show, you must watch it. If you have seen it, you must watch it again.

“American Gladiators” (1989 - 1996)

‘American Gladiators’ was a television competition that ran from 1989 through 1996 where athletic average Joes and Janes contended against an ensemble of athlete actors called American Gladiators. Contestants would compete in events such as Assault, Joust, and Powerball among others, before ending with the grueling Eliminator obstacle course. Winning challengers would move on the next rounds for a chance to win prize money.

The show was impossibly popular in the early and mid 1990s. In addition to the competitive action, the Gladiators themselves were beloved and garnered their own fandoms. I was particularly fond of Nitro and Lace. Another of my treasured Gladiators was Hawk, who was added to the show later in 1993 but soon became a fan favorite.

Hawk’s real name was Lee Reherman, originally from Louisville, Kentucky. Large and in charge, Lee played college football as an offensive lineman at Cornell. One might look at the massive Lee Reherman and think he’s just a meathead, but nothing could be further from the truth. Lee graduated with honors at Cornell and went on to earn an MBA at UCLA. He was even working on a doctorate in economics before he left his educational endeavors to become a badass on television.

After showing contestants who was boss on ‘American Gladiators’, Lee had a various parts in film and television, but he’s probably most known for his role as host and commentator on other action competition tv shows. Often keeping the “Hawk” moniker, Lee hosted ‘BattleBots’, ‘Roller Jam’, ‘Cannonball Runn 2001’ and was a sideline reporter in the original iteration of the XFL.

Lee continued his television and film career until his untimely death in 2016. We miss you, Lee!

So, those are five character named Hawk from my memory of 80s and 90s action television. Can you think of other television Hawks I missed? Let me know in the comments. With that, I leave you with this quote:

“I’d sooner, except the penalties, kill a man than a hawk.”

— John Robinson Jeffers