HARRY JACKSON

Harry Jackson was MacGyver's maternal grandfather. He had lived near the family when MacGyver was young, and he was very close to his only grandchild. Harry always called MacGyver "Bud," and MacGyver always called his grandfather "Harry." Harry was a strong influence on MacGyver during his early years, taking him out to cut a tree for Christmas, showing him how to use decoys, sharing stories about the clever ways that Indians fought, and teaching him how to use what he had around him to find clever solutions to a problem. He shared his interests and his wisdom with such sayings as "You don't fish for fish, you fish for fishing," and in many ways he helped to shape the man that MacGyver would become. No doubt MacGyver's habit of carrying a Swiss Army knife also came from his grandfather Harry, who also always had a Swiss Army knife in his pocket.

When Harry's wife and his son-in-law, MacGyver's father, died suddenly, Harry had struggled with the devastating loss. He stayed for a while, but the memories were too painful. One day he simply left without saying goodbye. For a time he took a job working in construction up in Alaska, and he convinced himself that sending money home was more help to MacGyver and his mother than he would be. He continued to move from place to place, and eventually he settled near the small town of Ouray, Colorado. There he lived in peace and relative isolation in a rustic wooden cabin. He drove a Dodge pickup truck (Colorado license BQ-4517) and would occasionally travel into town for necessities, including the use of the phone in the general store since his cabin did not have telephone service.

Harry had been living in Ouray for about eight years when MacGyver decided it was time to stop putting off a visit. He had not seen his grandfather since he had left all those years ago, and although Harry was the only family he had left, they were strangers. After a mission to the Middle East, MacGyver became a target of Axminster, a contract assassin hired to kill him, and MacGyver felt that the long overdue visit with his grandfather would provide him with an opportunity to get away. Harry did not welcome the reunion with his grandson. He had always been hard-nosed and a man of few words, and he resisted every attempt MacGyver made to reminisce or to talk about why he had left family behind and chosen to live in such isolation.

MacGyver had believed that Axminster was unlikely to follow him to such a remote area of Colorado, but soon the assassin and his team traced MacGyver's location. Both MacGyver and Harry became targets, and although Harry never had a clear explanation from MacGyver as to why they were being hunted, he proved as resourceful as his grandson in finding and carrying out clever strategies for self-defense. Together they developed a decoy using floating reeds to simulate breathing under water, fashioned a blow gun with darts tipped with sap from a plant of the Urtica family, prepared a distraction by stuffing a vest with twigs and dropping a branch on a jeep, and created landmines from pine cones. During one of the encounters with their pursuers, Harry was wounded when a bullet grazed his lower right abdomen, but he and MacGyver were able to continue on to the small deserted town of Evermore. MacGyver treated Harry's wound with a natural antibiotic made from crushed pyrite and clay, and he recovered enough to join MacGyver in preparing to face the remaining members of Axminster's team.

Harry devised decoys by remotely tugging on a curtain in order to draw the enemy closer to a spontaneous explosion of grain dust and by dropping pine nuts in a fire to simulate the sound of gunshots before knocking out Axminster's associate, Black, with a blow to the head. MacGyver also succeeded in knocking out Axminster, and the team of assassins would have been taken into custody as soon as the authorities could be reached.

During their ordeal, MacGyver and his grandfather were reconciled. Harry acknowledged that it had been painful memories that had kept him away from the family for so long, and he admitted that he had missed his grandson terribly. He had never completely cut ties with family memories. Even the duck call that MacGyver had carved when he was about ten years old as a birthday present still hung on Harry's wall, the best he ever had. As MacGyver prepared to return home after his visit, Harry offered a warm embrace, and they promised to spend much more time together.

Portrayed by: John Anderson

Cross Reference: Axminster, Black, Colorado, Evermore, Angus MacGyver

Episode Reference: Target MacGyver