The son of Bert and Laura McWhirter, Kent Franklin McWhirter was born in Los Angeles on September 26, 1942. Planning to become a physical education instructor and football coach, he transferred from Citrus Junior College to the University of Southern California in 1961. There he met Ricky Nelson during a football game and they became good friends. This led to small guest spots on The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet as one of Ricky's fraternity brothers. In 1965 McCord signed a contract with Universal Pictures, and three years later he got his big break when Jack Webb picked him to co-star in Adam-12. During the series' run he became actively involved in the Screen Actors Guild, and is still involved today. He also keeps busy by acting, doing voiceovers for commercials and documentaries, and working on his website.


Won the Screen Actors Guild's prestigious Ralph Morgan Award in June of 1999 Appeared with "Adam-12" (1968) co-star Martin Milner in Nashville Beat (1989) (TV), a movie for The Nashville Network. McCord played an LAPD captain going to visit his friend, Milner, an ex-LA cop who became a Nashville cop. Elected to the Screen Actors Guild's National Board of Directors in 1972 and served on the Board for 11 years. He was twice elected First Vice President. He also chaired the Children's Committee, the Guild's Publications Committee, the Agents Relations Committee and represented the American acting community to The Federation Internationale des Acteurs (FIA). Started working when he was 10 years old, in his father's gas station. He earned 50 cents an hour. He worked at an airport all through high school.