Eric Raymond Gilliland (March 28, 1962 – September 1, 2024) was an American television producer, writer, actor, and whistler.

Education

Gilliland was born on March 28, 1962, in Glenview, Illinois. He graduated from Glenbrook South High School in Glenview in 1980 and from the School of Communication at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1984. He died from colon cancer on September 1, 2024 at the age of 62. His childhood friend Steven Levitan, a television producer and director, wrote that he and Gilliland enjoyed watching The Dick Van Dyke Show, Monty Python, Jack Benny, Carol Burnett, and Saturday Night Live beginning when they were in eighth grade, and that they started a pun club devoted to bad puns. Levitan credits Gilliland with getting him into working in television. "(Having) a job like that would have seemed completely unattainable to me if I hadn't known someone (Gilliland) who actually pulled it off. I guess I figured that if Eric was brave enough to take a chance like that (and find a career in entertainment), I should be too."

Credits

Television

Film

Music

Gilliland was an accomplished whistler. His whistling appeared on Sam Winch's The Lullabadeer, a number of Sumack albums, and on the soundtrack of an episode of Penn & Teller: Bullshit!. He provided whistling accompaniment to Martha Plimpton's performance of "Thunder Road" on NPR's Studio 360.