While he has played a wealth of background players in film and on television, this busy character actor first made a major impression playing a variety of small-town lawmen, ominous FBI agents and assorted rednecks and hayseeds. A North Carolina native, Searcy followed the traditional acting route to off-Broadway before returning south and finding regular work in film and TV productions shot in the region. He gained some notice with a small but pivotal role in "Fried Green Tomatoes" (1991) as the abusive husband of Mary-Louise Parker who meets a memorable fate. Searcy was more widely seen in a