Martin Balsam

Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996)[1] was an American actor who had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television.[2][3]

Martin Balsam
Balsam in the 1960s
Born
Martin Henry Balsam

(1919-11-04)November 4, 1919
DiedFebruary 13, 1996(1996-02-13) (aged 76)
Rome, Italy
Resting placeCedar Park Cemetery, Emerson, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma materThe New School
OccupationActor
Years active1947–1995
Spouse(s)
Pearl Somner
(m. 1952; div. 1954)

(m. 1957; div. 1962)

Irene Miller
(m. 1963; div. 1987)
Children3, including Talia Balsam
AwardsAcademy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1966 A Thousand Clowns
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
1968 You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running

An early member of the Actors Studio, he began his career on the New York stage, winning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for Robert Anderson’s You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running (1968). His best known film roles include Juror #1 in 12 Angry Men (1957), detective Milton Arbogast in Psycho (1960), Arnold Burns in A Thousand Clowns (1965) (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), Colonel Cathcart in Catch-22 (1970), Mr. Green in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), Signor Bianchi in Murder on the Orient Express (1974), and Howard Simons in All the President's Men (1976). He also had a starring role as Murray Klein in the television sitcom Archie Bunker's Place (1979–83).

Early life and education

Martin Henry Balsam was born in the Bronx borough of New York City, to Russian Jewish parents, Lillian (née Weinstein) and Albert Balsam, who was a manufacturer of women's sportswear.[4][5] He attended DeWitt Clinton High School, where he participated in the drama club.[4] He studied at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the German director Erwin Piscator and then served in the United States Army Air Forces from 1941 to 1945 during World War II, reaching the rank of Sergeant.[6] He served as a sergeant radio operator in a B-24 in the China-Burma-India theater of operations.[3]

Career

Martin Balsam (r) on the set of Unknown Soldier, 1995

Theatre

Martin Balsam made his professional debut in August 1941 in a production of The Play's the Thing in Locust Valley.[7] After World War II, he resumed his acting career in New York.

In early 1948, he was selected by Elia Kazan to be a member in the recently formed Actors Studio.[8] He appeared consistently in Broadway and off-Broadway plays, something he'd continue to do well into his screen acting career. Columnist Earl Wilson dubbed him "The Bronx Barrymore".[9]

In 1968, he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in the 1967 Broadway production of You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running.

Television

Balsam performed in several episodes of the studio's dramatic television anthology series, broadcast between September 1948 and 1950. He appeared in many other television drama series, including Decoy with Beverly Garland, The Twilight Zone (episodes "The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine" and "The New Exhibit"), as a psychologist in the pilot episode, Five Fingers, Target: The Corruptors!, The Eleventh Hour, Breaking Point, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Fugitive, and Mr. Broadway, as a retired U.N.C.L.E. agent in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode, "The Odd Man Affair", and guest-starred in the two-part Murder, She Wrote episode, "Death Stalks the Big Top". He also appeared in the Route 66 episode, "Somehow It Gets To Be Tomorrow".

He played Dr. Rudy Wells when the Martin Caidin novel Cyborg was adapted as a TV-movie pilot for The Six Million Dollar Man (1973), though he did not reprise the role for the subsequent series. In 1975, he appeared as James Arthur Cummins in the Joe Don Baker police drama Mitchell, a film that was eventually featured in a highly popular episode of the comedy film-riffing series Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1993. He appeared as a spokesman/hostage in the TV movie Raid on Entebbe (1976) and as a detective in the TVM Contract on Cherry Street (1977). He also appeared on an episode of Quincy ME. Balsam starred as Murray Klein on the All in the Family spin-off Archie Bunker's Place for two seasons (1979–81) and returned for a guest appearance in the show's fourth and final season. He even filled in for Charles Nelson Reilly on Match Game for one question when Reilly was late for a taping.

Film

Balsam made his film debut with an uncredited role in On the Waterfront (1954), directed by his Actors' Studio colleague Elia Kazan. Balsam played an official of the New York Port Authority investigating mob involvement in the city's waterfront unions. His breakthrough role came a few years later, when he played Juror #1 in 12 Angry Men (1957). He would collaborate with the film's director, Sidney Lumet, twice more with The Anderson Tapes (1971) and Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

In 1960, he appeared in one of his best-remembered roles as private investigator Milton Arbogast in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Along with Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum, Balsam appeared in both the original Cape Fear (1962), and the 1991 Martin Scorsese remake. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Arnold Burns in A Thousand Clowns (1965). Balsam also performed the original voice of the HAL 9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey. After his lines were recorded, director Stanley Kubrick decided "Marty just sounded a little bit too colloquially American," and hired Douglas Rain to perform the role for the released film.[10]

Balsam also appeared in such notable films as Time Limit, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Carpetbaggers, Seven Days in May, Hombre, Catch-22, Tora! Tora! Tora! (as Admiral Husband E. Kimmel), Little Big Man, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, All the President's Men, The Delta Force, and The Goodbye People. One of his final acting appearances was in the 1994 horror parody The Silence of the Hams, which paid homage to his iconic role in Psycho.

Beyond Hollywood, Balsam was also a popular character actor in Italian films, beginning in 1960 when he starred in the Luigi Comencini film Everybody Go Home. He would star in several poliziottesco films throughout the 1970s, directed by the likes of Fernando Di Leo and Enzo G. Castellari. Balsam's roles in these films would be re-dubbed into Italian, but he would loop his own lines in the English-language export versions. Balsam maintained close ties to Italy even after the end of the poliziottesco trend, traveling there for both professional and personal reasons, and starring in the Italian-produced television series Ocean and La piovra.

Personal life

In 1951, Balsam married his first wife, actress Pearl Somner. They divorced three years later. His second wife was actress Joyce Van Patten. This marriage lasted for four years (from 1958 until 1962) with one daughter, Talia Balsam. He married his third wife, Irene Miller, in 1963. They had two children, Adam and Zoe Balsam, and divorced in 1987.[4]

Death

On February 13, 1996, Balsam died suddenly of a stroke in his hotel room while vacationing in Rome, Italy. He was 76 years old. He is interred at Cedar Park Cemetery, in Emerson, New Jersey.[11]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1949SuspenseAbramson
1949–1950Actors StudioSoldier4 episodes
1950Danger2 episodes
1951The Living Christ SeriesInnkeeperMiniseries
The Big StoryBill Pinney
Frontiers of Faith
1952The Living BibleNobleman
1953Man Against CrimeTony / Jean Pinay
Valiant LadyJoey Gordon
1954On the WaterfrontGillette, Secondary Investigator for Crime CommissionUncredited
The Greatest GiftHarold Matthews #2
Inner Sanctum MysteryWesley / Hanson / Larkin3 episodes
1954–1955Philco Television PlayhouseCharlie Malick / Mike Galloway3 episodes
1954–1956Goodyear Television PlayhousePerkins / Walter Gregg3 episodes
1955The United States Steel HourPetty Officer
195712 Angry MenJuror #1
Time LimitSargeant Baker
1957–1958Studio OneFrancis Toohey / Ed Coyne3 episodes
1958Kraft Television TheatreDino
Marjorie MorningstarDr. David Harris
Father Knows BestTeacher
PursuitHolden
DecoyNick Santos
Alfred Hitchcock PresentsLeonard Thompson
1958–59Playhouse 90Sam Gordon / Captain Mantell3 episodes
Westinghouse Desilu PlayhouseGambetta / Dr. Gillespie2 episodes
1958–1960Have Gun – Will TravelMarshall Jim Brock / Charles Dawes2 episodes
1959RawhideFather Fabian
Al CaponeMac Keeley
The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen2 episodes
Middle of the NightJack
BrennerArnold Joplin
The DuPont Show of the MonthCharlie Davis
Dick Powell's Zane Grey TheaterSam Butler
WintersetGarth
The Twilight ZoneDanny WeissEpisode: "The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine"
1959–1962Naked CityCaptain Russell Barris / Joseph Creeley / Caldwell Wyatt / Arnold Fleischman4 episodes
1960Five FingersMonteverdi
Goodyear TheaterJoe Lane
The Robert Herridge Theater
Sunday ShowcaseNicola Sacco
PsychoDetective Milton Arbogast
Tutti a casaSergeant Quintino Fornaciari
1961Way OutBill Clayton
Alfred Hitchcock PresentsElon Marsh
AdaSteve Jackson
Breakfast at Tiffany'sO.J. Berman
The New BreedFrank Eberhardt
The UntouchablesBarry Leimer
Route 66Corelli
1961–1964The DefendersDistrict Attorney / Bernard Maxwell / Floyd Harker4 episodes
1962Cain's HundredJack Garsell
The UntouchablesArnold Justin
Cape FearPolice Chief Mark Dutton
Target: The CorruptorsJeffrey Marvin
La città prigionieraJoseph Feinberg
1962–1966Dr. KildareDr. Milton Orliff / Benny Orloff / Ned Lacey7 episodes
1963Route 66Mike
The Eleventh HourFrank Dunlear
The Twilight ZoneMartin Lombard SenescuEpisode: "The New Exhibit"
Breaking PointRabbi Eli Oringer
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?Sanford Kaufman
1964Arrest and TrialLeo Valera
EspionageRichard Carey
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler TheatreDave Breslaw
Seven Days in MayPresidential aide Paul Girard
Wagon TrainMarcey Jones
SuspenseDetective Jack Gross
The CarpetbaggersBernard B. Norman
Youngblood HawkeCameo AppearanceUncredited
Mr. BroadwayNate Bannerman
1965ITV Play of the WeekDoc Delaney
The Man from U.N.C.L.EAlbert SullyEpisode: "The Odd Man Affair"
HarlowEverett Redman
The Bedford IncidentLieutenant Commander Chester Potter, USNR, MD
A Thousand ClownsArnoldAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1966Caccia alla volpeHarry Granoff
"Anyone Around My Base Is It"NarratorShort Documentary
1967The FugitiveAndrew Newmark
HombreMendez
Among the Paths to EdenIvor Belli
1968The Name of the GameAngie
Around the World of Mike ToddMichael ToddTV movie / Documentary; Voice
1969Me, NatalieUncle Harold
The Good Guys and the Bad GuysMayor Wilker
TrilogyIvor Belli(segment: "Among the Paths to Eden")
1970CBS PlayhouseJesse
Hunters Are for KillingWade HamiltonTV movie
Catch-22Colonel CathcartGroup Commander, 256th Bomb Group
Tora! Tora! Tora!Admiral Husband E. Kimmel
The Old Man Who Cried WolfStanley Pulska
The Name of the GameHerb Witmer
Little Big ManMr. Merriweather
1971Confessions of a Police CaptainInspector Bonavia
The Anderson TapesTommy Haskins
1972Chronicle of a HomicideJudge Aldo Sola
The Hassled Hooker District Attorney Turrisi
The ManJim Talley
Night of TerrorCaptain Caleb SarkTV movie
The Infamous Column
1973A Brand New LifeJim DouglasTV movie
The Six Million Dollar ManDr. Rudy WellsTV movie: "The Moon and the Desert"
The Stone KillerAl Vescari
Counselor at CrimeDon Antonio Macaluso
Summer Wishes, Winter DreamsHarry Walden
Money to BurnTV movie
Police StoryDetective Al Koster
1974The Taking of Pelham One Two ThreeHarold "Green" Longman
Trapped Beneath the SeaT.C. HollisterTV movie
KojakRay Kaufman
Murder on the Orient ExpressBianchi
1975Miles to Go Before I SleepBen MontgomeryTV movie
Smiling ManiacsCarlo Goja
Death Among FriendsHam Russell BucknerTV movie
Cry, Onion!Petrus Lamb
MitchellJames Arthur Cummings
Season for AssassinsCommissioner Katroni
1976The Lindbergh Kidnapping CaseEdward J. ReillyTV movie
All the President's MenHoward Simons
MaudeChester
Meet Him and DieGiulianelli
Death RageCommissario
Two-Minute WarningSam McKeever
Raid on EntebbeDaniel CooperTV movie
1977The SentinelProfessor Ruzinsky
Silver BearsJoe Fiore
Contract on Cherry StreetCaptain Ernie Weinberg
The StorytellerIra DavidoffTV movie
Blood and DiamondsRizzo
1978Eyes Behind the StarsInspector Jim Grant
SiegeHenry FancherTV movie
RainbowLouis B. MayerTV movie
The MillionaireArthur HainesTV movie
The Joe Franklin ShowHimselfTelevision interview
A Salute to American ImaginationHimselfTV movie / Documentary
1979The Seeding of Sarah BurnsDr. Samuel MelmanTV movie
GardeniaSalluzzo
The House on Garibaldi StreetIsser HarelTV movie
Aunt MaryHarry StrasburgTV movie
CubaGeneral Bello
1979–1983Archie Bunker's PlaceMurray Kleinseries regular / guest star; 46 episodes
1980The Love TapesDavid Franklin
There Goes the BrideElmer Babcock
The WarningQuestore Martorana
1981The SalamanderCaptain Steffanelli
The People vs. Jean HarrisJoel AurnouTV movie
1982Quincy, M.E.Hyam Sigerski
Little Gloria... Happy at LastNathan BurkanTV movie
Night of 100 StarsHimselfTV special
1983I Want to Live!Jack BradyTV movie
Cold StorageParmigianTV Movie
1984The Goodbye PeopleMax Silverman
Innocent PreySheriff Virgil Baker
1985SpaceSenator GlanceyMiniseries
St. Elmo's FireMr. Beamish
Murder in SpaceAlexander RostovTV movie
Death Wish 3Bennett
Great PerformancesJack
GlitterBo
1986La piovra, season 2Frank CarrisiMiniseries; 5 episodes
The Delta ForceBen Kaplan
Whatever It TakesHap Perchicksky
Second ServeDr. BeckTV movie
Murder, She WroteEdgar CarmodyEpisodes: "Death Stalks The Big Top" Parts 1 & 2
The Twilight ZoneRockne O'BannonSegment: "Personal Demons"
1987HotelDr. Gilbert Holt
QueenieMartyTV miniseries
P.I. Private InvestigationsCliff Dowling
The Twilight ZoneProfessor Donald KnowlesSegment: "Voices in the Earth"
Brothers in BloodMajor Briggs
Kids Like TheseGrandpaTV movie
Once AgainTV movie
1988The Child SaverSidney RosenbergTV movie
The Brother from Space Father Howard
1989OceanDon Matias QuinteroTV miniseries
1990Two Evil EyesMr. Pym(segment "The Black Cat")
Midnight CallerGil Solarski
La piovra, season 5Don Calogero Barretta
1991Ľultima metaLawyer
Cape FearJudge
1992The Sands of TimeTV movie
1993"The Black Cat"Movie Short
1994The Silence of the HamsDetective Martin Balsam
1995Soldato ignotoEnglish meaning: Unknown Soldier
1997Legend of the Spirit DogGrampsReleased posthumously on August 19, 1997, 9 months after his death (final film role)


Awards and nominations

Award
Wins
Nominations
Academy Awards
1 N/A
Tony Awards
1 N/A
BAFTA Film Awards
N/A 2
Golden Globe Awards
N/A 1
Primetime Emmy Awards
N/A 1

Academy Awards

Year Category Work Result
1966Best Supporting ActorA Thousand ClownsWon

Tony Awards

Year Category Work Result
1968 Best Actor in a Play You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running Won

BAFTA Awards

Year Category Work Result
1976 Best Actor in a Supporting Role The Taking of Pelham One Two Three Nominated
1977 All the President's Men Nominated

Golden Globe Awards

Year Category Work Result
1974 Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams Nominated

Primetime Emmy Awards

Year Category Work Result
1977 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Minieries or Movie Raid on Entebbe Nominated

National Board of Review Awards

Year Category Work Result
1964 Best Supporting Actor The Carpetbaggers Won

Drama Desk Awards

Year Category Work Result
1977 Outstanding Actor in a Play Cold Storage Nominated

Obie Award

Year Category Work Result
1977 Distinguished Performance by an Actor Cold Storage Won

Outer Critics Circle Awards

Year Category Work Result
1967 Outstanding Actor in a Play Cold Storage Won
1978 The Shock of Recognition Won

References

  1. "Balsam, Martin Henry". Who Was Who in America : with World Notables, v. XI (1993–96). New Providence, N.J.: Marquis Who's Who. 1996. p. 13. ISBN 0837902258.
  2. OLIVER, MYRNA (14 February 1996). "Martin Balsam; Veteran Character Actor" via LA Times.
  3. Gelder, Lawrence Van (14 February 1996). "Martin Balsam Is Dead at 76; Ubiquitous Character Actor" via NYTimes.com.
  4. The New York Times, February 14, 1996: "Martin Balsam Is Dead at 76; Ubiquitous Character Actor" Retrieved 2012-06-15
  5. "Great Character Actors".
  6. Martin Balsam, Service Record. Together We Served. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  7. Ian Herbert, ed. (1981). "BALSAM, Martin". Who's Who in the Theatre. 1. Gale Research Company. pp. 39–40. ISSN 0083-9833.
  8. Garfield, David (1980). "Birth of The Actors Studio: 1947–50". A Player's Place: The Story of the Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 52. ISBN 0-02-542650-8. Others usually considered founding members in Kazan's group were added in the early months of 1948. They include Martin Balsam, Kim Hunter, and Vivian Nathan.
  9. "Actor Martin Balsam Found Dead at Rome Hotel". AP NEWS. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
  10. Flahive, Gerry (30 March 2018). "The Story of a Voice: HAL in '2001' Wasn't Always So Eerily Calm" via NYTimes.com.
  11. "Sometimes the Grave Is a Fine and Public Place". New York Times. March 28, 2004.
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