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Martin Balsam
Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. 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). He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in A Thousand Clowns (1965).
His other notable film roles include Juror #1 in 12 Angry Men (1957), private detective Milton Arbogast in Psycho (1960), Hollywood agent O.J. Berman in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Bernard B. Norman in The Carpetbaggers (1964), Lieutenant Commander Chester Potter, the ship doctor, in The Bedford Incident (1965), Colonel Cathcart in Catch-22 (1970), Admiral Husband E. Kimmel in Tora! Tora! Tora! (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 had a recurring role as Dr. Milton Orloff on the television drama Dr. Kildare (1963–66), and Murray Klein on the sitcom Archie Bunker's Place (1979–83).
In addition to his Oscar and Tony Awards, Balsam was also a BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Emmy Award nominee. With Joyce Van Patten, he was the father of actress Talia Balsam.
Martin Henry Balsam was born November 4, 1919, in the Bronx borough of New York City, to Russian Jewish parents, Lillian (née Weinstein) and Alberto Balsam, who was a manufacturer of shampoo. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School, where he participated in the drama club. 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, achieving the rank of Sergeant. He served as a sergeant radio operator in a B-24 in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations.
Balsam made his professional debut in August 1941 in a production of The Play's the Thing in Locust Valley. After World War II, he resumed his acting career in New York.
In 1947–1949, Balsam was a resident member of the summer stock company Town Hall Players in West Newbury, Massachusetts, a community-sponsored summer theatre. In early 1948, he was selected by Elia Kazan to be a member in the recently formed Actors Studio. He appeared consistently in Broadway and off-Broadway plays, something he would continue to do well into his screen acting career. Columnist Earl Wilson dubbed him "The Bronx Barrymore".
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.[citation needed]
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 Route 66 episode, "Somehow It Gets To Be Tomorrow"; The Twilight Zone as a psychologist in the 1958 pilot episode "The Time Element", and appearing in the episodes "The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine" and "The New Exhibit"; 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 in the two-part Murder, She Wrote episode, "Death Stalks the Big Top".
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Martin Balsam
Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. 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). He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in A Thousand Clowns (1965).
His other notable film roles include Juror #1 in 12 Angry Men (1957), private detective Milton Arbogast in Psycho (1960), Hollywood agent O.J. Berman in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Bernard B. Norman in The Carpetbaggers (1964), Lieutenant Commander Chester Potter, the ship doctor, in The Bedford Incident (1965), Colonel Cathcart in Catch-22 (1970), Admiral Husband E. Kimmel in Tora! Tora! Tora! (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 had a recurring role as Dr. Milton Orloff on the television drama Dr. Kildare (1963–66), and Murray Klein on the sitcom Archie Bunker's Place (1979–83).
In addition to his Oscar and Tony Awards, Balsam was also a BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Emmy Award nominee. With Joyce Van Patten, he was the father of actress Talia Balsam.
Martin Henry Balsam was born November 4, 1919, in the Bronx borough of New York City, to Russian Jewish parents, Lillian (née Weinstein) and Alberto Balsam, who was a manufacturer of shampoo. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School, where he participated in the drama club. 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, achieving the rank of Sergeant. He served as a sergeant radio operator in a B-24 in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations.
Balsam made his professional debut in August 1941 in a production of The Play's the Thing in Locust Valley. After World War II, he resumed his acting career in New York.
In 1947–1949, Balsam was a resident member of the summer stock company Town Hall Players in West Newbury, Massachusetts, a community-sponsored summer theatre. In early 1948, he was selected by Elia Kazan to be a member in the recently formed Actors Studio. He appeared consistently in Broadway and off-Broadway plays, something he would continue to do well into his screen acting career. Columnist Earl Wilson dubbed him "The Bronx Barrymore".
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.[citation needed]
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 Route 66 episode, "Somehow It Gets To Be Tomorrow"; The Twilight Zone as a psychologist in the 1958 pilot episode "The Time Element", and appearing in the episodes "The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine" and "The New Exhibit"; 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 in the two-part Murder, She Wrote episode, "Death Stalks the Big Top".
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