Eddie Albert
- Highest Rated: Attack (1956)
- Lowest Rated: Head Office (1986)
- Birthday: Apr 22, 1906
- Birthplace: Not Available
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One of the most versatile American movie actors of the mid-20th century, Eddie Albert missed out on stardom but, instead, enjoyed a 50-year-plus screen career that encompassed everything from light comedy and zany satire to the most savage war dramas. Born Edward Albert Heimberger in Rock Island, IL, he attended the University of Minnesota. After working as everything from soda jerk to a circus acrobat (with a short stint as a nightclub and radio singer), Albert headed for New York City, where he scored a hit in the play Brother Rat, portraying military cadet Bing Edwards. He also starred in Room Service on-stage before heading to Hollywood, where he was signed by Warner Bros. to recreate his stage role in the 1938 film Brother Rat. Albert was known for his comedic work during the early years of his career -- his other early major credits included The Boys From Syracuse and Boy Meets Girl on-stage and On Your Toes (1939) onscreen. When he did appear in dramas, such as A Dispatch From Reuters (1940), it was usually as a light, secondary lead or male ingénue, similar to the kinds of parts that Dick Powell played during his callow, youthful days. Albert had an independent streak that made him unusual among actors of his era -- he actually quit Warner Bros. at one point, preferring to work as a circus performer for eight dollars per day. The outbreak of World War II sent Albert into the U.S. Navy as a junior officer, and he distinguished himself during 1943 in the fighting on Tarawa. Assigned as the salvage officer in the shore party of the second landing wave (which engaged in heavy fighting with the Japanese), his job was to examine military equipment abandoned on the battlefield to see if it should be retrieved; but what he found were wounded men who had been left behind under heavy fire. Albert took them off the beach in a small launch not designed for that task, earning commendations for his bravery. A bona fide hero, he was sent home to support a War Bond drive (though he never traded on his war experiences, and didn't discussing them in detail on-camera until the 1990s). When Albert resumed his acting career in 1945, he had changed; he displayed a much more serious, intense screen persona, even when he was doing comedy. He was also a much better actor, though it took ten years, and directors Robert Aldrich and David Miller, to show the movie-going public just how good he was. Ironically, when Albert did return to films, the roles weren't really there for him, so he turned to television and theatrical work during the early '50s. His best movie from this period was The Dude Goes West (1948), an offbeat comedy-Western directed by Kurt Neumann in a vein similar to Along Came Jones. The mid-'50s saw Albert finally achieve recognition as a serious actor, first with his Oscar-nominated supporting performance in William Wyler's hit Roman Holiday (1953) and then, three years later, in Robert Aldrich's brutal World War II drama Attack!, in which he gave the performance of a lifetime as a cowardly, psychopathic army officer. From that point on, Albert got some of the choicest supporting dramatic parts in Hollywood, in high-profile movies such as The Longest Day and small-scale gems like David Miller's Captain Newman, M.D. Indeed, the latter film, in which he played a more sympathetic disturbed military officer, might represent his single best performance onscreen. His ability at comedy wasn't forgotten, however, and, in 1965, he took on the starring role of Oliver Wendell Douglas (opposite Eva Gabor) in the TV series Green Acres, in which he got to play the straight man to an array of top comic performers for six seasons. The show developed a cult following among viewers, ranging from small children to college students, and became a pop-culture institution. The movie business had changed by the time Albert re-entered films in 1971, but he still snagged an Oscar nomination for his work (in a difficult anti-Semitic role) in Elaine May's
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
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Attack
100% -
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Roman Holiday
98% -
Filmography
Movies
Rating |
Title |
Credit |
Box
|
Year |
---|---|---|---|---|
91% | The Kid Stays in the Picture | Actor | $1.4M | 2002 |
The Barefoot Executive | Herbert Gower | — | 1995 | |
Brenda Starr | Maloney | — | 1992 | |
Girl From Mars | Dr. Charles Favender | — | 1991 | |
91% | The Big Picture | Emcee | — | 1989 |
The Heist | Actor | — | 1989 | |
Fist Fighter | Actor | — | 1989 | |
The Rescue | Actor | — | 1988 | |
Accidents | Eddie Powers | — | 1988 | |
Turnaround | Actor | — | 1987 | |
Mercy or Murder? | Joe Varon | — | 1987 | |
Distortions | Actor | — | 1987 | |
Getting Even (Hostage: Dallas) | Actor | — | 1986 | |
0% | Head Office | Helmes | — | 1986 |
Dress Gray | Judge Hand | — | 1986 | |
Stitches | Dean Bradley | — | 1985 | |
Burning Rage | Will Larson | — | 1984 | |
77% | Dreamscape | The President | — | 1984 |
The Demon Murder Case | Actor | — | 1983 | |
Fall Guy | Actor | — | 1982 | |
33% | Yes, Giorgio | Henry Pollack | — | 1982 |
The House Where Evil Dwells | Actor | — | 1982 | |
Beyond Witch Mountain | Actor | — | 1982 | |
Goliath Awaits | Admiral Sloan | — | 1981 | |
Night School (Terror Eyes) | Actor | — | 1981 | |
Peter and Paul | Festus | — | 1981 | |
Yesterday (Gabrielle) (Scoring) (The Victory) (This Time Forever) | Bart Kramer | — | 1981 | |
Take This Job and Shove It | Samuel Ellison | — | 1981 | |
Beulah Land | Felix Kendrick | — | 1980 | |
How to Beat the High Cost of Living | Max | — | 1980 | |
Foolin' Around | Daggett | — | 1980 | |
14% | The Concorde... Airport '79 | Eli | — | 1979 |
The Border | Moffat | — | 1979 | |
Crash of Flight 401 | Captain Dunn | — | 1978 | |
The Word | Actor | — | 1978 | |
The Greek Tycoon | Actor | — | 1978 | |
The Domino Principle | Actor | — | 1977 | |
Moving Violation | Alex Warren | — | 1977 | |
Birch Interval | Pa Strawacher | — | 1976 | |
63% | Hustle | Leo Sellers | — | 1975 |
Whiffs | Col. Lockyer | — | 1975 | |
76% | Escape to Witch Mountain | Jason | — | 1975 |
18% | The Devil's Rain | Dr. Sam Richards | — | 1975 |
81% | The Longest Yard | Warden Rudolph Hazen | — | 1974 |
50% | McQ | Kosterman | — | 1974 |
The Borrowers | Pod Clock | — | 1973 | |
Fireball Forward | Col. Douglas Graham | — | 1972 | |
92% | The Heartbreak Kid | Mr. Corcoran | — | 1972 |
Columbo: Dead Weight | Actor | — | 1971 | |
Mouse on the Mayflower | Actor | — | 1968 | |
7 Women | Charles Pether | — | 1966 | |
Party's Over | Ben | — | 1966 | |
Green Acres - The Collector's Edition | Actor | — | 1965 | |
Strange Voyage (El extraño viaje) | Chris Thompson | — | 1964 | |
Captain Newman, M.D. | Col. Bliss | — | 1963 | |
Miracle of the White Stallions | Rider Otto | — | 1963 | |
Who's Got the Action? | Clint Morgan | — | 1963 | |
87% | The Longest Day | Col. Thompson | — | 1962 |
Madison Avenue | Actor | — | 1962 | |
The Young Doctors | Dr. Charles Dornberger | — | 1961 | |
Beloved Infidel | Bob Carter | — | 1959 | |
Orders to Kill | Maj. MacMahon | — | 1958 | |
The Roots of Heaven | Abe Fields | — | 1958 | |
The Gun Runners | Hanagan | — | 1958 | |
The Sun Also Rises | Bill Gorton | — | 1957 | |
The Joker Is Wild | Austin Mack | — | 1957 | |
100% | Attack | Capt. Erskine Cooney | — | 1956 |
Bell Science - Our Mr. Sun | Actor | — | 1956 | |
I'll Cry Tomorrow | Burt McGuire | — | 1955 | |
88% | Oklahoma! | Ali Hakim | — | 1955 |
98% | Roman Holiday | Irving Radovich | — | 1953 |
80% | Carrie | Charles Drouet | — | 1952 |
Actors and Sin | Orlando Higgens | — | 1952 | |
Meet Me After the Show | Christopher Leeds | — | 1951 | |
100% | You're in the Navy Now | Lt. Bill Barron | — | 1951 |
The Fuller Brush Girl | Humphrey Briggs | — | 1950 | |
Every Girl Should Be Married | Harry Proctor/'Old' Joe | — | 1949 | |
You Gotta Stay Happy | Bullets Baker | — | 1948 | |
The Dude Goes West | Daniel Bone | — | 1948 | |
80% | Unconquered | Mermaid barker | — | 1947 |
Time Out Of Mind | Jake Bullard | — | 1947 | |
Smash Up: The Story of a Woman | Steve Nelson | — | 1947 | |
Rendezvous with Annie | Cpl. Jeffrey Dolan | — | 1946 | |
The Perfect Marriage | Gil Cummins | — | 1946 | |
Bombardier | Tom Hughes | — | 1943 | |
Ladies' Day | Wacky Waters | — | 1943 | |
Out of the Fog | George Watkins | — | 1941 | |
The Wagons Roll At Night | Matt Varney | — | 1941 | |
Four Mothers | Clint Forrest | — | 1941 | |
My Love Came Back | Dusty Rhodes | — | 1940 | |
An Angel From Texas | Peter 'Tex' Coleman | — | 1940 | |
Brother Rat and a Baby (Baby Be Good) | 'Bing' Edwards | — | 1940 | |
Four Wives | Dr. Clinton Forrest Jr. | — | 1939 | |
On Your Toes | Phil Dolan Jr. | — | 1939 | |
Brother Rat | "Bing" Edwards | — | 1938 |
TV
Rating |
Title |
Credit |
Year |
---|---|---|---|
Murder, She Wrote
1984-1996
|
Jackson Lane |
|
|
The Twilight Zone
1985-1989
|
|
||
Beauty and the Beast
1987-1990
|
|
||
Highway to Heaven
1984-1989
|
Corky McCorkindale |
|
|
Kung Fu
1972-1975
|
Baxter |
|
|
Columbo
1968-2003
|
General |
|
|
Green Acres
1965-1971
|
Oliver Douglas Oliver/Charlie Oliver Wendell Douglas |
|
|
The Beverly Hillbillies
1962-1971
|
Oliver |
|
|
100% |
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
1964-1968
|
Brother Love |
|
Rawhide
1959-1965
|
Taylor Dickson |
|
|
War and Remembrance
1988-1989
|
Breckenridge Long |
|
QUOTES FROM Eddie Albert CHARACTERS
- Irving Radovich
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Joe, we can't go running around town with a hot princess!
- Joe Bradley
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Irving! Am I glad to see you!
- Irving Radovich
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Why? Did you forget your wallet?
- Helmes
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DIS-CO-NECT!