Albert Salmi

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Albert Salmi (March 11, 1928 – April 22, 1990) was an American actor.

[edit] Biography

Albert Salmi was born in Brooklyn, New York to Finnish immigrant parents, and following a stint in the Army, took up acting as a career, studying Method acting with Lee Strasberg. In 1955, Salmi starred in Bus Stop on Broadway. He elected to take the show on the road where he fell in love with and married his leading lady, former child star Peggy Ann Garner on 16 May 1956. Their only child, Catherine Ann Salmi died in 1995 at the age of 38.

He made his film debut as Smerdjakov in the 1958 movie version of The Brothers Karamazov with Yul Brynner, Lee J. Cobb, William Shatner, and Richard Basehart. Albert's next film was The Bravados in which he played one of the villains hunted down by hero Gregory Peck. The National Board of Review presented Albert with the NBR Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in both of these films.

He held several memorable roles on The Twilight Zone. He also appeared in a Gunsmoke episode as a killer who comes to an ironic end.

Salmi and Garner divorced on 13 March 1963. Around the same time, he started a role as the comical Yadkin on TV's Daniel Boone opposite Fess Parker. He also had a regular role on the 1970s TV law series Petrocelli. In the series Land of the Giants last episode he appeared as a pair of evil twins.

The high point of Salmi's career came in 1968, when he was cast in the Arthur Miller play The Price. He played the lead on Broadway and in London.

In 1990, Salmi and his second wife, Roberta, were found shot to death in their home in Spokane, Washington in what was ruled a murder-suicide. In all fairness, it should be noted that according to all accounts, Salmi was a loving, devoted husband. At the time of the shooting, his wife was terminally ill and Salmi himself was also in poor health. He had often said he could not imagine life without her.