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==Hobbies and Activism==
==Hobbies and Activism==
Eddie Albert had eight hobbies: boating, jogging, swimming, winemaking, beekeeping, sculpting, organic gardening and world travel. He was an out-spoken environmental and humanitarian activist, supporting issues such as creating of gardens in inner cities. He was one of the first people to call for a ban on the pesticide [[DDT]].
Albert's hobbies included boating, jogging, swimming, winemaking, beekeeping, sculpting, organic gardening and world travel. He was an out-spoken environmental and humanitarian activist, supporting issues such as creating of gardens in inner cities. He was one of the first people to call for a ban on the pesticide [[DDT]].


In [[1969]], he and his son ([[Edward Albert]]), sailed to [[Anacapa Island]] off the [[coast]] of [[California]], to examine the effects of DDT on the pelican population.
In [[1969]], he and his son ([[Edward Albert]]), sailed to [[Anacapa Island]] off the [[coast]] of [[California]], to examine the effects of DDT on the pelican population.

Revision as of 21:04, 22 January 2007

Eddie Albert
from the film Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (1947)

Eddie Albert, born Edward Albert Heimberger, (April 22, 1906 – May 26, 2005) was a popular Oscar and Emmy Award-nominated American stage, film, character actor, gardener and humanitarian activist, perhaps best known for playing Bing Edwards in the Brother Rat films, or for his role in the 1960's television comedy Green Acres. He was nominated for Oscars in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday and in 1972 for The Heartbreak Kid. In an acting career that spanned nearly seven decades, two of his better known television roles were Oliver Wendell Douglas on the popular 1960s sitcom, Green Acres, and Frank MacBride on the popular 1970s crime drama, Switch. He also had a recurring role as Carlton Travis on Falcon Crest, opposite Jane Wyman.

Early life

He was born on April 22, 1906. His year of birth was frequently shown as 1908, but this is incorrect. While many Hollywood figures have often given years of birth later than their true ones (in order to present themselves as being younger than they are), the motivation in this case was that Albert's parents were unmarried when Albert was born, but had married by 1908. His mother altered his birth certificate to 1908 at some point.

The oldest of five children, of Christian German immigrants, Frank Heimberger, who was a real estate agent, and Julia Heimberger, who was a stay-at-home mother, Albert was born Edward Albert Heimberger in Rock Island, Illinois. Just one year after he was born, he and his family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where his family had a difficult time getting used to adjusting Eddie's life in the city, rather than living in a small town, and tempers flare between him and his family. When he was 6, he was forced to get his first job as a newspaper boy. During World War I, he was taunted as "the enemy" by his classmates in the third grade. At age 14, he enrolled at Central High School where he joined the school's Drama Department. His interests were restricted to the stage, but he had a strong appetite for reading - everything from philosophy to science. After graduation from high school in 1924, he entered The University of Minnesota where he majored in business, and subsequently looked for a business job. However, all that changed in 1929, when the stock market crashed, he got to work for several odd jobs such as, an amateur singer, a trapeze performer, an insurance salesman and a nightclub singer. Albert dropped his last name "Heimberger", because it was almost invariably mangled into "Hamburger", changing his name to Eddie Albert. In 1933, he traveled to New York City, where he co-hosted on the popular radio show, The Honeymooners -- Grace and Eddie Show, which ran for three years. Also in 1936, he was also offered a film contract from Warner Bros., due to his popularity on the radio show.

Career

In the 1930s Albert performed in Broadway stage productions, including Brother Rat, which opened in 1936. He had lead roles in Room Service (1937-1938) and The Boys from Syracuse (1938-1939). In 1936, Albert had also become one of the earliest television actors, performing live in RCA's first television broadcast, a promotion for their New York City radio stations.

In 1938, he made his feature film debut in the Hollywood version of Brother Rat, reprising his Broadway role as cadet "Bing" Edwards. His contract with Warner Bros. was abruptly terminated in 1941, purportedly because of an affair he was having with studio head Jack L. Warner's wife. (Warner had previously pulled him off a picture as it was being shot and kept him under contract for a period afterwards primarily as a way of preventing him from getting other work). One example of the pictures he was doing during this period is Treat 'Em Rough (1942) with William Frawley and Peggy Moran, in which he played a boxer called "the Panama Kid."

World War II

Albert served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy in the Pacific during World War II. A genuine war hero, he was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions during the Battle of Tarawa in 1943, when he rescued 70 wounded Marines while under heavy enemy fire. He later described some of these events during a short interview in a segment of a program about the war, which appeared on the History Channel.

Albert returned from the war a different actor with a darker screen persona, although it would take another ten years before he became better known to audiences. He appeared in The Longest Day (1962), on the Normandy Invasion. The film Attack! (1956) provided Albert with his most serious role as a cowardly, psychotic Army captain whose behavior threatens the safety of his company, including a wounded lieutenant played by Jack Palance. In a similar vein he played a psychotic United States Army Air Force colonel in Captain Newman, MD, opposite Gregory Peck. He also played murderer General Martin Hollister in the third Columbo episode, "Dead Weight".

Prolific character actor

Since 1948, Albert enjoyed being both a popular and beloved character actor, and guest-starred in over 90 TV series. He made his guest-starring debut on an episode of The Ford Theatre Hour. This part led to other roles such as The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre, Suspense, Lights Out, Somerset Maugham TV Theatre, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Studio One, Danger, The Philco Television Playhouse, The Phillip Morris Playhouse, Your Show of Shows, General Electric Theater, Front Row Center, and The Alcoa Hour, among others. He also had a recurring role as lawyer, Oliver Wendell Douglas, on Petticoat Junction, a parent show of Green Acres, in 1965.

Stage actor

The 1950s also saw a return to Broadway for Albert, including roles in Miss Liberty (1949-1950) and The Seven Year Itch (ran 1952-1955). In 1960, Albert replaced Robert Preston in the lead role of Professor Harold Hill, in the Broadway production of The Music Man.

1950s and 1960s movie career

File:Audreyhepburnromanholiday.jpg
Eddie Albert, Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in a promotional photograph for Roman Holiday

The 1950s saw Albert appear in film roles, such as Lucille Ball's husband in The Fuller Brush Girl (1950) and a traveling salesman in Carrie (1952). He was nominated for his first Oscar as Best Supporting Actor with Roman Holiday (1953). In Oklahoma! (1955), he played a man-stealer who wanted to use a beautiful woman, and in Who's Got the Action? (1962), he portrayed a lawyer helping his partner (Dean Martin) cope with a gambling addiction.

Green Acres

In 1965, after turning down the lead roles in Mister Ed and My Three Sons, Albert was approached by producer Paul Henning to star in a new sitcom for CBS called Green Acres, which was a successful spinoff of Petticoat Junction. His character, Oliver Wendell Douglas, was a lawyer who wanted to leave his busy city life to enjoy a simple life as a farmer in Hooterville. Critics publicly praised of Albert's acting techniques and insane characters who couldn't keep the rural area together. The show was an immediate hit, coming #5 in the ratings in its first season.

By 1971, Green Acres was still reasonably popular, but was cancelled when CBS decided to discontinue their lineup of rural-themed programs due to changing tastes and because they were sensitive to the fact that they had been disparagingly referred to in the press as the "Country Broadcasting System".

Legendary Hungarian actress Eva Gabor, younger sister of actresses Magda Gabor and Zsa Zsa Gabor played Oliver's wife, Lisa Douglas. Also starring were several familiar actors/actresses, Frank Cady had a regular role as storekeeper Sam Drucker (who had a recurring role on the parent show, Petticoat Junction, from which Green Acres spun-off). Both Sid Melton & Mary Grace Canfield played the recurring roles of both brother and sister, Alf and Ralph Monroe. And also starring on Green Acres was unfamiliar actor Tom Lester who was cast in the role as Oliver & Lisa Douglas's overdoing farmhand, Eb Dawson, who called them his parents. Lester said a lot of things about his longtime friend, Albert was never angry, but was very frustrated with the entire cast despite of them incompleting the sentence. They also had to complete the dialogue. In addition, he said Albert also had a wonderful characteristic, just before he turned himself away. He also said that due to his popularity on Green Acres, as a traveler, he went to a lot of different places and gave out speeches about the environment and what was needed to be done to improve America.

1970s & 1980s film work

In 1972, Albert resumed his film career and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as an overprotective father, in The Heartbreak Kid (1972). He was reunited with former Switch co-star (Robert Wagner) in the movie The Concorde: Airport '79, and also appeared in such '80s films as How to Beat the High Co$t of Living (1980), Yesterday (1981), Take This Job and Shove It (1981), Yes, Giorgio (1982), and as the president in Dreamscape (1984). His final film role was as the chairman in Head Office (1985).

Switch

After a four-year-absence from the small screen, and upon reaching 70 in 1975, Albert starred in the popular 1970s adventure/crime drama, Switch for CBS, about a retired police officer who chooses to work as a private detective with a former criminal. Co-starring on the show was another veteran movie and television star Robert Wagner, who played Albert's TV ex-con man and friendly partner, Det. Pete T. Ryan, a very young unfamiliar actress Sharon Gless (who previously co-starred on Marcus Welby, M.D.) as Frank's & Pete's classy & charismatic receptionist Maggie, and New York comedian Charlie Callas played the role of Pete's & Frank's restaurant owner, Malcolm Argos, who was a thief and con man, and the entire cast got along great with Albert. During its first season Switch was a hit. By late 1976, the show became more serious and traditional, as Switch's storylines turned into a crime drama, whose shows played second-only to: Kojak, The Rockford Files, The Streets of San Francisco, among many other detective series. At the end of its third season in 1978, ratings were beginning to drop, and the show was cancelled, after 68 episodes.

As a mere eight-year-old, Wagner had watched his future mentor and friend in the 1938 classic movie, Brother Rat. In 1962, Wagner's new-found relationship with him all started when he had a supporting role in Albert's movie The Longest Day. He also said of his fan and old mentor that on Switch, he was doing it in a legimate way, striving to do better and better all the time, while Wagner himself was doing it in an illegitimate way, but have learned a lot from Albert. The following year after Switch's demise, Wagner would be reunited with Albert for one last time to star in The Concorde: Airport '79, before he went on to gain greater fame starring in the successful 1980s crime drama, Hart to Hart. Also, after the show's cancellation, Wagner kept in touch with him for the next 27 years until Albert's own death.

1980s work

In the mid-1980s, Albert was known for endorsing the popular public service message, the National Arbor Day Foundation, and was reunited with co-star of the Brother Rat and An Angel from Texas movies, Jane Wyman, in a recurring role as Carlton Travis in the popular 1980s soap opera, Falcon Crest. He also guest starred on a popular episode of the 80s television series, Highway to Heaven, and in 1990 he reunited with Eva Gabor for a Return To Green Acres.

Hobbies and Activism

Albert's hobbies included boating, jogging, swimming, winemaking, beekeeping, sculpting, organic gardening and world travel. He was an out-spoken environmental and humanitarian activist, supporting issues such as creating of gardens in inner cities. He was one of the first people to call for a ban on the pesticide DDT.

In 1969, he and his son (Edward Albert), sailed to Anacapa Island off the coast of California, to examine the effects of DDT on the pelican population.

Albert helped to launch the first Earth Day in 1970, which was designated on April 22, partly in honor of his birthday. He was also a special consultant at the World Hunger Conference in Rome in 1974, and a director to the U.S. Commission on Refugees.

Private life

Albert married actress María Marguerita Guadalupe Boldao y Castilla O'Donnell (better known by her stage name Margo) on December 5, 1945, and they remained together until her death of a brain tumour on July 17, 1985.

Eddie and Margo Albert lived in Pacific Palisades, California. Their home was described as unpretentious. It was a Spanish-style house on an acre of land with a cornfield in the front yard. Eddie grew organic vegetables in a greenhouse he had in the back yard, and fondly remembered how his parents had a "liberty garden" at home during the First World War.

The Alberts had two children: Edward and Maria.

  • Edward Albert (1951-2006) was an actor, musician, singer, and linguist. He put his acting career aside for eight years to care for his father in his last years. He died at age 55, only one year after his father.
  • His adopted daughter, Maria Albert Zucht, who is married and has one daughter, Mia, worked as her father's business manager.

Eddie Albert suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his last years. It has been noted that, unusually for Alzheimer's patients, he exercised regularly until shortly before his death.

Death

On May 26, 2005, he died of pneumonia at the age of 99 at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California. He was interred at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California, next to his wife, Margo and his Green Acres co-star Eva Gabor. Eddie's family were joined by the many mourners at a private funeral including those of, Nanette Fabray, Shirley Jones, Jane Wyman, Robert Wagner, Charlie Callas, and several of Eddie's Green Acres's co-stars, Sid Melton, Mary Grace Canfield, and Frank Cady. Tom Lester did not attend the funeral due to other commitments.

Eddie Albert has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6441 Hollywood Boulevard.

Quotes

Eddie: "I don't really care how I am remembered as long as I bring happiness and joy to people." (Source: IMDB.com)

Eddie, in a personal journal: "By the time I leave this Earth, I hope to have improved our relationships here and now, so that in the next generation my son, daughter and friends have my shoulders on which to stand, so it's easier to make their contribution." (Source: ABC News)

Edward Jr. about his dad: "With Papa, the thing that was most important was the quality of love and, almost equal to love, growth. Since I was little, he emphasized growth. That's something he passed on to me." (Source: Grandtimes.com)

Filmography

References

  • "Eddie Albert". Internet Broadway Database (IBDB). Retrieved January 16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  • "Eddie Albert". Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved January 16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)


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