Noam Pitlik Movies

Produced by Stanley Kramer, A Child is Waiting is set in an institution for the mentally handicapped, with many actual residents playing supporting and bit roles. Doctor Burt Lancaster and instructor Judy Garland often find themselves at odds over teaching methods, with Garland preferring an intense one-on-one approach with her students. Bruce Ritchey, a non-developmentally challenged youth, plays the retarded son of Gena Rowlands and Steven Hill, whose intellectual and social progress becomes the focal point of the film. The most uplifting sequence in A Child is Waiting takes place during a play staged by the genuinely handicapped children for their parents; while director John Cassavetes gilds the lily with close-ups of the teary-eyed audience, the kids themselves are earnest, engaging, and totally devoid of self-pity. According to Stanley Kramer, Judy Garland left her best work in this film on the cutting room floor; whenever completing a scene in which she'd exercised professional restraint, she'd insist upon a retake, then resort to the sobbing and breast-beating that her fans had come to expect. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Comic actor Bob Dishyappears in this episode as a pharmacist who has made it his mission in life to protest against artificial food additives. The pharmacist takes his crusade to Mel's diner--where he announces his intention to dramatize his stand by committing suicide! The curious changes in the décor of Mel's Diner which are unique to this episode suggest that it was taped very early in Season Two, but held back for several months. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the fourth episode of an eight-part story arc, Darrin finds himself locked up in the Salem, MA, jail, accused of stealing an antique bedwarmer from the House of the Seven Gables. It soon turns out that the "stolen" item is actually a warlock in disguise -- namely, Sam's former boyfriend, Newton (Noam Pitlik). It is up to Sam to return Newton to his original form, a task made doubly difficult by the fact that the witch who originally cast the spell is nowhere to be found. Actress/playwright Joan Hotchkis appears as Miss Ferndale. Written by Ed Jurist, "Samantha's Hot Bedwarmer" originally aired on October 15, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While Pvt. Steve Kovac (Chad Everett) is out on patrol, Lt. Hanley receives word that Kovac's wife is dying. Though he intends to give the man emergency leave, Hanley decides to withhold the tragic information until the patrol has returned. Meanwhile, Kovac is trapped in a basement with the rest of the squad--and all that is keeping him from succumbing to panic and despair is the "certainty" that his wife will be waiting for him when he comes home. This is the final episode of Combat's third season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Michael Ritchie's ongoing satirical spin on the American Dream is dressed up in quasi-documentary fashion in Downhill Racer. Robert Redford stars as an Olympic-grade skier, whose talent is matched only by his aloof self-involvement. As the cocksure Redford rises to the top of his class, he discards any emotional attachments that might impede his progress, ranging from girlfriends to his own father. When Redford finally attains his goal in life, the thrill of victory is an empty one indeed. The cold-bloodedness of Redford's character may have worked against Downhill Racer at the box office; on the other hand, Ritchie's similarly structured political satire The Candidate offered a "warmer" Redford -- but it, too, was a box-office disappointment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When an aging philanthropist falls on hard times, her butler starts to rob the rich so that she can keep on giving to the poor in this comedy. Claude Fitzwilliam (Dick Van Dyke), known to his friends as "Fitzwilly," works as a butler for Victoria Woodworth (Edith Evans), who -- ever since the death of her husband -- has been using her inheritance to benefit her favorite charitable causes. However, no one has the heart to tell Mrs. Woodworth that she doesn't have much money left, and to compensate for the shortfall brought on by her philanthropy, Fitzwilly and his fellow domestics have been pulling a series of robberies at department stores. When Mrs. Woodworth gets the idea of compiling "A Dictionary for Dopes," which indexes phonetic spellings of commonly misspelled words, she hires Juliet Nowell (Barbara Feldon) to help on the project as a secretary. Juliet senses that there's something fishy about Fitzwilly, especially when she finds out that he has a college education but earns a meager salary as a butler, and she imagines the worst when she finds out about his criminal activities. Watch for Sam Waterston in a small role; this was his first film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Hogan faces the daunting task of arranging the mass escape of an entire American bomber crew. To this end, Hogan's men construct a huge snowman to camouflage the escape route -- and hope against hope that the weather doesn't change! Noam Pitlik, who played the double agent in the Hogan's Heroes pilot episode, is here cast as U.S.A.F. Captain Morgan. Written by Arthur Julian, "Everybody Loves a Snowman" first aired on December 9, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Major Strauss (Noam Pitlik) comes a-snooping at Stalag 13, suspicious about Klink's "perfect" no-escape record. Discovering that Klink has been -- er -- "borrowing" from the camp's treasury, Strauss orders that the Kommandant be turned over to the Gestapo. Hogan must save Klink so that he can carry out a mass escape plan. Written by Laurence Marks, "Standing Room Only" made its first network appearance on February 20, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Noam Pitlik, who played a German double agent in the very first episode of Hogan's Heroes, is here cast as Capt. Karl Metzler, a German radio expert. In desperate need of Metzler's services, Hogan makes a foray into a nearby village to save the German officer from Gestapo assassins. Likewise making a return appearance to the series is Sabrina Scharf, this time in the role of Luisa. Written by Laurence Marks, "The Experts" originally aired on September 27, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Carter disguises himself as Klink during a sabotage mission. Holding Klink responsible for the attack, the Gestapo have him arrested and sentenced to execution. Hogan must find a way to simultaneously rescue Klink and Carter, who is off on another mission in the same disguise. "Will the Real Colonel Klink Please Stand Up Against the Wall" was written by future All in the Family stalwart Bill Davenport and was first broadcast on December 21, 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Baseball star Clint Atkins (Gary Collins) is being plagued with hate mail, extortion notes, death threats and even a mysterious barrage of gas pellets. Curiously, Atkins insists that the police stay out of the matter, and that he will handle the problem all by himself. Naturally, Ironside (Raymond Burr) isn't about to let that happen. Featured in the cast are several authentic major league umpires, as well as guest star Gary Collins' real-life wife Mary Ann Mobley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Martin (Ray Walston) takes a picture of Tim (Bill Bixby) with his "futuroid" camera, the result being a photo showing Tim getting married the very next day to a mysterious woman whose face is obscured. To avoid this fate, Tim swears off girls for the next 24 hours. Alas, he has reckoned without sexy hat-check girl Louise Babcock (Yvonne Craig), a haughty lass who has never given Tim the time of day...until now! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With All in the Family reaping huge ratings and even huger controversy on CBS, producer Norman Lear was able to sell another "chancy" sitcom project to rival network NBC. Like Family, which was inspired by the British comedy series Till Death Us Do Part, Lear's Sanford and Son was based on a long-running Britcom, Steptoe and Son, the saga of two cockney junk dealers. Also like Family, Sanford debuted as a mid-season replacement, in this case supplanted the failed Jack Webb drama The D.A. Originally, Lear had planned to build his version of Sanford and Son around two Jewish characters, but the upsurge in (and demand for) more African-American faces on television emboldened the producer to change the leading roles from Jewish to black. Veteran nightclub comedian Redd Foxx was cast as the irascible Fred Sanford (Foxx's real name was in fact John Elroy Sanford), a 65-year-old junk dealer living and working in a racially mixed Los Angeles neighborhood. Fred's son and business partner, 25-year-old bachelor Lamont Sanford, was played by Demond Wilson, whom Lear had hired on the strength of a guest appearance on All in the Family. The basic Sanford and Son premise was established from the beginning, with the crotchety Fred comfortably settled in his just-getting-by junk business, commiserating with his buddies in his off hours, occasionally squiring his erstwhile fiancée, nurse Donna Harris (Lynn Hamilton), and spewing forth hilarious insults about everyone in general and other minority groups in particular. Although he loved and was devoted to his father, Lamont was forever seeking to better his life by looking beyond the junkyard, but whenever Lamont announced his intention of leaving the family business -- or, for that matter, whenever Lamont disagreed with his father on anything -- Fred would conveniently suffer a "heart attack," invoking the name of his late wife by clutching his chest, looking heavenward and shouting "I'm comin', Elizabeth!" As with any successful sitcom, Sanford and Son boasted a steady stream of supporting characters. In addition to the aforementioned Donna Harris, the series' first season yielded such peripheral personalities as police officers Smith (Hal Williams) and Swanhauser (Noam Pitlik), also known as Smitty and Swanny, and Fred's longtime buddy Melvin, played by Redd Foxx's onetime vaudeville partner Slappy White. Many of the first 14 Sanford and Son episodes were adapted from scripts originally written for its British prototype, Steptoe and Son. These scripts were not exactly word-for-word, given the fact that American television in A.D. 1972 was not quite ready for the frankness of its British counterpart, but the racy and sometimes ribald "flavor" was happily intact. Debuting Friday, January 14, 1972, Sanford and Son immediately "won" its Friday-night time slot, closing out its first season as America's sixth highest-rated program. The series would remain securely in the Top Ten list throughout its six-season run. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide