Albert Salmi Movies
Brawny, Brooklyn-born Albert Salmi was trained in the late '40s at the Actors Studio and American Theatre Wing. Extremely busy on-stage and live TV in the 1950s, Salmi was seen in such roles as the dimwitted "doom-ded" ballplayer in the 1956 TV adaptation of Mark Harris' Bang the Drum Slowly. His first significant Broadway appearance was as the overexuberant rodeo star in William Inge's Bus Stop. Salmi made his film debut as the epileptic Smerdyakov in The Brothers Karamazov (1958). Equally adept at buffoonery and brutality, Salmi often found himself cast in the 1960s as comic relief on one TV program, only to appear later in the week as a sadistic gunslinger or slavering serial killer on another show. He was also seen on a weekly basis as Yadkin on the Daniel Boone series of the 1960s and as Pete Ritter on the 1970s cop series Petrocelli. Albert Salmi apparently killed both himself and his estranged, terminally ill wife in 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1960
En route to Monterey, Paladin (Richard Boone) is detained by a group of men who let him pass only when satisfied that he has never heard of someone named Vernon Good. Upon arrival, Paladin is met by an ill-tempered priest (Albert Salmi)--and by Vernon Good (John Mauldin), who has taken refuge in the priest's mission to avoid a lynch mob. Needless to say, Vernon's problem quickly becomes Paladin's problem--if the priest is willing to let it be so. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Filmed on location in the Tennessee Valley, Wild River is set in the early 1930s. Montgomery Clift plays an idealistic TVA agent, assigned to convince the locals to move from their property so that a beneficial dam can be built. The principal holdout is feisty octogenarian Jo Van Fleet, who refuses to budge from her land, convinced that she will die if she ever gives an inch. Her prophecy turns out to be true, as Van Fleet becomes yet another sacrifice to progress. Clift also runs into opposition because of his fair treatment of the local black population. Lee Remick costars as Van Fleet's granddaughter, who comes to love and understand the sensitive Clift. Some dated fuzzy-headed liberalism aside, Wild River is a masterful recreation of a difficult, complex period in American history. Watch for an uncredited Bruce Dern in his film debut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick, (more)
- 1960
Stella Stevens guest-stars as Ann Croft, a sheltered deaf-mute girl. Joe Cartwright tries to teach Ann sign language, only to be thwarted by the girl's fiercely overprotective father Albie (Albert Salmi). In the course of John Furia Jr.'s teleplay, Ann ends up saving her father's life, and also falls in love with Joe (the kiss of death for any Bonanza leading lady!) Also appearing are Kenneth McKenna as Sam, James Griffith as the Preacher, Sherwood Price as Eb and Harry Swoger as Tom. Originally telecast on December 10, 1960, "Silent Thunder" was the first of of several Bonanza episodes directed by Robert Altman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, (more)
One of Hollywood's most famous and acclaimed directors, John Huston guides this western with an unerring hand -- the cast of notable stars is no drawback either. Setting up the story with a series of suspenseful scenes, Huston has a mysterious stranger on horseback come into a small community in the Texas Panhandle and then proceed to cause a mini-war. The time is the mid-19th century and there is already antagonism between the white settlers in the community and the local Kiowa Indian nation. The Zachary family is at the crux of the trouble. Matilda (Lillian Gish) is the matriarch who holds a family secret -- her adopted daughter Rachel (Audrey Hepburn) is actually a Kiowa child. There are three brothers in the Zachary family, and one of them, Ben (Burt Lancaster) is obviously in love with Rachel. Another, Cash (Audie Murphy) hates Native Americans, while the youngest (Doug McClure) is there to defend the family when they need it. The stranger on horseback has done the unthinkable, he has made it widely known that Rachel is a Kiowa -- and then the battles begin. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn, (more)
- 1960
This two-part episode chronicles the life and career of Dutch-born Peter Hurkos, who has been authenticated by scientific experts as one of the world's few genuine psychics. Part One begins during WW2, as Hurkos (Albert Salmi) is fighting with the Resistance in Denmark. Falling from a rooftop, he lapses into a coma--and upon regaining consciousness, finds he has been endowed with the gift of prophecy. On a more disturbing note, he now has the ability to determine the good and evil in a person merely by touching him. Unable to cope with his psychic powers, Hurkos begins drinking heavily, then squanders his talents in the entertainment world...until a remarkable event turns his life around. For years, "The Peter Hurkos Story" was missing from the One Step Beyond syndication package. . .on orders from Hurkos himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
This two-part episode chronicles the life and career of Dutch-born Peter Hurkos, who has been authenticated by scientific experts as one of the world's few genuine psychics. In Part Two, Hurkos (Albert Salmi) arrives in the US after several aimless years in which he has squandered his talents as a sideshow entertainers. Though he undergoes extensive testing to verify his psychic powers, many people are still skeptical--until he uses his unique gifts to solve a murder. The real Peter Hurkos appears in the closing segment. The two parts of "The Peter Hurkos Story"were later combined and released as a theatrical feature in Europe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Brooding Gregory Peck arrives in a small western town to witness the hanging of the men whom he holds responsible for the murder of his wife (they've been arrested for an unrelated crime). Through the help of a duplicitous executioner, the gang escapes--taking Kathleen Gallant as hostage. The vengeful Peck hunts the fugitives down and kills them in cold blood. He is forced to ask himself if he's any better than the criminals when he discovers that the fugitives, though justly convicted of murder, had nothing to do with his wife's death. The Bravados is as grim and compelling as the earlier Henry King/Gregory Peck western The Gunfighter. And yes, that's "Curly" Joe DeRita, of Three Stooges fame, in the role of the menacing hangman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Joan Collins, (more)
- 1958
Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov is given a Hollywood screen treatment by producer Pandro S. Berman and director Richard Brooks. Yul Brynner plays Dmitri Karamazov, a callous Russian officer who cuckolds his domineering father (Lee J. Cobb) with the old man's mistress Grushenka (Maria Schell). Richard Basehart is Dmitri's intellectual brother Ivan, while William Shatner is the pious Alexey Karamazov; both men eventually enjoy the attentions of the willing Grushenka. The Karamazovs' half-brother is Smedyakov (Albert Salmi), an epileptic whose purpose in the story is clarified after the family patriarch's murder. It is now part of Hollywood folklore that Marilyn Monroe fought long and hard to be cast as the enigmatic Grushenka. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yul Brynner, Maria Schell, (more)
- 1958
Practical joker Bradley (Albert Salmi) chooses as his next victim Pop Henderson (Roscoe Ames), the nearsighted, hearing-impaired attendant at the local morgue. Sneaking onto a slab, Bradley pretends to be a corpse -- and when he "comes to life," the terrified Henderson nearly jumps out of his skin, and almost loses his job. But there's a comeuppance in store for Bradley when one of his previous victims knocks him unconscious, leaving him in a state of complete paralysis.... ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
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While waiting at a train station, Mr. Jones (Albert Salmi) becomes convinced that another traveler, Mr. Bellfontaine (Robert H. Harris), is an escaped psycho killer -- and Bellfontaine arrives at the same conclusion about Jones. Their paranoia is fed by a policeman (Ken Clarke), who evidently thinks that either one of the men could be the killer. Sure enough, there's a criminal at large at the train station -- but his identity comes as quite a surprise. This was the final episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents' second season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
First published in early 1956, Mark Harris's baseball novel Bang the Drum Slowly was swiftly adapted for television; on September 24, 1956, a streamlined 60-minute version of the Harris novel was telecast live on The US Steel Hour. Paul Newman plays Henry Wiggen, a slang-happy, unabashedly self-promotional pitcher for the fictional New York Mammoths. Wiggen spends a great deal of his free time protecting his dimwitted roomate, catcher Bruce Pearson (Albert Salmi), from being dropped from the team. It's not that Henry is overly fond of Bruce; it's simply that he knows (but the rest of the team doesn't) that Bruce is dying of Hodgkin's disease. This TV adaptation remains faithful to the first-person singular style of the novel by having Henry periodically step "out" of the drama to address the audience: this device is most effective at the finale when, after tearfully recalling the "ragging" he often gave his now-deceased teammate, Henry sobs "From here on, I rag nobody." A very young George Peppard appears as Piney Woods, the country-boy ballplayer who sings the ballad from which the drama's title is derived. A kinescoped version of Bang the Drum Slowly was included in the 1981 PBS anthology The Golden Age of Television. Harris' novel was later adapted into a 1973 theatrical feature, starring Michael Moriarty as Henry and Robert De Niro as the "doom-ded" Bruce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Albert Salmi, (more)
