Alex Nicol
Encyclopedia
For the Distinguished Service Cross recipient, see Alexander Nicol.
Alex Nicol (January 20, 1916 - July 29, 2001) was an American
actor
and director
. Nicol appeared in many Westerns
including The Man from Laramie
(1955). He appeared in over forty feature films as well as directing many television
shows including The Wild Wild West
(1967), Tarzan (1966), and Daniel Boone
(1966). He also played many roles on Broadway
.
, in 1916. When his movie career started thirty-four years later he adjusted the year to 1919. "I was a little older than some of the other people under contract so I thought, 'Well, I'll cure that right now'," he later confessed. His father was the arms keeper at Sing Sing
. He studied at the Fagin School of Dramatic Arts before joining Maurice Evans'
theatrical company, with whom he made his Broadway debut with a walk-on in Henry IV, Part 1
(1939). Nicol then played Brick in Tennessee Williams's
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
.
However, it was as a character actor
that Nicol spent most of his career. He also directed
film
s, and appeared frequently on television.
His acting career was interrupted by a five-year stint in the army
. He served with the 101st Cavalry and attained the rank of Technical Sergeant
.
Upon discharge
, he enrolled at the Actors Studio
under Elia Kazan
. Nicol returned to Broadway in a revival of Clifford Odets
' pro-union drama Waiting for Lefty
(1946), followed by roles in Sundown Beach
(1948) and Forward the Heart (1948). Nicol was part of the original cast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's
musical South Pacific
(1949), playing one of the marines, but after a few weeks in the show he successfully auditioned to replace Ralph Meeker
as the Mannion in Mister Roberts
, and was also made understudy
to the play's star Henry Fonda
.
While acting in Mister Roberts, Nicol was seen by the Universal Studios
director George Sherman
, who was in New York City
to film The Sleeping City
(1950). He cast Nicol as a young doctor. Nicol was given a contract by Universal, and Sherman also directed his second film, Tomahawk
(1951), in which he played a cavalry
officer with a hatred of Indians
.
Small roles as a prisoner of war
in Target Unknown (1951) and a trainee pilot
in Air Cadet
(1951) preceded Nicol's first major part, co-starring with Frank Sinatra
and Shelley Winters
in the musical drama Meet Danny Wilson
(1952). In his next film he was an antagonist
again, causing Loretta Young
to be wrongly sent to prison
in Because of You
(1952). He played a troublesome sergeant in Red Ball Express
(1952), directed by Budd Boetticher
. Nicol's first lead role was opposite Maureen O'Hara
in The Redhead from Wyoming
(1953) directed by Lee Sholem
.
Going freelance, Nicol was directed by Daniel Mann
in About Mrs Leslie (1953) starring Shirley Booth
and Robert Ryan
. Nicol returned to Universal (at a much larger salary than he had been getting as a contract player) to appear in two George Sherman films, The Lone Hand (1953) and Dawn at Socorro (1954). Nicol then made three films in England
, most notably Ken Hughes
' The House Across the Lake (1954).
Anthony Mann
directed Nicol in his role as a navigator in Strategic Air Command
(1955), and it was Mann who then gave the actor his best-remembered role as the weak psychopathic son of a patriarch
rancher (Donald Crisp
) that menaced Jimmy Stewart
in The Man from Laramie (1955).
After a supporting role in Jacques Tourneur's
Great Day in the Morning
(1956) Nicol believed his Hollywood career was not progressing. In 1956 he returned to Broadway to replace Ben Gazzara
in the lead role of Brick, in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. When the Broadway run ended Nicol starred in the tour.
Nicol starred with Shelley Winters in the play Saturday Night Kid (1958). He then returned to Hollywood where he made his first film as a director, The Screaming Skull
(1958), in which he also acted.
Nicol traveled to Italy
when director Martin Ritt
gave him a role in Five Branded Women (1959). While there he was offered parts in other movies. He and his family remained in Europe
for two years.
Returning to the United States in 1961, he played Paul Anka's
father in the thriller Look in Any Window
(1961), then produced and directed a war film in Rome
, Then There Were Three (1961), in which he co-starred with Frank Latimore
. Subsequent acting roles included the The Twilight Zone
episode "Young Man's Fancy" in 1962, two westerns, The Savage Guns (1962) and Gunfighters of the Casa Grande (1964), and Roger Corman's
Bloody Mama
(1969) based on the life of Ma Barker
.
Nicol later worked as a director in television and did episodes of Daniel Boone, Wild Wild West, and many episodes for Tarzan starring Ron Ely. The last film in which he acted was A*P*E (1976), an independent movie made by a friend of the actor.
Alex Nicol is survived by his wife, Jean and his three children, Lisa Nicol, Alexander Nicol III, and Eric Nicol.
Alex Nicol (January 20, 1916 - July 29, 2001) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. Nicol appeared in many Westerns
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
including The Man from Laramie
The Man from Laramie
The Man from Laramie is an American Technicolor Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in the fifth and final of their Western collaborations, and their seventh collaboration overall. It was adapted from a story of the same title by Thomas T...
(1955). He appeared in over forty feature films as well as directing many television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
shows including The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
(1967), Tarzan (1966), and Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (TV series)
Daniel Boone is an American action/adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Native American friend, for the...
(1966). He also played many roles on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
.
Biography
He was born Alexander Livingston Nicol Jr., in Ossining, New YorkOssining (village), New York
Ossining is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 25,060 at the 2010 census. As a village, it is located in the Town of Ossining.-Geography:Ossining borders the eastern shores of the widest part of the Hudson River....
, in 1916. When his movie career started thirty-four years later he adjusted the year to 1919. "I was a little older than some of the other people under contract so I thought, 'Well, I'll cure that right now'," he later confessed. His father was the arms keeper at Sing Sing
Sing Sing
Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services in the town of Ossining, New York...
. He studied at the Fagin School of Dramatic Arts before joining Maurice Evans'
Maurice Evans (actor)
Maurice Herbert Evans was an English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. In terms of his screen roles, he is probably best known as Dr...
theatrical company, with whom he made his Broadway debut with a walk-on in Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...
(1939). Nicol then played Brick in Tennessee Williams's
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a play by Tennessee Williams. One of Williams's best-known works and his personal favorite, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955...
.
However, it was as a character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
that Nicol spent most of his career. He also directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s, and appeared frequently on television.
His acting career was interrupted by a five-year stint in the army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. He served with the 101st Cavalry and attained the rank of Technical Sergeant
Technical Sergeant
Technical Sergeant is the name of one current and two former enlisted ranks in the United States military.-United States Air Force:Technical Sergeant, or Tech Sergeant, is the sixth enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force, just above Staff Sergeant and below Master Sergeant. A technical sergeant is...
.
Upon discharge
Military discharge
A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve.-United States:Discharge or separation should not be confused with retirement; career U.S...
, he enrolled at the Actors Studio
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in the Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow who provided...
under Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
. Nicol returned to Broadway in a revival of Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester.-Early life:Odets was born in Philadelphia to Romanian- and Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Louis Odets and Esther Geisinger, and raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high...
' pro-union drama Waiting for Lefty
Waiting for Lefty
Waiting for Lefty is a 1935 play by American playwright Clifford Odets. Consisting of a series of related vignettes, the entire play is framed by the meeting of cab drivers who are planning a labor strike. The framing situation utilizes the audience as part of the meeting.While this was not the...
(1946), followed by roles in Sundown Beach
Sundown Beach
Sundown Beach is a 1948 play in two acts by American playwright Bessie Breuer. The play opened on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre on September 7, 1948, closing after seven performances on September 11, 1948. The cast notably included Julie Harris who won a Theatre World Award for her portrayal of...
(1948) and Forward the Heart (1948). Nicol was part of the original cast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
musical South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
(1949), playing one of the marines, but after a few weeks in the show he successfully auditioned to replace Ralph Meeker
Ralph Meeker
Ralph Meeker was an American stage and film actor best-known for starring in the 1953 Broadway production of Picnic, and in the 1955 film noir cult classic Kiss Me Deadly.-Career:...
as the Mannion in Mister Roberts
Mister Roberts
Mister Roberts is a 1946 novel written by Thomas Heggen.-Plot:The title character, a Lieutenant Junior Grade naval officer, defends his crew against the petty tyranny of the ship's commanding officer during World War II...
, and was also made understudy
Understudy
In theater, an understudy is a performer who learns the lines and blocking/choreography of a regular actor or actress in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to appear on stage because of illness or emergencies, the understudy takes over the part...
to the play's star Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
.
"But I never made it! He never missed a performance! Henry's wife at the time killed herself during the run of the show and he still didn't miss the performance. We were one minute from curtain time when Fonda walked in, in costume, and he just walked right out, hit his mark and played the performance as though nothing had happened."
While acting in Mister Roberts, Nicol was seen by the Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
director George Sherman
George Sherman
George Sherman was a film director of action movies beginning in the 1930s. The New York-born director's films include The Sleeping City and Tomahawk.-Filmography:*Red River Range...
, who was in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to film The Sleeping City
The Sleeping City
The Sleeping City is a 1950 film noir, shot in semidocumentary style, starring Richard Conte. Set in and shot at New York's Bellevue Hospital, it was directed by George Sherman....
(1950). He cast Nicol as a young doctor. Nicol was given a contract by Universal, and Sherman also directed his second film, Tomahawk
Tomahawk (film)
Tomahawk is a 1951 western film directed by George Sherman and starring Van Heflin and Yvonne De Carlo. The film is loosely based on events that took place in Montana in 1876 at The Battle of Powder River. The film was released as The Battle of Powder River in the UK.-Plot synopsis:In 1866 gold is...
(1951), in which he played a cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
officer with a hatred of Indians
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
.
Small roles as a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
in Target Unknown (1951) and a trainee pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
in Air Cadet
Air Cadet (1951 film)
Air Cadet is a 1951 American drama film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Stephen McNally and Gail Russell. The movie had a small early role for Rock Hudson.-Plot:...
(1951) preceded Nicol's first major part, co-starring with Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
in the musical drama Meet Danny Wilson
Meet Danny Wilson (film)
Meet Danny Wilson is a 1952 film starring Frank Sinatra and Shelley Winters. The movie was directed by Joseph Pevney and written by Don McGuire...
(1952). In his next film he was an antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
again, causing Loretta Young
Loretta Young
Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953...
to be wrongly sent to prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
in Because of You
Because of You (film)
Because of You is a 1952 film starring Loretta Young, surprising in that it showed a provocative "sexy side" of Ms. Young, quite different than her usual dignified brunette "nice girl" part.- Plot summary :...
(1952). He played a troublesome sergeant in Red Ball Express
Red Ball Express (film)
Red Ball Express is a 1952 World War II war film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Jeff Chandler. The film is based on the real Red Ball Express convoys that took place after the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944...
(1952), directed by Budd Boetticher
Budd Boetticher
Oscar "Budd" Boetticher, Jr. was a film director during the classical period in Hollywood most famous for the series of low-budget Westerns he made in the late 1950s starring Randolph Scott.Known for their sparse style, dramatic rocky locations near Lone Pine, California, and recurring stories of...
. Nicol's first lead role was opposite Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara is an Irish film actress and singer. The famously red-headed O'Hara has been noted for playing fiercely passionate heroines with a highly sensible attitude. She often worked with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne...
in The Redhead from Wyoming
The Redhead from Wyoming
The Redhead from Wyoming is a 1953 American western drama film produced by Leonard Goldstein and directed by Lee Sholem. It stars Maureen O'Hara as a saloon proprietress who becomes embroiled in a cattle war and Alex Nicol as the sheriff who tries to prevent it...
(1953) directed by Lee Sholem
Lee Sholem
Lee Tabor Sholem was an American television and film director....
.
"Roll 'Em Sholem" they used to call him. All he would say before every scene was "Roll 'Em!" And then when you got to the end of the scene he'd say "Cut!" and then he'd look at the script clerk and say, "Did they say all the words?", and if so that was it. When the picture was over I went to the front office at Universal and asked to be released from my contract. They thought I was crazy. But I thought, "If this is my big break, then I'm not going very far."
Going freelance, Nicol was directed by Daniel Mann
Daniel Mann
Daniel Mann, also known as Daniel Chugerman , was an American film and television director.Daniel Mann was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a stage actor since childhood, and attended Erasmus Hall High School, New York's Professional Children's School and the Neighborhood Playhouse...
in About Mrs Leslie (1953) starring Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth was an American actress.Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received a Tony Award in 1950...
and Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
. Nicol returned to Universal (at a much larger salary than he had been getting as a contract player) to appear in two George Sherman films, The Lone Hand (1953) and Dawn at Socorro (1954). Nicol then made three films in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, most notably Ken Hughes
Ken Hughes
Ken Hughes was a British film director, writer, and producer.-Personal history:Wife Charlotte Hughes living in LA...
' The House Across the Lake (1954).
"It was a great script, and Sidney James, a wonderful actor, was in it, along with Hillary Brooke. Eventually I got back to the United States and I was glad to come back. Those British pictures kept me working, but they were really fast, really cheaply budgeted."
Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann was an American actor and film director, most notably of film noirs and Westerns. As a director, he often collaborated with the cinematographer John Alton and with James Stewart in his Westerns.-Biography:...
directed Nicol in his role as a navigator in Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (film)
Strategic Air Command is a 1955 American film starring James Stewart and June Allyson, and directed by Anthony Mann. Released by Paramount Pictures, it was the first of four films that depicted the role of the Strategic Air Command in the Cold War era....
(1955), and it was Mann who then gave the actor his best-remembered role as the weak psychopathic son of a patriarch
Patriarch
Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...
rancher (Donald Crisp
Donald Crisp
Donald Crisp was an English film actor. He was also an early motion picture producer, director and screenwriter...
) that menaced Jimmy Stewart
James Stewart
James Stewart was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart may also refer to:-Noblemen:*James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland*James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn James Stewart (1908–1997) was a Hollywood movie actor and USAF brigadier general.James Stewart...
in The Man from Laramie (1955).
After a supporting role in Jacques Tourneur's
Jacques Tourneur
Jacques Tourneur was a French-American film director.-Life:Born in Paris, France, he was the son of film director Maurice Tourneur. At age 10, Jacques moved to the United States with his father. He started a career in cinema while still attending high school as an extra and later as a script clerk...
Great Day in the Morning
Great Day in the Morning
Great Day In The Morning is a 1956 film. It was directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Stack and Virginia Mayo, set in 1860s Denver.-Plot and overview:...
(1956) Nicol believed his Hollywood career was not progressing. In 1956 he returned to Broadway to replace Ben Gazzara
Ben Gazzara
-Early life:Gazzara was born Biagio Anthony Gazzara in New York City, the son of Italian immigrants Angelina and Antonio Gazzara, who was a laborer and carpenter. Gazzara grew up on New York's tough Lower East Side. He actually lived on E. 29th Street and participated in the drama program at...
in the lead role of Brick, in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. When the Broadway run ended Nicol starred in the tour.
Nicol starred with Shelley Winters in the play Saturday Night Kid (1958). He then returned to Hollywood where he made his first film as a director, The Screaming Skull
The Screaming Skull
The Screaming Skull is a 1958 American horror film, inspired by the short story of the same name written by Francis Marion Crawford. The film stars John Hudson, Peggy Webber, Russ Conway, and Alex Nicol, the film's director...
(1958), in which he also acted.
"I wasn't doing the kind of films as an actor that I wanted to do, so I thought, "Well, I'll try directing." We shot the picture in six weeks and it did very well, so I was happy with that."
Nicol traveled to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
when director Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt was an American director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City.-Early career and influences:...
gave him a role in Five Branded Women (1959). While there he was offered parts in other movies. He and his family remained in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
for two years.
"We lived in Rome; God, it was beautiful. We did a lot of films very quickly, with backing from Italian and Yugoslavian finance sources. It was one of the happiest times of my life."
Returning to the United States in 1961, he played Paul Anka's
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
father in the thriller Look in Any Window
Look in Any Window
Look in Any Window is a black-and-white film starring Paul Anka, Gigi Perreau, and, in his film debut, Jack Cassidy. The film was directed by William Alland and released by Allied Artists.-Plot:...
(1961), then produced and directed a war film in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Then There Were Three (1961), in which he co-starred with Frank Latimore
Frank Latimore
Franklin Latimore was an American actor best known for his character ‘Dr. Ed Coleridge’ on the television soap opera Ryan's Hope....
. Subsequent acting roles included the The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
episode "Young Man's Fancy" in 1962, two westerns, The Savage Guns (1962) and Gunfighters of the Casa Grande (1964), and Roger Corman's
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
Bloody Mama
Bloody Mama
Bloody Mama is a 1970 low budget film very loosely based on the story of Ma Barker. It was directed by Roger Corman and starred Shelley Winters in the title role, depicted as a corrupt mother who encourages and organizes her children's criminality. The film featured an early appearance by a young...
(1969) based on the life of Ma Barker
Ma Barker
Kate "Ma" Barker was the mother of several criminals who ran the Barker gang from the "public enemy era", when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the U.S. Midwest gripped the American people and press...
.
Nicol later worked as a director in television and did episodes of Daniel Boone, Wild Wild West, and many episodes for Tarzan starring Ron Ely. The last film in which he acted was A*P*E (1976), an independent movie made by a friend of the actor.
Alex Nicol is survived by his wife, Jean and his three children, Lisa Nicol, Alexander Nicol III, and Eric Nicol.