Vic Tayback

Birthday: 1930-01-06
Deathday: 1990-05-25
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Gender: Male
Owned By: Unowned

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Victor Tayback (January 6, 1930 – May 25, 1990) was an American actor. He is best known for his role as diner owner Mel Sharples in the comedy-drama film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) and the television sitcom Alice (1976–1985), for which he won two consecutive Golden Globes.

Early life

Tayback was born on January 6, 1930 in Brooklyn, New York, to Syrian Catholic immigrant parents Helen (née Hanood; Arabic: هيلين هنود تايباك) and Najeeb James Tayback (Arabic: نجيب جيمس طيبك) . Both of his parents had emigrated to the United States from Aleppo. He moved with his family to Burbank, California during his teenage years and attended Burbank High School, from which he graduated in 1948. He also attended Glendale Community College and the Frederick A. Speare School of Radio and TV Broadcasting.

Career

Tayback served in the United States Navy before beginning his acting career at the age of 25. A lifetime member of the Actors Studio, he was a familiar face on television in the 1960s and 1970s, appearing on numerous series, including The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Star Trek, Bonanza, Here Come the Brides, That Girl, Gunsmoke, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Partridge Family, All in the Family, Fantasy Island, Columbo, Bewitched and The Love Boat. He also appeared in many films such as Bullitt (1968), Papillon (1973), The Gambler (1974), The Cheap Detective (1978), and All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), as well as more than 25 stage productions, including Twelve Angry Men, The Diary of Anne Frank, Death of a Salesman, and Brighton Beach Memoirs. He was the co-founder of the theatre troupe Company of Angels. He also appeared in television commercials, notably in 1968 with Richard Dreyfuss for the AMC Javelin.

Tayback's most famous role was as diner owner Mel Sharples in both the film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) and the television series Alice (1976–1985). He was the only actor in the original film to reprise his role for the rest of the series. For the role, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 1978 and won two consecutive Golden Globe Awards in 1980 and 1981. In 1971, he made a guest appearance as Dirks in season 16, episode 19 of the long-running CBS Western series Gunsmoke.

Personal life

Tayback was married to Sheila Maureen Barnard (1932–2001) from March 16, 1963, until his death on May 25, 1990. They had one son.

Death

Tayback died of a heart attack at age 60 on May 25, 1990. Tayback was pronounced dead at 1:56 a.m. at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, where he was taken after his wife called paramedics. She said he had climbed out of bed, taken a few steps and collapsed. Tayback was a lifelong smoker and had a history of heart problems. He underwent a triple bypass in 1983.

He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills). CLR

Credits

	Year	Title	Character
	1990-01-20	Horseplayer	George Samsa
	1989-11-17	All Dogs Go to Heaven	Carface (voice)
	1989-10-11	Beverly Hills Bodysnatchers	Lou
	1989-09-27	Criminal Act	The Exterminator (Greengrass)
	1989-04-28	Loverboy	Harry Bruckner
	1988-06-01	The Underachievers	Coach
	1987-12-17	The Three Kings	Harold
	1986-10-01	Weekend Warriors	Sgt. Burdge
	1986-06-14	George Carlin: Playin' with Your Head	The Bad Guys
	1986-01-01	Treasure Island	Silver
	1984-07-09	The Jesse Owens Story	Abe Saperstein
	1982-05-31	Mysterious Two	Ted Randall
	1981-12-06	Through the Magic Pyramid	Horembeb
	1980-12-14	The Night the City Screamed	Morris Brustein
	1980-10-02	Gridlock	Floyd 'Snake' Kraslowski
	1980-09-25	Rage!	Tommy
	1980-05-18	This Year's Blonde	Harry Cohn
	1979-10-02	Portrait of a Stripper	Harry Parkins
	1978-06-23	The Cheap Detective	Lieutenant DiMaggio
	1978-05-17	Getting Married	Burt Carboni
	1978-01-23	The Case of the Baltimore Girls	Capt. Barney Marcus
	1977-12-23	The Choirboys	Zoony
	1977-01-16	Little Ladies of the Night	Finch
	1976-12-17	The Shaggy D.A.	Eddie Roschak
	1976-10-01	Mansion of the Doomed	Detective Simon
	1976-07-16	Special Delivery	Wyatt
	1976-06-23	The Big Bus	Goldie
	1976-02-05	No Deposit, No Return	Big Joe Adamo
	1976-02-05	Dark Victory	Archie
	1975-12-25	The Black Bird	Warren Finley, Police Lieutenant
	1975-05-23	Lepke	Charles 'Lucky' Luciano
	1975-02-05	Report to the Commissioner	Lt. Seidensticker
	1974-12-09	Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore	Mel
	1974-10-02	The Gambler	One
	1974-05-23	Thunderbolt and Lightfoot	Mario Pinski
	1973-12-16	Papillon	Sergeant
	1973-11-14	The Don Is Dead	Ralph Negri
	1973-11-11	The Blue Knight	Neil Grogan
	1973-10-06	The Alpha Caper	Policeman
	1973-05-23	Emperor of the North	Yardman
	1973-03-24	Partners in Crime
	1973-03-01	Honor Thy Father	Don A. Tirello
	1973-01-01	Maxie	Smedke
	1972-01-01	Death Follows a Psycho
	1971-12-17	They Call It Murder	Jeff Poland
	1971-03-17	Blood and Lace	Calvin Carruthers
	1968-10-17	Bullitt	Pete Ross
	1966-12-16	Gambit	Plainclothes Officer at TWA Counter (uncredited)
	1966-10-12	Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round	Detective Merchant (uncredited)
	1963-12-25	Love with the Proper Stranger	Cye (uncredited)
	1962-08-22	Five Weeks in a Balloon	European Agent (uncredited)
	1962-07-17	Surftide 77	Arms Cooper
	1961-12-07	Five Minutes to Live	Fred Dorella
	1959-12-01	Gangster Story	Norm (uncredited)
	1959-10-16	T-Bird Gang	Policeman
	1958-01-01	The Power of the Resurrection	Simon the Canaanite