Mel Novak
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Mel Novak is an American character actor whose "dark" good looks and athletic physique have guaranteed him mostly villainous roles in action, martial arts and occasionally horror and science fiction films. He's known for doing all of his own stunts and fighting scenes.
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[edit] Biography
Pittsburgh native Novak was a promising athlete in his youth, playing professional baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, his career was cut short by a massive rotator cuff injury. Novak made his film debut in 1974, appearing in two blaxploitation films, Truck Turner and Black Belt Jones, the former starring Isaac Hayes, the latter Jim Kelly. Subsequent parts in The Ultimate Warrior (1975) starring Yul Brynner, Cat in the Cage (1978), starring Sybil Danning, and others followed. One of his more high-profile parts from the 70's was as the hitman Stick in Game of Death (1978), directed by Robert Clouse. Novak also had small roles in two Chuck Norris films, A Force of One (1979) and An Eye for an Eye (1981). Since the turn of the 80's, he's been acting mostly in low-budget, independent features, such as in Lovely but Deadly (1981) for director/producer David Sheldon, starring B-movie heroine Lucinda Dooling. In the 90's, he appeared in two films for director Garry Marshall, Exit to Eden (1994), based on the novel by Anne Rice, and Dear God (1996). Novak's film career continues to this day. His most recent film credit is the 2005 action/horror film Vampire Assassin, also featuring Gerald Okamura, with whom Novak has acted with in several films, and Rudy Ray Moore.
He is also an Ordained Minister, having worked in skid row and prison ministry for over twenty years. Fittingly, he's occasionally played the part of a preacher in his films, as in The F-Zone (1999).
[edit] Partial filmography
- Black Belt Jones (1974)
- Truck Turner (1974)
- The Ultimate Warrior (1975)
- Cat in the Cage (1978)
- Game of Death (1978)
- A Force of One (1979)
- Tom Horn (1980)
- Lovely But Deadly (1981)
- An Eye for an Eye (1981)
- Force of Darkness (1985)
- Expert Weapon (1993)
- Exit to Eden (1994)
- Dear God (1996)
- Pocket Ninjas (1997)
- Power Elite (2002)
- Vampire Assassins (2005)
[edit] Personal Quotes
"I get what I deserve in the end. The Lord's justice is very much like that." -On his parts as a villain.
[edit] Further reading
- Gods in Polyester, or, A Survivors' Account of 70's Cinema Obscura (2004)
-Novak contributes on most of his 70's films, Tom Horn and Lovely but Deadly.
