Martin Balsam
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Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor.
Balsam was born in the Bronx in New York City to Albert Balsam and Lillian Weinstein. He studied dramatics at The New School in New York City and then served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. In 1947 he was selected by Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg to be a player in the Actors Studio television program and went on to appear in a number of television plays in the 1950s and returned frequently to television as a guest star on numerous dramas.
Balsam appeared in such films as On the Waterfront, 12 Angry Men (as Juror #1), Time Limit, Psycho, Cape Fear (1962) as the police chief, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Seven Days in May, Catch-22, Tora! Tora! Tora!, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The Delta Force, Death Wish 3, and the 1991 Martin Scorsese remake of Cape Fear (Balsam, Gregory Peck, and Robert Mitchum all appeared in both the 1962 and 1991 versions of the film).
Balsam also appeared in a film that eventually became a highly popular Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, the 1975 Joe Don Baker police drama Mitchell. In 1973, he played Dr. Rudy Wells when the Martin Caidin novel, Cyborg was adapted as the TV-movie, The Six Million Dollar Man, though he did not reprise the role for the subsequent weekly series.
In 1965, he won an Academy Award for best supporting actor for his role as Arnold Burns, the agent brother of the oddball non-conformist and unemployed kiddie-show writer Jason Robards, Jr. in A Thousand Clowns and starred as Murray Klein on the All in the Family spin-off Archie Bunker's Place for two seasons.
In 1967 he won a Tony Award for his appearance in the 1967 Broadway production of You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running.
Balsam died of a heart attack in 1996, aged 76. He is interred at Cedar Park Cemetery, in Emerson, New Jersey.
Balsam married and divorced actress Joyce Van Patten. Their daughter, Talia Balsam, was born January 1, 1960.
| Preceded by Peter Ustinov for Topkapi |
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 1965 for A Thousand Clowns |
Succeeded by Walter Matthau for The Fortune Cookie |
