| Jeremy Slate | |
|---|---|
| Born | Robert Perham February 17, 1926 Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA |
| Died | November 19, 2006 (aged 80) Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Spouse | Beverly Van Wert (1948-1966) 5 children Tammy Grimes (1966-1967) |
Jeremy Slate (born Robert Perham; February 17, 1926 - November 19, 2006) was an American film and television actor.
Contents |
He attended a military academy and joined the navy when he was 16. He was barely 18 when his destroyer assisted in the Normandy Invasion on D-Day (June 6, 1944). After the war he attended St. Lawrence University where he graduated with honors in English. He was also president of the student body, in the honor society, editor of the college literary magazine, football player and backfield coach of the only undefeated team in the school's history. He was a campus radio personality who married the queen of his fraternity's ball during his senior year. After graduation he became a radio sportscaster and DJ for several CBS and ABC affiliates while beginning a family that included three sons and two daughters, but ultimately ended in divorce.
For six years he had a promising career with W. R. Grace and Co. as a public relations executive and travel manager for company president J. Peter Grace. He then joined Grace Steamship Lines and moved with his family to Lima, Peru. There he joined a professional theater group, became involved with a production of "The Rainmaker" and was awarded the Tiahuanacothe, the Peruvian equivalent of the Tony Award, for his portrayal of the character Starbuck. After a year of training, he left W. R. Grace to pursue a theatrical career.
He became known as one of the more talented members of the 60's beach boy set and costarred with Ron Ely in the 1960-1961 Ivan Tors series The Aquanauts, which was renamed Malibu Run half-way during its brief run on CBS. The series could not compete successfully in the same time slot as NBC durable Western Wagon Train. He guest starred in nearly 100 television shows and appeared in 20 feature films.
From 1979-1987, Slate portrayed Chuck Wilson on the ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live. Slate appeared nine times on CBS's Gunsmoke. He also guest starred three times in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour on CBS and then NBC, in Mission: Impossible on CBS, Bewitched on ABC, and My Name Is Earl on NBC.
Slate's acting career included major roles in four outlaw biker films in the late 1960s: The Born Losers (1967), The Miniskirt Mob (1968), Hell's Belles (1969), and Hell's Angels '69. As the leader of the Born Losers Motorcycle Club in The Born Losers, Slate is a ruthless yet likable character who takes on Billy Jack. In Hell's Angels '69 (which he wrote the screen story) Slate played a man who uses the Hell's Angels as unwitting dupes in a plan to rob a casino in Las Vegas; several real-life members of the Hell's Angels — including Angels president Ralph "Sonny" Barger, Terry the Tramp and Magoo — had significant speaking roles in the film. Slate broke his leg during filming and never rode a motorcycle again.
He was an accomplished country-and-western songwriter and BMI member. He wrote the lyrics to Tex Ritter's top ten song "Just Beyond the Moon" and the lyrics for "Every Time I Itch (I Wind Up Scratchin' You)" recorded by Glen Campbell on Capitol Records. Slate and Campbell had starred together in the 1969 movie, True Grit.
He was briefly married to the actress Tammy Grimes and was stepfather to actress Amanda Plummer during this time.
In 2004, he attended as a guest at the Western Film Fair in Charlotte, North Carolina, along with Stella Stevens, Andrew Prine and Sonny Shroyer.
He died in Los Angeles, California, following surgery for cancer.