Veteran Stage, TV Actor Earl Montgomery

Veteran stage actor Earl Montgomery, whose Broadway credits date to 1947 and who also appeared in numerous films and television programs, is dead of complications of leukemia. Montgomery was 65 when he died last Wednesday at a Los Angeles hospital.

On stage since the age of 8, when he appeared in a school production, Montgomery made his professional debut with an East Coast stock company in “Room Service” and his Broadway debut as the Mathematician in “Galileo.” Over the years he was seen in “Summer and Smoke,” “Mr. Pickwick,” “Love’s Labours Lost,” “Heavenly Twins,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “The Lovers,” “Saint Joan,” “Visit to a Small Planet,” “An Enemy of the People,” “Becket” and many more.

He shared the stage with such renowned actors as Sir Laurence Olivier, Cyril Ritchard, Joanne Woodward, Faye Emerson, Anthony Quinn and Vivien Leigh.

Born in Memphis, Tenn., Montgomery first appeared in films in 1963 as Alexander Woollcott in “Act One” and then “The Detective” with Frank Sinatra. More recently he was seen with Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky II” and “FIST” and with Warren Beatty in “Heaven Can Wait.”

Montgomery had been on television since its infancy, first with “Love of Life” in 1952 and over the years on “Kraft Television Theatre,” “The Jackie Gleason Show,” “The Jeffersons,” “Dallas,” “Love Boat,” “Hart to Hart” and many more specials and episodic programs.

Thomas Van Deusen, his friend of 33 years, asks contributions in Montgomery’s name to the Actors’ Fund or to AIDS Project Los Angeles.