Alex Nicol; Character Actor in Movies, TV

Alex Nicol, a character actor who was in about 40 motion pictures ranging from “Strategic Air Command” with James Stewart to spaghetti Westerns and science fiction films, had prominent roles on Broadway and delved into directing, has died. He was 85.

Nicol died Sunday in Montecito near Santa Barbara, where he had lived in retirement since 1987, said his son Alexander L. Nicol III.

Born in Ossining, N.Y., Nicol began his acting career performing Shakespeare with the Maurice Evans company. After serving in the Army in Europe throughout World War II, he established himself in New York City, where he became a charter member of Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio.

Nicol landed key roles in original Broadway productions that became classics, including “South Pacific,” “Mr. Roberts” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” While handling his own role, he was an understudy for Henry Fonda in “Mr. Roberts” and later played the title role at the Pasadena Playhouse.

When Nicol portrayed Brick in Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” Williams wrote that Nicol captured the part exactly as he had conceived it.

A contract at Universal Studios brought Nicol west, where he made his film debut in “The Sleeping City” in 1950, and quickly followed that with 1951’s “Tomahawk,” his first of many Westerns.

Along with his movie career in the 1950s and 1960s, Nicol appeared on television in such science fiction fare as “The Twilight Zone” and “The Outer Limits.” He was a director on the TV series “Daniel Boone” and “The Wild, Wild West.”

Nicol also directed a few “Tarzan” motion pictures, one horror film in which he acted, “The Screaming Skull,” and the 1961 feature “Then There Were Three.”

He gravitated to Europe to make films in Spain and Italy during the 1960s, and later appeared in more television shows. Frequently cast as a doctor, he was in the 1970s television series “Return to Peyton Place” and the 1975 television movie “Huckleberry Finn.”

Nicol is survived by his wife of 52 years, Jean Fleming Nicol; another son, Eric; a daughter, Lisa; and four grandsons.

The family asked that memorial contributions be sent to Hospice of Santa Barbara, 520 W. Junipero, Santa Barbara, CA 93105.

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