Eddie Albert
After a four-year-absence from the small screen, and upon reaching age 69 in 1975, Albert signed a new contract with Universal Television, and starred in the popular 1970s adventure/crime drama, Switch for CBS, as a retired police officer, Frank McBride, who goes to work as a private detective with a former criminal he had once jailed. Co-starring on the show was another veteran movie, television star and a devoted fan of Albert's and another Universal contract player from the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica, Robert Wagner, who played the ex-con man and now McBride's friendly partner, Det. Pete T. Ryan. A very young and unfamiliar actress, a third Universal contract player and another Los Angeles native, Sharon Gless (who had previously co-starred on Marcus Welby, M.D.), was cast as Frank's and Pete's classy and charismatic receptionist, Maggie. New York comedian Charlie Callas played the role of a restaurant owner, Malcolm Argos, who also had a history as a thief and con man and was an informant for Pete and Frank. By all reports, the entire cast got along well with Albert; and during its first season, Switch became a hit. By late 1976, the show became more serious and traditional, as Switch's storylines turned into a crime drama, whose shows played second in ratings success and popularity only to Hawaii Five-O, Kojak, McMillan and Wife, The Rockford Files, Police Woman, The Streets of San Francisco, among many other detective series. At the end of its third season in 1978, ratings were beginning to drop, and the show was cancelled after 70 episodes.
Long before Wagner co-starred with Albert on Switch, he said of his idol and friend about a movie he watched as a mere eight-year-old, "The first impression I ever had of Eddie, when I was a kid and went to see 'Brother Rat,' and he was absolutely fantastic in that picture. His humor and his wit and the things that he did were so profound for that time as they kept growing and growing." Robert also said, during his tenure on Switch, how much he respected Eddie after years of watching his mentor's classic movies, "It was an interesting premise: I was always doing it in an illegitimate way and he was doing it in a legitimate way. He always was striving to do better and more and take another look at it, and approached it in a different way, and I learned a lot from him. He was one of the highlights of my life, because I liked him so much. We became friends, as it [working together] was a very joyful experience." The following year, after the demise of Switch, Wagner would be reunited with Albert for one last time to star in The Concorde: Airport '79, before he went on to gain greater fame starring in the successful 1980s crime drama Hart to Hart. After Albert's wife, Margo's death in 1985, Albert and Wagner grew closer, as he was one of the people to pass his condolences to the grief-stricken star, who had lost his beloved wife. After the show's cancellation, Wagner kept in touch with him for the next 27 years until Albert's death.
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Later work
In 1972, Albert resumed his film career and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as an overprotective father, in The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and delivered a memorable performance as an evil prison warden in 1974's The Longest Yard. Albert gained a huge kiddie audience after appearing as the gruff though soft-hearted Jason O'Day in the successful Disney film Escape to Witch Mountain in 1975.
Albert was later reunited with former Switch co-star (Robert Wagner) in the movie The Concorde: Airport '79, and also appeared in such '80s films as How to Beat the High Co$t of Living (1980), Yesterday (1981), Take This Job and Shove It (1981), Goliath Awaits (1981 TV movie), Yes, Giorgio (1982), and as the president in Dreamscape (1984). His final film role was as the chairman in Head Office (1985).
In the mid-1980s, Albert was known for endorsing the popular public service message, the National Arbor Day Foundation, and was reunited with longtime friend and co-star of the Brother Rat and An Angel from Texas movies, Jane Wyman, in a recurring role as the villainous Carlton Travis in the popular 1980s soap opera, Falcon Crest. He also guest starred on a popular episode of the 80s television series, Highway to Heaven, and in 1990 he reunited with Eva Gabor for a Return To Green Acres. In 1993, he guest starred for several episodes on the popular ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital as Jack Boland, and also made a guest appearance on the Golden Girls spin-off The Golden Palace the same year.
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Activism
Albert was an outspoken environmental and humanitarian activist, supporting issues such as creating of gardens in inner cities. He was one of the first people to call for a ban on the pesticide DDT. In 1969, he and his son (Edward Albert), sailed to Anacapa Island off the coast of California, to examine the effects of DDT on the pelican population.
Albert helped to launch the first Earth Day in 1970, which was designated on April 22, partly in honor of his birthday. He was also a special consultant at the World Hunger Conference in Rome in 1974, and a director to the U.S. Commission on Refugees.
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Personal life
Albert was married twice: first to actress María Marguerita Guadalupe Boldao, and later to Castilla O'Donnell (better known by her stage name Margo). Albert and O'Donell married on December 5, 1945 and they remained together until her death of a brain tumor on July 17, 1985.
Eddie and Margo Albert lived in Pacific Palisades, California. Their home was described as unpretentious. It was a Spanish-style house on an acre of land with a cornfield in the front yard. Eddie grew organic vegetables in a greenhouse he had in the back yard, and fondly remembered how his parents had a "liberty garden" at home during World War I.
The Alberts had two children, Edward and Maria.
- Edward Albert (1951–2006) was an actor, musician, singer, and linguist. He put his acting career aside for eight years to care for his father in his last years. He died at age 55, only one year after his father.
- His adopted daughter, Maria Albert Zucht, who is married and has one daughter, Mia, worked as her father's business manager.
Eddie Albert suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his last years. Although unusual for Alzheimer's patients, he exercised regularly until shortly before his death.
Albert's hobbies included boating, jogging, swimming, winemaking, beekeeping, sculpting, organic gardening and world travel.
Eddie Albert has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6441 Hollywood Boulevard.
On May 26, 2005, he died of pneumonia at the age of 99 at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California. He was interred at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California, next to his wife, Margo and his Green Acres co-star Eva Gabor. Eddie's family was joined by many mourners at a private funeral, including Nanette Fabray, Shirley Jones, Jane Wyman, Robert Wagner, Charlie Callas, Sharon Gless, and several of Eddie's Green Acres co-stars, including Sid Melton, Mary Grace Canfield, and Frank Cady. Tom Lester did not attend the funeral due to other commitments (Eddie once stated that Tom Lester was his favorite actor and close friend).[citation needed]
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Quotes
- "I don't really care how I am remembered as long as I bring happiness and joy to people." (Source: IMDB.com)
- "By the time I leave this Earth, I hope to have improved our relationships here and now, so that in the next generation my son, daughter and friends have my shoulders on which to stand, so it's easier to make their contribution." (Source: ABC News)
- "I always thought I was a singer, but I really am not." (Source: BrainyQuote.com)
- "Right now in California, we gain 40,000 new acres of desert every year, with all the building and the people coming in... housing going up like crazy." (Source: BrainyQuote.com)
- Edward Jr. about his father: "With Papa, the thing that was most important was the quality of love and, almost equal to love, growth. Since I was little, he emphasized growth. That's something he passed on to me." (Source: Grandtimes.com)
- "What's the most important thing in the world? It's love, and I look at that as an energy, not a sentiment." (Source: BrainyQuote.com)
- On why he accepted the role on Green Acres: "Everyone gets tired of the rat race. Everyone would like to chuck it all and grow some carrots. It's basic. Sign me. I knew it would be successful. Had to be. It's about the atavistic urge, and people have been getting a charge out of that ever since Aristophanes wrote about the plebes and the city folk." (Source: IMDB.com)
- When asked about delivering newspapers at an early age: "You throw a paper on the porch, but you don't sit down and have a talk...and that's where the real education comes from. And so I missed those best years and I find it difficult for me, in groups, to be comfortable. It's a little late to find that out." (Source: Grandtimes.com)
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Filmography
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See also
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References
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External links
- Eddie Albert at the Internet Movie Database
- Eddie Albert at Allmovie
- A 1996 Interview
- Eddie Albert mini-bio
- Eddie Albert bio
- Eddie Albert. Internet Broadway Database (IBDB). Retrieved on January 16, 2006.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Heimberger, Edward Albert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Eddie Albert |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | American actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 22, 1906 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rock Island, Illinois |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 26, 2005 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California |
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