Albert Salmi

 Albert Salmi (March 11, 1928 – April 22, 1990)

He was noted as a character actor and appeared in over 150 film and television productions. He attended Haaren High School in Manhattan. Following a stint in the United States Army during World War II, Salmi took up acting as a career, studying Method acting at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg. His role as Bo Decker in "Bus Stop" was his biggest stage success. He appeared on live TV dramas in the early days of television on "The U.S. Steel Hour" and "Studio One." In 1956 he married Peggy Ann Garner and they had a daughter, Catherine Ann. His film debut was in "The Brothers Karamazov" in 1958, for which he turned down an Oscar nomination. His other films include: "The Bravados" (1958), "The Unforgiven" (1960), "Wild River" (1960), "The Flim-Flam Man" (1967), "The Ambushers" (1967), "Something Big" (1971), "Escape From the Planet of the Apes" (1971), "Empire of the Ants" (1977), "Love and Bullets" (1979), "Caddyshack" (1980), "Brubaker" (1980), "The Dragonslayer" (1981), "Love Child" (1982), and "Breaking In" (1989), his last theatrical film. He guest starred on almost every series on TV including: "Bonanza", "Gunsmoke", "Rawhide", "Ironside" and "The F.B.I. Albert was in three episodes of the television series "The Twilight Zone". The most remembered of these is the hour-long episode: "Of Late, I Think of Cliffordville." In 1963 he and Peggy divorced, and in 1964 he married Roberta Pollock. They had two daughters, Lizanne and Jennifer. In 1967 he was presented with the Western Heritage Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame for his role in "Gunsmoke", in the 1955 episode entitled "Death Watch". In early February 1990, Albert and Roberta Salmi separated. He moved into their Idaho condominium, while Roberta Salmi remained in the family home. She filed for divorce on February 6, 1990. According to court documents, Roberta Salmi claimed that her husband was an alcoholic who physically abused her when he drank. She also claimed that Salmi threatened her on several occasions and she was fearful that he might kill her.

On April 23, 1990, Salmi and his estranged wife Roberta were found dead in their Spokane, Washington, home by a friend who stopped by to check on her. According to newspaper accounts, Salmi, who was suffering from severe clinical depression, fatally shot his wife in the kitchen of their home on the morning of April 22. Salmi then shot himself later that day in the den. He was cremated and placed in a niche at Greenwood Memorial Terrace cemetery in Spokane, WA.