Alex Nicol

Alex Nicol — Biography

Born Alexander Livingston Nicol Jr. on 20 January 1916 in Ossining, New York, the son of the arms keeper at Sing Sing prison, he trained at the Feagin School of Dramatic Art and made his Broadway debut in 1939 with Maurice Evans's company. After a five-year army stint he joined the Actors Studio, working under Elia Kazan and appearing in stage productions including South Pacific and Mister Roberts, where he also understudied star Henry Fonda.

Signed by Universal in 1950, he built a career of more than forty films, best remembered as the psychopathic rancher's son who menaces James Stewart in Anthony Mann's The Man from Laramie (1955). He turned director with The Screaming Skull in 1958, spent several years making films in Italy, and directed episodes of television series such as The Wild Wild West, Tarzan and Daniel Boone. Nicol died in Montecito, California, on 29 July 2001.