Sal Mineo
| Sal Mineo | |
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| Born | Salvatore Mineo, Jr. January 10, 1939 The Bronx, New York, United States |
| Died | February 12, 1976 (aged 37) West Hollywood, California, United States |
| Other names | The Switchblade Kid[1] |
| Years active | 1955 - 1976 |
| Website | |
| http://www.salmineo.com | |
Salvatore "Sal" Mineo, Jr. (January 10, 1939 – February 12, 1976),[2] was an American film and theatre actor, best known for his performance as John "Plato" Crawford opposite James Dean in the film Rebel Without a Cause.[3] He was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his roles in Rebel Without a Cause and Exodus.
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Early life and career [edit]
Mineo was born in the Bronx, the son of coffin makers Josephine (née Alvisi) and Salvatore Mineo, Sr.[4][5] He was of Sicilian descent; his father was born in Italy and his mother had been born in the United States of Italian origin. His mother enrolled him in dancing and acting school at an early age.[6] He had his first stage appearance in The Rose Tattoo (1951),[3] a play by Tennessee Williams. He also played the young prince opposite Yul Brynner in the stage musical The King and I. Brynner took the opportunity to help Mineo better himself as an actor.[1]
As a teenager, Mineo appeared on ABC's musical quiz program Jukebox Jury, which aired in the 1953-1954 season. Mineo made several television appearances before making his screen debut in 1955 in the Joseph Pevney film Six Bridges to Cross. He beat out Clint Eastwood to the role.[7] Mineo had also successfully auditioned for a part in The Private War of Major Benson as a cadet colonel opposite Charlton Heston.[8]
Rebel Without a Cause [edit]
His breakthrough as an actor came in Rebel Without a Cause,[3] in which he played John "Plato" Crawford, the sensitive teenager smitten with Jim Stark (played by James Dean). His performance resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and his popularity quickly developed.[1] Mineo's biographer, Paul Jeffers, recounted that Mineo received thousands of letters from young female fans, was mobbed by them at public appearances and further wrote, "He dated the most beautiful women in Hollywood and New York."[9]
In Giant (1956), Mineo played Angel Obregon II, a Mexican boy killed in World War II; but many of his subsequent roles were variations of his role in Rebel Without a Cause, and he was typecast as a troubled teen.[10] In the 1959 Disney adventure Tonka, for instance, Mineo starred as a young Sioux named White Bull who traps and domesticates a clear-eyed, spirited wild horse named "Tonka" who becomes the famous Comanche, the lone survivor of Custer's Last Stand.
In Multiculturalism and the Mouse: Race and Sex in Disney Entertainment (2006), Douglas Brode states that the casting of Mineo as White Bull again "ensured a homosexual subtext". By the late 1950s the actor was a major celebrity, sometimes referred to as the "Switchblade Kid"—a nickname he earned from his role as a criminal in the movie Crime in the Streets.[1]
In 1957, Mineo made a brief foray into pop music by recording a handful of songs and an album. Two of his singles reached the Top 40 in the United States Billboard Hot 100.[11] The more popular of the two, "Start Movin' (In My Direction)", reached #9 on Billboard's pop chart. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.[12] He starred as drummer Gene Krupa in the movie The Gene Krupa Story, directed by Don Weis with Susan Kohner, James Darren and Susan Oliver.
Mineo made an effort to break his typecasting. His acting ability and exotic good looks earned him roles as the Native American boy in Tonka, and as a Jewish emigrant in Otto Preminger's Exodus, for which he won a Golden Globe Award and received another Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor.
Career decline and attempted revival [edit]
By the early 1960s he was becoming too old to play the type of role that had made him famous and he was not considered appropriate for leading roles. He auditioned for David Lean's film Lawrence of Arabia, but was not hired.[6] Mineo was baffled by his sudden loss of popularity, later saying "One minute it seemed I had more movie offers than I could handle, the next, no one wanted me." The high point of this period was his portrayal of Uriah in The Greatest Story Ever Told. Mineo also appeared on The Patty Duke Show in its second season (1964). The episode was called "Patty Meets a Celebrity". There are stories he attempted to revive his career by camping out on the front lawn of Francis Ford Coppola's home for a chance to win the role of Fredo in The Godfather, but the role went to John Cazale. Mineo guest starred in an episode of ABC's Combat! in 1966, playing the role of a G.I. wanted for murder.[13]
His role as a stalker in Who Killed Teddy Bear?, co-starring Juliet Prowse, did not seem to help. Although his performance was praised by critics, he found himself typecast anew, now as a deranged criminal. He never entirely escaped this; one of his last roles was a guest spot on the 1975 TV series S.W.A.T., playing a Charles Manson-like cult leader.
He returned to the stage to produce the 1971, gay-themed Fortune and Men's Eyes (starring Don Johnson). This play gathered positive reviews in Los Angeles, but was panned during its New York run, Its expanded prison, rape scene was criticized as excessive and gratuitous. A small role in Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) as the chimpanzee, Dr. Milo, was Mineo's last appearance in a motion picture. In 1973 Mineo appeared as Rachman Habib, assistant to the president of a Middle Eastern country, in the episode "A Case of Immunity" on the NBC crime drama Columbo. He also appeared in two episodes of Hawaii Five-O, in 1968 and 1975.
Sexuality [edit]
In the late 1960s Mineo became one of the first major actors in Hollywood to publicly acknowledge his homosexuality.[14]
Murder [edit]
By 1976 Mineo's career had begun to turn around.[15] Playing the role of a bisexual burglar in a series of stage performances of the comedy, P.S. Your Cat Is Dead, in San Francisco, Mineo received substantial publicity from many positive reviews, and he moved to Los Angeles along with the play. Arriving home after a rehearsal on February 12, 1976, Mineo was stabbed to death in the alley behind his apartment building in West Hollywood, California;[16] he was 37 years old. Mineo was stabbed just once, not repeatedly as first reported, but the knife blade struck his heart, leading to immediate and fatal internal bleeding.[17] Mineo's remains were interred in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.[18]
Arrest and conviction in Mineo's murder [edit]
After a lengthy investigation a pizza deliveryman, Lionel Ray Williams, was arrested for the crime. In March 1979 he was convicted and sentenced to 57 years in prison for killing Mineo, and for committing 10 robberies in the same area.[19] Although there was considerable confusion as to what witnesses had seen in the darkness on the night Mineo was murdered, it was later revealed that prison guards had overheard Williams admitting to the stabbing.[15] Williams had claimed that he had no idea who Mineo was. Rumors that the attack was in response to Mineo soliciting Williams for sex were unfounded.[14] There has been speculation that Williams is connected to the unsolved murder of actress Christa Helm, who was murdered in the same neighborhood in a strikingly similar way, one year later on the very same day.[20] Williams was not arrested until after the murder of Helm.
Williams was paroled in the early 1990s, but he was imprisoned again soon for criminal activity.[6]
Art [edit]
Sal Mineo was the model for Harold Stevenson's painting The New Adam. The painting currently is part of Guggenheim Museum's permanent collection,[21] and is considered "one of the great American nudes".[22]
Opera [edit]
Mineo's career included involvement with opera. On May 8, 1954, he portrayed the Page (lip-synching to the voice of mezzo-soprano Carol Jones) in the NBC Opera Theatre's production of Richard Strauss' Salome (in English translation), set to Oscar Wilde's play. Elaine Malbin performed the title role, and Peter Herman Adler conducted Kirk Browning's production.
Mineo stage-directed Gian Carlo Menotti's The Medium in December 1972 in Detroit.[23] Muriel Costa-Greenspon portrayed the title character, Madame Flora, and Mineo played the mute Toby.
Selected filmography [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ a b c d Bell, Rachael. "The Switchblade Kid: The Life and Death of Sal Mineo". Retrieved 2008-07-20
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 368. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ a b c Holliday, Peter J. "Mineo, Sal (1939-1976)". Retrieved 2008-07-20
- ^ Guía del cine clásico: Protagonistas - Antonio Mendez - Google Books. Books.google.ca. Retrieved 2012-04-16.
- ^ Sal Mineo: A Biography - Michael Gregg Michaud - Google Books. Books.google.ca. Retrieved 2012-04-16.
- ^ a b c A song about the actor's murder, "Sooprize Package for Mr. Mineo," was recorded by at least three bands. Multiple versions can be found from The Mummies in addition to versions from The Rondelles and Supercharger. Noe, Denise. "The Murder of Sal Mineo". Archived from the original
|archiveurl=requires|url=(help) on 2008-06-06 - ^ McGilligan, Patrick (1999). Clint: The Life and Legend. London: Harper Collins. p. 63. ISBN 0-00-638354-8.
- ^ Ellis, Chris; Ellis, Julie (27 July 2005). The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murder: Murder Played Out in the Spotlight of Maximum Publicity. Berghahn Books. p. 415. ISBN 978-1-57181-140-0. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
- ^ Jeffers, Paul (2000). Sal Mineo: His Life, Murder, and Mystery. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 0-7867-0777-1.
- ^ Smith, Laura C. (1995-02-10). "Untimely End for a 'Rebel'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-07-20
- ^ salmineo.com. "Sal Mineo Mini biography". Retrieved 2008-07-25.
- ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 94. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- ^ Davidsmeyer, Jo. "Nothing to Lose". Combat! Fan Site. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
- ^ a b Sal Mineo Official Website
- ^ a b Ellis, Chris; Julie Ellis (2005). The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murder. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. pp. 419–422. ISBN 0-7867-1568-5.
- ^ Obituary Variety, February 18, 1976, page 126.
- ^ Rachael Bell (2008). "The Switchblade Kid: The Life and Death of Sal Mineo". TruTV. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. Retrieved 2008-07-12.
- ^ Sal Mineo at Find a Grave
- ^ Los Angeles Times (2006-02-12). "Actor Sal Mineo Is Stabbed to Death". Retrieved 2008-07-20
- ^ "The Last Take". CBS News.
- ^ Mann, Ted. "The New Adam". Retrieved 2011-01-01
- ^ Vogel, Carol (2005-09-30). "Exposure for a Nude". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
- ^ Stevenson, Harold. "The New Adam Article".
Sources [edit]
- Frascella, Lawrence and Weisel, Al Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause (Touchstone, 2005) ISBN 0-7432-6082-1
- Gilmore, John, Laid Bare: A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and the Hollywood Death Trip (Amok Books, 1998) ISBN 1-878923-08-0
- Johansson, Warren & Percy, William A. Outing: Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence. (Harrington Park Press, 1994), p. 91.
Further reading [edit]
Jeffers, H. Paul. Sal Mineo: His Life, Murder, and Mystery, Running Press, 2002.
Michaud, Michael Gregg. Sal Mineo: A Biography, Harmony, 2010.
External links [edit]
Official Website http://www.salmineo.com
- Sal Mineo at the Internet Movie Database
- Sal Mineo at Find a Grave
- Sal Mineo at the Internet Broadway Database
- Sal Mineo at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Hadleigh interview with Sal Mineo, 1972
- Cavalier (February 1970): Sal Mineo interviewed by Bob Abel
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- 1939 births
- 1976 deaths
- 1976 murders in the United States
- American film actors
- American stage actors
- Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
- Gay actors
- LGBT entertainers from the United States
- American people of Italian descent
- Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery
- Deaths by stabbing in the United States
- Murdered actors
- People from the Bronx
- People murdered in California
- American people of Sicilian descent
- American murder victims
- 20th-century American actors
