Occasionally we like to highlight those second tier leading men of the 30s, 40s and 50s. In the mid forties Warner Brothers tried to make a star out of actor Robert Alda.
He’s mostly remembered today for being the father of TV and film star Alan Alda.
Nonetheless, Alda Sr. carved out a distinguished and lengthy career on the Broadway stage and in movies.
In 1946 he was most memorably cast as George Gershwin in Warner Bros.’ 1945 biopic, Rhapsody In Blue, costarring Oscar Levant, who adored Gershwin and was the first pianist to record “The Rhapsody In Blue” after the composer himself did, a blatant example of my ingenuous dauntlessness, Levant recalled. (Below is Alda as Gershwin romancing costar Alexis Smith.)
Alda was born in New York City in 1914 as Alphonso d’Abruzzo, the son of an Italian immigrant barber. His show biz career began after high school in 1930, with Alda performing as a singer-dancer in vaudeville after winning a talent contest.
Always a good-looking dude, Alda as a budding star was sometimes mentioned in the same breathe with Cary Grant. Both were at Warner Bros. at the same time, and both starred in high-powered musical biographies — Grant played Cole Porter in 1946’s Night and Day. The similarities stopped right there, however, when Grant’s big screen took off and Alda’s went South.
He found himself cast in a mish-mash of ho-hum outings: e.g., 1946’s Cinderella Jones and The Beast With Five Fingers; 1948’s Bungalow; 1949’s Homicide; 1950’s Hollywood Varieties and Tarzan and the Slave Girl. An appearance as a talent agent in Douglas Sirk’s 1959 melodrama, Imitation of Life, is the most prominent of Alda’s movie credits of the 1950’s.
By then Alda had reset his sights on the Broadway stage, winning a Tony Award for his starring role Guys and Dolls. He also toplined productions of Harbor Lights, and What Makes Sammy Run?, among other outings.
He even turned up as a game show host in an early tv version of What’s Your Bid? Alda continued to work in various tv capacities until 1983, three years before his death at age 72.
His first marriage to former beauty pageant winner Joan Browne, which produced son Alan, ended in 1946. In 1955, Alda wed Flora Marino (see below), an Italian actress he met in Rome while making several European pictures. (Their son, actor Antony Alda, died in 2009.)
ROBERT ALDA… Not too much you can add to Joe & Franks piece on him…
He was a good actor but he didn’t get the iconic roles or role that his son did.
Even so, he kept working and managed to enjoy life.
Robert Alda was another of those old-timers who did cameos for 1976’s WON TON TON: THE DOG WHO SAVED HOLLYWOOD. And again, as mediocre as that film was, it is well worth watching just to see those old stars all together in the same movie.
I ran into him a few times at Universal on QUINCY, as he did do a lot of television work, even twice appearing on his son’s show M*A*S*H.
ALAN ALDA was born Alphonso D’Abruzzo in The Bronx, New York City in 1936. Alan’s portrayal of ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce was unique and extraordinarily popular with fans, yet Richard Hooker who wrote the novel on which
M*A*S* H was based, did not like the movie or the TV series and especially disliked Alda’s interpretation of the lead character. So much for pleasing everybody. Alan only agreed to accept the role six hours before the pilot episode was ready to shoot. By 1980 he was being paid $200,000 a week, which helped pay his commuter airfare home to New Jersey every weekend during all those years the show ran.
As for ROBERT ALDA, he was more than pleased for his famous son’s success, and content and thankful for his own.
I forgot to mention, but still related in a way to the Alda’s and M*A*S*H…
Today March 20, 2019, the biggest HOLLYWOOD merger of all closed, when Disney paid $71 billion for 20th Century-Fox.
They were already the biggest media company on the planet with 26% of the world market, and now Disney will be even more dominant and controlling.
In an age when the most popular and most profitable movies are based on comic books… In an age when it’s all about “trending now” synergy and merchandising, it is a sad day for HOLLYWOOD labor as the merger will surely see well more than 4,000 layoffs for the employees and friends I knew at Fox.
But for the public, the consumer, merger deals like this are always BAD, and always more COSTLY!
Always interesting, Joe, Frank, and Graham.
1. MASH is a perfect example of the differences between post-code Hollywood story treatment and pre-cable/internet/streaming network television. Not surprised the author preferred Sutherland to Alda. Interesting the ONLY behavior that presented the same way in the movie and the TV series was alcohol consumption. But the TV show established, through great writing and fine acting, a tone that was comedic yet respectful of the dark subject matter. Compare to “Hogan’s Heroes.”
I know of Hemingway’s lack of regard for his books’ translations to film. Now you’ve got me wondering about Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller. A little research for me.
2. DISNEY–I have a grandson who is in the “sweet spot” of loving all things Disney. Now Disney will provide “cradle to grave” entertainment. In the world of social media, I think (hope? pray? kid myself?) that he and all of us could do worse.
3. FOX– as you do, Graham, I feel terrible for the worker bees at 20th who have to reinvent themselves. I hope with all the content being produced now, experienced folks will have at least a chance to adapt, though of course wages and benefits will be iffy. Film production, though, along with aerospace have always been cyclical, and there are still a LOT of people employed in the new iterations of those industries.
Finally, as I mentioned here once, I am glad the Fox fanfare and searchlights will still be around in many formats.
By the way, Robert Alda–handsome and talented. Alexis Smith–gorgeous and, OK, talented.
But that “lobby card” for Rhapsody in Blue is just plain creepy…