Paul Comi

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Paul Domingo Comi (February 11, 1932 – August 26, 2016)[1][2] was an American film and television actor.

Biography

File:Paul Comi (Twilight Zone).jpg
Paul Comi in The Twilight Zone, episode "People Are Alike All Over"

Paul Comi was born 1932 in Brookline, Massachusetts.[3] and grew up in nearby North Quincy, graduating from high school in 1949, after which he joined the United States Army. He was awarded three Purple Hearts during the Korean War, in which he served (1950–51).[4]

Awarded a scholarship to USC School of Dramatic Arts[5][6] at the University of Southern California, he graduated in 1958 Magna Cum Laude with membership in Tau Kappa Epsilon, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi and Blue Key honors.[7][8]

He and his wife Eva had three children. As an apprentice at the La Jolla Playhouse the summer of 1957, 20th Century Fox picked him up and cast him as Pvt. Abbott in The Young Lions with Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift; he would act for four more decades.[9]

Comi died on August 26, 2016, in Pasadena, California, at the age of 84.[10]

Acting career

Comi's acting career spanned four decades, from the mid-1950s through the mid-1990s. He made over three hundred television appearances, twenty movies, and a number of recurring television roles. These included Deputy Johnny Evans in the syndicated western series Two Faces West (1960–61), starring Charles Bateman, the part of Brad Carter, prosecuting attorney in The Virginian while Lee J. Cobb was in the cast. He was cast along with others, including Bruce Dern and Joby Baker, who were all part of Paul Burke's crew in Burke's initial introduction, on 12 O'Clock High.[11]

File:Paul Comi (Star Trek).jpg
Paul Comi in Star Trek

Comi's professional acting career began in 1957, when, as an apprentice at the La Jolla Playhouse, he was given a small part in the play Career that starred Don Taylor and Una Merkel.[12] His comedy scene as a drunken GI earned rave reviews in The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, leading to his being signed by 20th Century Fox for the role of Pvt. Abbott in The Young Lions with Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin. At Fox, he appeared in several films: In Love and War with Jeffrey Hunter and Robert Wagner; A Private's Affair with Ernie Kovacs; and was lent out to Warner Bros. for the role of "Jenkins" in the Michael Garrison production of The Dark at the Top of the Stairs with Robert Preston and Dorothy McGuire. He also played Lt Tim, Steve McQueen's assistant in The Towering Inferno.[13]

In 1960, Comi appeared in The Twilight Zone episode "People Are Alike All Over", as Warren Marcusson.[14] Between 1961 and 1962, he portrayed airplane pilot Chuck Lambert on the first-run syndicated television adventure series Ripcord about skydiving and was a regular on the Western series Rawhide. He also played Victor Markham for one and one half seasons on the daytime soap Capitol, followed by two seasons as George Durnley in General Hospital. Besides, he had two guest appearances on Voyage to the Bottom Of The Sea in the episodes "Submarine Sunk Here" and "Deadly Creature Below!"[15]

Comi played navigator Lt. Andrew Stiles for the Star Trek episode "Balance of Terror" (1966). He played the banker Farnsworth in "The Wild, Wild West" S3 E9 "The Night of the Circus of Death" (1967). He appeared in Barnaby Jones in the episode titled "Dangerous Summer" (02/11/1975).[16]

Comi was a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Business interests

He was President of Caffe D'Amore Inc. a coffee company started by his wife, Eva, the creator of the world's first flavored instant cappuccino, Caffe D'Amore.[17]

Partial filmography

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Awards and decorations

See also

References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Telegraph.co.uk: Paul Comi, character actor – obituary, 12, October 2016
  4. ↑ Uzal W. Ent: Fighting on the Brink – Defense of the Pusan Perimeter; S. 337–339, Turner, 1997; Template:ISBN
  5. ↑ Daily Trojan, Vol. 49, No. 44, Stop-Gap To Present Brick and the Rose, S. 1, November 22, 1957, University of Southern California, Online-Version
  6. ↑ Daily Trojan, Vol. 59, No. 61, Stop Gap hosts run of After the Fall, S. 1, January 8, 1968, University of Southern California, Online-Version
  7. ↑ USC School of Dramatic Arts, records 5287, USC Libraries Special Collections, Alumni 1957–2006, Scope and Content, Clippings and promotional materials regarding notable alumni of the School of Dramatic Arts, Paul Comi 1957–1978, Box 1, Folder 13, Box 10, Folder 16, Online Archive of California
  8. ↑ Tkeusc.org: Distinguished Alumni, Beta-Sigma’s Own, July 9, 2016.
  9. ↑ Internet Movie Database, The Young Lions, imdb.com; accessed July 31, 2016.
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Twelve O'Clock High on IMDb
  12. ↑ Lajollaplayhouse.org: La Jolla Playhouse, Production History (1959–1947), Career, Written by James Le, Performance Dates: August 6–18, 1957, July 9, 2016.
  13. ↑ Imdb.com: Paul Comi
  14. ↑ Stewart Stanyard: Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone – A Backstage Tribute to Television's, Paul Comi, S. 190, ECW Press, 2007, Template:ISBN
  15. ↑ Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, IMDb.com. Accessed June 19, 2023.
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ Cal Orey: The Healing Powers of Chocolate, S. 130, Kensington, 2010; Template:ISBN
  18. ↑ Internet Movie Database, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
  19. ↑ Internet Movie Database, Leap of Faith

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External links

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