Lew Gallo

Lew Gallo was a general-purpose actor in theater and television and, occasionally, feature films, who moved up to producing for television in the 1970s and '80s. Gallo was born in 1928 in Mt. Kisco, NY, and made his Broadway debut in 1955 with a role in George Axelrod's satirical comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, which starred Orson Bean, Martin Gabel, Jayne Mansfield, and Walter Matthau. By 1957, Gallo had moved to Hollywood, where his early feature-film credits included roles in I Want to Live!, Pork Chop Hill, and Odds Against Tomorrow. During the early '60s, he also appeared in Soldier in the Rain and PT 109.

Gallo was most active in television, however, starting in the late '50s, and he did his share of Westerns, including Gunsmoke and The Virginian. It was at Fox, however, that he seemed to keep busiest -- he had a recurring role on 12 O'Clock High as Major Joseph Cobb, and also appeared in episodes of Adventures in Paradise. Additionally, producer Irwin Allen apparently liked his work as well, and used him in episodes of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, and The Time Tunnel. Gallo was equally good at portraying working stiffs and enlisted men, and high-ranking officers and educated, even devious, authority figures, and he was never "typed" in either movies or television. By the start of the 1970s, however, he had moved into production on the comedy anthology series Love, American Style.

Although he continued to take acting roles into the 1990s, Gallo was much busier on the production side, on series such as Lucan and Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, and made-for-television features such as Mafia Princess. He died in June of 2000, one day before his 72nd birthday, while being treated for an aortic aneurysm.

~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide