Vic Morrow

Brooding, intense character actor Vic Morrow played men of few words and definitive actions, most notably on the WWII action-drama series "Combat!" (ABC, 1962-67) and scores of television episodes and features from the late-1950s until his tragic death in 1982. His debut as a switchblade-wielding tough in 1955's "The Blackboard Jungle" marked him as a screen heavy, but he bristled at the typecasting. "Combat" turned him into a strong and silent action hero, but he was unable to capitalize on its fame and floundered for most of the 1970s on television, save for memorable turns in "The Bad News Bears" (1976) and "Roots" (ABC, 1977). "Twilight Zone: The Movie" (1983) should have been his comeback, but he was killed during a freak on-set accident that ultimately made him an industry martyr, ending a long and hard-fought career that won many fans but too few successes.