Jack Somack

Jack Somack (September 14, 1918 – August 24, 1983) was an American actor and chemical engineer born in Chicago, Illinois. He is widely remembered for his role in the 1969 Alka-Seltzer television commercial centered on the phrase "spicy meatball."

Somack began his acting career in 1966, taking on the lead role of Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge. His stage work extended to Broadway, where he appeared in Paris Is Out! and The Prisoner of Second Avenue, the latter produced in 1971. Across the 1970s and into the 1980s, he accumulated an extensive list of television credits, guest-starring on programs including Barney Miller, The Rockford Files, Sanford and Son, All in the Family, Starsky & Hutch, Kojak, The Love Boat, Laverne & Shirley, Eight Is Enough, The Jimmy Stewart Show, The Blue Knight, and Family Ties. He also held recurring roles in the short-lived series Ball Four and The Stockard Channing Show. His film appearances during the same period included Portnoy's Complaint, Desperate Characters, The Frisco Kid, The Pursuit of Happiness, Hero at Large, and The Main Event.

Somack died on August 24, 1983, of a heart attack at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles at the age of 64. At the time of his death he had been rehearsing for a role in the television series Benson.