Joe Mantell

Joe Mantell, born Joseph Mantel on December 21, 1915, in Brooklyn, New York, was an American actor whose career spanned stage, film, and television. The son of Jewish immigrant parents from the Kingdom of Galicia in Eastern Europe, his father worked as a butcher. Born with the surname Mantel, accented on the first syllable, he altered the spelling to Mantell and shifted the pronunciation to "Man-TELL" when he began his acting career. He served in the United States Army during World War II before pursuing work in the entertainment industry. Mantell died on September 29, 2010, in Tarzana, California, at the age of 94, having retired from acting in 1990. He and his wife, Mary, had two daughters and a son.

Mantell's Broadway career ran from 1952 to 1971 and included appearances in Buttrio Square, Twigs, and Emily. His stage work developed alongside a substantial presence in early American television, particularly through his collaborations with writer Paddy Chayefsky on productions for The Philco Television Playhouse, directed by Delbert Mann. Among these was the 1953 live broadcast of Marty, in which Mantell played Angie, the best friend of the title character. He also appeared in that same period as Arnold in Chayefsky's The Bachelor Party for the same program.

In 1955, Mantell reprised the role of Angie in the theatrical film adaptation of Marty, earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. That same year he appeared in the anti-censorship episode "Storm Center" of the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, and he went on to appear in the 1956 film adaptation of the same story, directed by Daniel Taradash. He also played a betrayed husband in the "Guilty Witness" episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and had a small but pivotal role in the gas station scene of Hitchcock's 1963 film The Birds.

Mantell appeared frequently in episodic television throughout the 1960s. He was featured in the pilot of the crime drama The Untouchables, starring Robert Stack, which originally aired as a two-part episode, and later guest-starred in the series itself in the two-part episode "The Unhired Assassin," portraying Giuseppe Zangara, the man who attempted to assassinate Franklin Delano Roosevelt and instead fatally shot Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak. He starred in two episodes of The Twilight Zone — "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room" in a leading role, and "Steel," co-starring with Lee Marvin. From 1961 to 1962, he held a recurring role as Ernie Briggs in six episodes of the CBS sitcom Pete and Gladys, starring Harry Morgan and Cara Williams. He also appeared in season one, episode five of Combat!, titled "Far from the Brave," in a 1963 episode of Don't Call Me Charlie!, and in guest roles on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Ironside, and Maude. Between 1967 and 1969, Mantell appeared five times on Mannix, four of those as his recurring character, private detective Albie Loos.

Among his most enduring film contributions was his work in Roman Polanski's 1974 neo-noir Chinatown, in which he played Lawrence Walsh, an associate of private investigator Jake Gittes, and delivered the film's celebrated closing line, "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." Mantell returned to the role of Walsh in the 1990 sequel The Two Jakes, the final credit of his acting career.