Vincent Beck

Vincent Beck (August 15, 1924 – July 24, 1984) was an American actor born in New York City who built a career across stage, film, and television spanning nearly four decades. He is remembered for character work that frequently cast him as villains, aliens, and other antagonistic figures, and he held leadership positions in both Actors Equity and the Screen Actors Guild later in his life.

Beck made his Broadway debut in 1946 in A Flag Is Born. His stage career continued into the following decade, and by 1950 he was appearing as The Young Covey in Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars at the Hudson Guild Theater, a performance that drew favorable notice from Billboard reviewer Dennis McDonald alongside castmates Sy Travers and Osna Palmer. That same April, Beck took the role of Whibbles in James Barrie's Peter Pan, which was playing at the Imperial Theater in New York beginning on the 24th of that month. In April 1951, he played Teddy in Clifford Odets's comedy Night Music at the ANTA Playhouse, a production that also featured Rod Steiger. Beck appeared in the musical Almost Crazy at the Longacre Theater, which ran from June 20 to July 2, 1955. His Broadway work also included The Lark, The Moon Besieged, and other productions through 1965. Additional stage credits outside of Broadway included The World of Sholom Aleichem, The Merchant of Venice, Irma la Douce, Gypsy, Bells Are Ringing, and Oliver, in which he played the villainous Bill Sikes in early 1965. A reviewer in The Des Moines Register described his portrayal of Sikes as "properly menacing as the all-time bad guy."

Beck's film career began with the 1964 science fiction picture Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, directed by Nicholas Webster, in which he played the Martian leader Voldar. Subsequent film roles included Benjamin Luger in The Spy in the Green Hat (1967), Zagorsky in Frank Telford's The Bamboo Saucer (1968), and a part in The Pink Jungle (1968). He played Trilling in the 1979 Michael Winner film Firepower, which starred Sophia Loren and James Coburn. His final screen role was Judge Sinclair in William Lustig's Vigilante (1983), a film also featuring Fred Williamson, Robert Forster, Joe Spinell, and Woody Strode. Sinclair is depicted as a corrupt judge whose rulings allow gang members to go free after receiving bribe money. Lustig later recalled that Beck, acting in his capacity as a Screen Actors Guild representative, monitored the production closely for compliance with union rules and regulations.

Beck's television work was extensive. He appeared in episodes of Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Bonanza, Daniel Boone, Get Smart, and The Monkees, among many others. In 1965 he appeared on Gilligan's Island as Russian cosmonaut Igor and in the Mister Ed episode Anybody Got a Zebra? as Krona. He appeared in two separate episodes of Mannix in 1971, playing Kevin Archer in one and Frankie West in another titled Catspaw. In 1972 he appeared in Mission: Impossible as Bolt in the episode Double Dead, which aired on February 12. The following year he played Stanley Owens in The Manhunters episode of The Magician, a series starring Bill Bixby, which aired on October 2, 1973. He also appeared in The F.B.I. in 1974 and in a third Mannix episode, Hardball, in 1975.

In addition to his performing career, Beck served as third vice president of Actors Equity beginning in 1982 and as president of the New York branch of the Screen Actors Guild from 1983. He died of cancer at his Manhattan home on July 24, 1984, at the age of 59.