James Komack
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Birth Name
aka Jimmy Komack | |
Aug 02 1924 - Dec 24 1997 age 73
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Official Site
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James Komack was an American actor, writer and film producer. Komack was in the original cast of the Broadway musical Damn Yankees
and also in the film version; in both productions, he was one of the
baseball players who perform the song "(You Gotta Have) Heart". Komack
also appeared in Frank Capra's film A Hole in the Head, as Julius Manetta, inept son of Mario (Edward G. Robinson) and Sophie (Thelma Ritter).
In December 1960, Komack appeared as Dr. Franklin in the episode "Emergency" of CBS's anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson; his co-stars were Robert F. Simon and Robert Vaughn. Komack was the guiding force behind such television hits as The Courtship of Eddie's Father, in which he also appeared as Norman Tinker, Me and Maxx, whose title character was inspired by and named after his daughter, Chico and the Man, and Welcome Back, Kotter.
Komack is credited with discovering and launching the careers of John
Travolta and Freddie Prinze. Early in his career, Komack worked as a
stand up comedian and also appeared as a regular in the series Hennesey. He also made a record album of his routine, James Komack at the Waldorf. He also recorded an album on RCA Victor in 1957 of music, not a comedy album, titled Inside Me, under the orchestra direction of Dennis Farnon, RCA LPM-1501. He was director of the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "A Piece of the Action".
Komack
was widely believed to be the illegitimate son of Milton Berle. In his
autobiography, Berle describes an encounter with the producer of a hit
1970s' show, and got pitched for a role in another series (probably
"The Man" in Chico in the Man). Berle said he didn't know the guy
already had a hit show and was probably trying to hustle him to get a
leg up as a producer. He wrote that it wasn't until later that he
learned that this was the illegitimate son whom he had pined for ever
since he'd had an affair with a would-be movie starlet back in the
1920s. By the time he came around, the role was cast.
Komack died Christmas Eve 1997 from heart failure. Source: Wikipedia
01 House On 64th Street
02 Mavlick
03 Lady Chatterly's Lover
04 Prize Fight Announcer
05 The Beat Generation
06 The Man With The Golden Arm!
Stand-up
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Ember Records ELP-800
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ENJOY!
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His other albums on this blog are "tagged" at the bottom of this post
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