Alex Cord

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Alex Cord on filming in 1993

Alex Cord (* 3. May 1933 as Alex Viespi in Floral Park , Long Iceland , New York ; † 9. August 2021 in Valley View , Texas ) was an American actor and author .

Life

Alex Cord was born to Alexander Viespi and Marie Paladino. At the age of two he discovered his passion for horses and riding. At the age of 12 he developed polio and had to spend a long time in the hospital in an iron lung . On a ranch in Wyoming , where his illness was successfully treated, he decided to become a jockey or professional dressage rider.

In 1950, Cord left Sewanhaka High School at the age of 16 and began making a living by riding bulls and bareback riding at rodeo tournaments because he was already too big to be a jockey To become horse racing.

After sustaining serious injuries at a rodeo tournament in New York's Madison Square Garden , he was again hospitalized for a long time. During his convalescence he discovered literature and decided to catch up on his school leaving certificate at night school. He later studied literature at New York University , where he first came into contact with acting. During this time he earned his living, among other things, as a tiler and in a bank.

Alex Cord had two children from previous relationships. Daughter Toni Aluisa is from the marriage to actress Joanna Pettet and son Damien Zachary from the marriage to Mary Ann Hutchinson. His son died of a heroin overdose in 1995 at the age of 26. Cord was the godfather of Michael Vincent Flaherty, son of actor, producer and politician Vince Flaherty.

From 2002 Cord was married to Susannah Moller. Both ran a horse ranch in northern Texas.

He died there on August 9, 2021 at the age of 88.

Career

Due to his interest in acting, which flared up during his studies, Cord completed an acting training at the Actors Studio and began his professional career with The Compass Players in St. Louis , Missouri . This was followed by roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Academy hosted American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford , Connecticut , where he played Laertes in an adaptation of Hamlet . He later accompanied the National Shakespeare Academy through the United States.

A British producer saw Cord in the role of Laertes and invited him to London , where he starred in four plays ( Doris Lessing's Play With a Tiger , The Rose Tattoo , William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Umbrella ). He was nominated for a Best Actor Award by the London Critics' Circle for his portrayal in Play With a Tiger .

He had his first film role in 1962 in the film The Chapman Report , directed by George Cukor . Many series roles followed and slowly larger film roles. In San Fernando , the remake of John Ford's western classic Ringo , he played the main male role of "Ringo Kid" alongside Ann-Margret and Bing Crosby in 1966 - but unlike John Wayne 27 years earlier, this role did not make him a star .

In the late 1960s and 1970s, Cord was increasingly seen in European productions; this which includes spaghetti westerns more dead than alive (Engl. A Minute to Pray, A Second To Die ) from 1968 and the British war drama The Last Grenade with Stanley Baker and Richard Attenborough in 1970. During this time he played at the Page of Sam Jaffe the killer in Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Treacherous Heart (1971).

Back in the United States, Cord turned increasingly to television and had roles in numerous television series that cemented his career. In 1973 he played the character of Dylan Hunt in the pilot of Gene Roddenberry's science fiction television series Genesis II , which, however, was not continued due to lack of success. It was not until much later that the series became a success on television under the name Andromeda and other cast. Cord starred in the epic 1977 western Grayeagle .

He became known to a wide audience in the 1980s when he played the always white-clad CIA agent Michael "Archangel" Coldsmith Briggs III at the side of Jan-Michael Vincent and Ernest Borgnine in the television series Airwolf . Cord is also one of the few actors who played roles in both the original and the recast of the television series Kobra, Take Over . Cord let his acting career end in the 1990s, most recently in 2009 in front of the camera.

Cord also devoted himself to writing. In addition to three screenplays he wrote the books Sand Song and A spring in the rain (Engl. A Feather in the Rain ), in which he processed the drug death of his son. His third book, Days of the Harbinger , was published in 2013.

literature

  • Alex Cord: Sand song. Warner Books, 1976
  • Alex Cord: A Feather in the Rain. Five Star Publications, 1995, ISBN 1-58985-011-4

Awards

  • London Critics Award
  • 1966: Golden Laurel New Faces (nomination)
  • 2001: Golden Boot Award

Filmography (selection)

  • 1961: At the foot of the blue mountains ( Laramie ; TV series, episode The Man from the Mountains )
  • 1962: Cain's Hundred (TV series, episode Take a Number: Jack Garsell )
  • 1962: The Chapman Report (The Chapman Report)
  • 1962–1963: Merciless City ( Naked City ; TV series, two episodes)
  • 1963: Alcoa Premiere (TV series, episode The Hat of Sergeant Martin )
  • 1963: The Nurses (TV series, episode Circle of Choice )
  • 1963–1964: Route 66 (TV series, five episodes)
  • 1964: East Side / West Side (TV series, episode If Your Grandmother Had Wheels )
  • 1965: Outlawed ( Branded ; TV series, episode Survival )
  • 1965: The Greedy (Synanon)
  • 1966: San Fernando (stagecoach)
  • 1967: Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater (TV series, episode The Lady Is My Wife )
  • 1967: Blackmail by Scorpio ( The Scorpio Letters , TV movie)
  • 1967: More dead than alive (Un minuto per pregare, un istante per morire)
  • 1968: Order of Murder (The Brotherhood)
  • 1969: stiletto
  • 1970: The Last Grenade
  • 1971: The Tell-Tale Heart (short film)
  • 1972: The Secret of the Yellow Tomb (L'etrusco uccide ancora)
  • 1972: Smoking Colts ( Gunsmoke ; TV series, episode The Sodbusters )
  • 1972: Cobra, Take Over ( Mission: Impossible ; TV series, episode Crack-Up )
  • 1973: Genesis II (TV movie)
  • 1973: FBI (TV series, episode Night of the Long Knives )
  • 1973–1976: Police Story (TV series, four episodes)
  • 1974: Chosen Survivors
  • 1974: Born Free ( Born Free ; TV series, episode The Trespassers )
  • 1975: Matt Helm (TV series, episode Murder on Ice )
  • 1975: Inn of the Damned
  • 1976: The Quest (TV series, episode The Buffalo Hunters )
  • 1976: Make-up and guns ( Police Woman ; TV series, episode Tennis Bum )
  • 1976: The Six Million Dollar Man ( The Six Million Dollar Man ; TV Series, Episode Task Force )
  • 1977: Horizon in Flames ( Fire!, TV movie)
  • 1977: Sidewinder 1
  • 1977: Gray Eagle (Gray Eagle)
  • 1978: WEB (TV series, five episodes)
  • 1979: Beggarman, Thief (TV movie)
  • 1979/1981: Love Boat (TV series, two episodes)
  • 1980–1984: Fantasy Island (TV series, five episodes)
  • 1981: Best of Friends (TV movie)
  • 1981: Goliath - sensation after 40 years ( Goliath Awaits , two-part TV series)
  • 1982: Cassie & Co. (TV series, 13 episodes)
  • 1984: Jungle Warriors - Your path leads through hell
  • 1984: Hotel (TV series, episode Flesh and Blood )
  • 1984–1986: Airwolf (TV series, 55 episodes)
  • 1986: Murder is Her Hobby ( Murder, She Wrote ; TV series, two episodes)
  • 1987: Private detective Harry McGraw ( The Law and Harry McGraw ; TV series, episode The Fallen Arrow )
  • 1988: Das dreckige Dutzend - The Fatal Mission ( The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission , Movie made for TV)
  • 1988: Uninvited
  • 1988: Simon & Simon (TV series, episode The Richer They Are the Harder They Fall )
  • 1988: The War of the Worlds ( War of the Worlds , television series, episode The Good Samaritan )
  • 1989/1992: Jake and McCabe - Through thick and thin ( Jake and the Fatman ; TV series, two episodes)
  • 1989: Freddy's Nightmares: A Nightmare on Elm Street - Die Serie ( Freddy's Nightmares ; TV series, episode Memory Overload )
  • 1989: On a Secret Mission ( Mission: Impossible ; TV series, episode For Art's Sake )
  • 1990: Ryder (Street Asylum)
  • 1990: A Girl to Kill For
  • 1992: The Naked Truth
  • 1992: Roots of Evil
  • 1992: CIA Code Name: Alexa (CIA Code Name: Alexa)
  • 1993: Karate Tiger 7
  • 1995: Hologram Man
  • 1995: Kung Fu - Under the Sign of the Dragon (TV series, episode The Sacred Chalice of I-Ching )
  • 1995: Walker, Texas Ranger (TV series, episode The Guardian )
  • 1996: High Tide ( High Tide ; TV series, two episodes)
  • 2001: Air Rage - Terror in 30,000 Feet (also: Hijackers - Auf Leben und Tod )
  • 2009: Fire from Below - The flames will find you (Fire from Below)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alex Cord Dies: 'Airwolf' Regular & Prolific Character Actor Was 88. In: deadline.com. Accessed August 10, 2021 .
  2. ^ Gainesville Register: Alex Cord continues to nurture writing skills , Aug. 1, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Cord, Alex
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Viespi, Alex (maiden name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION American actor and writer
BIRTH DATE May 3, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Floral Park , Long Island, New York, United States
DATE OF DEATH August 9, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH Valley View , Texas