Nico Minardos (February 15, 1930, Pangrati, Athens â€" August 27,
2011, Woodland Hills, California) was a Greek-American actor.Minardos
made his first appearance in front of the Hollywood cameras as an
extra in the 1952 film Monkey Business, starring Cary Grant, Ginger
Rogers, and Marilyn Monroe. Also listed among his film credits are
Holiday for Lovers with Jill St. John; Twelve Hours to Kill with
Barbara Eden; It Happened in Athens with Jayne Mansfield; and Cannon
for Cordoba, an action-packed western with George Peppard and Pete
Duel. The majority of Minardos's work, however, was in television,
where he made guest appearances in a wide variety of shows. Due to his
dark looks and accent, he was often cast as a Mexican, a trend which
can be seen throughout his career. These roles included that of a
thief in the Maverick episode, "The Judas Mask"; a doctor in The
Twilight Zone episode "The Gift"; and two roles in the TV show Alias
Smith and Jones, first as a bandit chief in "Journey from San Juan",
and then as the Alcalde of a Mexican resort town in "Miracle at Santa
Marta". These latter two appearances reunited him with Cannon for
Cordoba co-star, Pete Duel, who played Hannibal Heyes, the alias Smith
of the title. He was cast as an Italian, Giangiacomo, in the 1965
Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Sad Sicilian".[citation needed]
Minardos also appeared in Barnaby Jones; episode titled "The Loose
Connection"(03/18/1973).In 1975, Minardos starred in and produced
Assault on Agathon based on the book by Alan Caillou. It is the story
of a revolutionary from World War II, the mysterious Agathon, who is
committing terrorist acts in Greece and Albania. Minardos stars as
Cabot Cain, a Western agent assigned to stop Agathon and locate a
missing Interpol agent. Minardos obtained financing for the film from
Kjell Qvale, a Bay Area-based automotive entrepreneur who was then the
majority shareholder in Jensen Motors. Minardos had approached Qvale
for a product placement deal to use a Jensen Interceptor during
filming but ultimately convinced Qvale to finance the entire movie.
MGM distributed the film but it was a financial failure. Minardos's
last appearance on the screen was in an episode of The A-Team in
1983.[citation needed]He was born Nicholas Minardos in Greece and
emigrated to the United States permanently in 1954; he became
naturalized citizen in 1960. Minardos was married twice, first briefly
in the mid-1950s to the former Deborah Jean Smith (sometimes
incorrectly referred to as Deborah Ann Montgomery). There were no
children from that marriage. Two years after the divorce, Deborah
married the legendary actor Tyrone Power, and after he died, producer
Arthur Loew, Jr. Minardos remarried in 1965. He and his wife Julie had
two children together, a son named George and a daughter named Nina.
Minardos reputedly lived with the actress Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s
and also with the actress/dancer Juliet Prowse before she moved to Las
Vegas to be with Frank Sinatra.
2011, Woodland Hills, California) was a Greek-American actor.Minardos
made his first appearance in front of the Hollywood cameras as an
extra in the 1952 film Monkey Business, starring Cary Grant, Ginger
Rogers, and Marilyn Monroe. Also listed among his film credits are
Holiday for Lovers with Jill St. John; Twelve Hours to Kill with
Barbara Eden; It Happened in Athens with Jayne Mansfield; and Cannon
for Cordoba, an action-packed western with George Peppard and Pete
Duel. The majority of Minardos's work, however, was in television,
where he made guest appearances in a wide variety of shows. Due to his
dark looks and accent, he was often cast as a Mexican, a trend which
can be seen throughout his career. These roles included that of a
thief in the Maverick episode, "The Judas Mask"; a doctor in The
Twilight Zone episode "The Gift"; and two roles in the TV show Alias
Smith and Jones, first as a bandit chief in "Journey from San Juan",
and then as the Alcalde of a Mexican resort town in "Miracle at Santa
Marta". These latter two appearances reunited him with Cannon for
Cordoba co-star, Pete Duel, who played Hannibal Heyes, the alias Smith
of the title. He was cast as an Italian, Giangiacomo, in the 1965
Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Sad Sicilian".[citation needed]
Minardos also appeared in Barnaby Jones; episode titled "The Loose
Connection"(03/18/1973).In 1975, Minardos starred in and produced
Assault on Agathon based on the book by Alan Caillou. It is the story
of a revolutionary from World War II, the mysterious Agathon, who is
committing terrorist acts in Greece and Albania. Minardos stars as
Cabot Cain, a Western agent assigned to stop Agathon and locate a
missing Interpol agent. Minardos obtained financing for the film from
Kjell Qvale, a Bay Area-based automotive entrepreneur who was then the
majority shareholder in Jensen Motors. Minardos had approached Qvale
for a product placement deal to use a Jensen Interceptor during
filming but ultimately convinced Qvale to finance the entire movie.
MGM distributed the film but it was a financial failure. Minardos's
last appearance on the screen was in an episode of The A-Team in
1983.[citation needed]He was born Nicholas Minardos in Greece and
emigrated to the United States permanently in 1954; he became
naturalized citizen in 1960. Minardos was married twice, first briefly
in the mid-1950s to the former Deborah Jean Smith (sometimes
incorrectly referred to as Deborah Ann Montgomery). There were no
children from that marriage. Two years after the divorce, Deborah
married the legendary actor Tyrone Power, and after he died, producer
Arthur Loew, Jr. Minardos remarried in 1965. He and his wife Julie had
two children together, a son named George and a daughter named Nina.
Minardos reputedly lived with the actress Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s
and also with the actress/dancer Juliet Prowse before she moved to Las
Vegas to be with Frank Sinatra.
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