Sam Melville (actor)

Samuel Gardner "Sam" Melville (August 20, 1936 – March 9, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared as a guest star on many television programs of the 1960s and 1970s. He portrayed Officer Mike Danko in four seasons of Aaron Spelling's ABC series, The Rookies, and The Bear in the 1978 surfing movie, Big Wednesday, with Celia Kaye as his unnamed "bride."

Sam Melville
From TV's The Rookies (1973). Standing, L-R: Michael Ontkean, Sam Melville, Georg Stanford Brown. Front: Gerald S. O'Loughlin
Born(1936-08-20)August 20, 1936
Fillmore, Utah, U.S.
DiedMarch 9, 1989(1989-03-09) (aged 52)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationFilm, television actor
Years active1966–1989

Melville also had small parts in Hour of the Gun (1967) playing the role of Morgan Earp, The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) starring Steve McQueen, as Lieutenant James Crandall / Schmidt on Hogan's Heroes (1966), and the television disaster film Terror in the Sky (1971) as the co-pilot. On Gunsmoke and Hawaii Five-O, both on CBS, he played villains as a guest-star. However, on the episode "A Mule ... Like the Army's Mule" of the syndicated anthology series Death Valley Days, Melville portrayed United States Army Lt. Jason Beal, who befriended Sandy King, played by Luke Halpin, the youngest member of the Curly Bill Brocius outlaw gang.[1] In 1967, he guest starred in an episode of the CBS western, Dundee and the Culhane.

In 1970, Melville was cast as Indian agent John Clum in the Death Valley Days episode, "Clum's Constabulary", hosted by Dale Robertson. In the story line, Clum recruits an elite team of Apaches to aid the U.S. Cavalry in the Southwest but faces opposition within the white community. Tris Coffin was cast as Captain Loren Phillips and John Considine as Lago.[2]

Melville again portrayed a villain on CBS's Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and later portrayed Mrs. King's ex-husband and father of her children. He played opposite Kate Jackson as her husband in The Rookies. He guest starred as a jewel thief, alongside Janie Fricke, in the seventh-season episode of CBS's The Dukes Of Hazzard, "Happy Birthday, General Lee".

Melville was born in Fillmore, Utah, and died from heart failure in Los Angeles. He was survived by his wife, Annie.[3]

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1966That Girl Roddy Waxman(Episode: Rich Little Rich Kid)
1966A Smell of Honey, a Swallow of BrineLowell Carter
1967Hour of the GunMorgan Earp
1968The Thomas Crown AffairDave
1978Big WednesdayBear
1979The Dukes of HazzardRussell "Snake" Harmon(Episode: Jude Emery)
1981The Dukes of HazzardTommy Dunkirk(Episode: The Great Hazzard Hijack)
1984The Dukes of HazzardRick(Episode: Happy Birthday, General Lee)

1984. The A-Team Shaw. Episode. Say it with Bullets 1985. The A-Team Rocco. Episode. Bodyslam

1985Scarecrow and Mrs. KingGlen Tucker(Episode: Murder Between Friends)
1985-1987Scarecrow and Mrs. KingJoe King4 Episodes
1988Twice DeadHarry Cates
1989Fists of SteelGeorge Breenberg
1989Deadly WeaponSheriff Bartlett
1990The AssassinSenator Berkeley(final film role)

References
  1. "Death Valley Days: "A Mule ... Like the Army's Mule", October 5, 1968". IMDb. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  2. "Death Valley Days: Clum's Constabulary". IMDb. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  3. "Sam Melville, 52; Actor Co-Starred in 'Rookies'". Los Angeles Times. 11 March 1989. Retrieved 2013-09-30.



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