Albert Salmi Biography

Albert Salmi studied at the prestigious Actors Studio in the 1950s and got his first big break in 1955, when he starred as Bo, the brash young cowboy, in the original Broadway production of Bus Stop. After starring with Paul Newman in the TV movie Bang the Drum Slowly (1956), Albert Salmi settled into life as a prolific Hollywood character actor. He guest-starred in many of the leading TV series of the 1950s and 1960s — including The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Route 66 and Bonanza — playing a succession of surly cowboys, cheerful pirates, sheriffs and sidekicks. Late in his career, Salmi went into semi-retirement in Washington state. He died in 1990 when apparently he shot his wife and then himself in their home; the deaths were officially ruled a murder-suicide.