Chris Alcaide

Chris Alcaide (born John Berger; October 23, 1922 – June 30, 2004^[1]) was an American actor, particularly known for his role in television westerns. He surfaced to national attention as Deputy Joshua Tate in the 1956 film Gunslinger, co-starring Beverly Garland as a woman marshal.

In 2003, Alcaide was among recipients, including the Sons of the Pioneers, Tommy Lee Jones, Kris Kristofferson, and Kelo Henderson, of the 21st annual Golden Boot Awards for his extensive work in westerns.^[2]

Early years

Alcaide was born John ("Jack") Berger to parents George and Frances Conroy Berger in the traditionally steel city of Youngstown, the seat of Mahoning County in eastern Ohio, and served from 1943 to 1946 in the United States Army during World War II. He came to Hollywood, California, after the war to launch his acting career.^[3]

He was cast in his first, uncredited, screen role as Eddie in the 1950 production of the Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie. Uncredited roles followed in 1952 in the films Smoky Canyon and Cripple Creek, a reference to the mining town of Cripple Creek, Colorado. In 1953, he appeared as George Rose in the film The Big Heat, with Glenn Ford and Lee Marvin. In 1954, he was cast as Jason in Overland Pacific.^[4]

Alcaide's first television role was as George Timpkin in the 1953 episode "Ming Lama" of The Ford Television Theatre on NBC. In 1953, he was also cast in "Renegades Wires", the first of four episodes of the syndicated series, The Adventures of Kit Carson, starring Bill Williams in the title role. The 1954 Kit Carson episodes were "Counterfeit Country", "Trouble in Sundown", and "Outlaw's Justice".^[4]

In 1954, he also appeared three times on the syndicated Annie Oakley series, with Gail Davis in the title role and Brad Johnson and Jimmy Hawkins. He appeared as Paul Dodson in "Annie and the Brass Collar" and "The Cinder Trail" and then as Gil Warren in "Outlaw Mesa". These were the first of many television western roles to follow for the then 31-year-old Alcaide.^[4] He had also appeared in ten episodes of The Rifleman playing different characters.

Alcaide had "piercing eyes, a cold stare and an earth-shattering deep voice ... his specialty was menacing such heroes as Lorne Greene (Ben Cartwright), Richard Boone (Paladin), Clint Walker (Cheyenne Bodie), and even Gail Davis (Annie Oakley)".^[5] His favorite role was that as the lead henchman in Kid Galahad, a 1962 musical film, in which he menaced Elvis Presley as a boxer, Gig Young, and Charles Bronson.^[5] Alcaide made two guest appearances on Perry Mason.

Western roles

Alcaide appeared in 1955 in the syndicated series Buffalo Bill, Jr., a Gene Autry Production starring Texas native Dick Jones. That same year, he appeared in Autry's The Adventures of Champion in episodes "The Saddle Tramp" and "Renegade Stallion". From 1955-1957, he appeared three times on CBS's Saturday morning western, Tales of the Texas Rangers, in episodes "Uranium Pete", "Hail to the Rangers", and "Trail Herd".^[4]

The Rifleman

Alcaide appeared ten times on ABC's The Rifleman with Chuck Connors.^[6] Alcaide's The Rifleman episodes aired between 1959 and 1962 and included the roles of:

• Hamp Ferris in "The Trade"
• Panama Billings in "The Obituary"
• Lon Perry in "A Case of Identity"
• Spence in "A Time for Singing"
• Schroeder in "Meeting at Midnight"
• Ben Casper in "Dead Cold Cash"
• Ross in the two-part "The Wyoming Story"
• Will Carney in "The Journey Back"
• Dave Rankin in "Squeeze Play"^[6]

Other western roles

• Tales of the Texas Rangers, three times as Ben Thomas (1955-1957)
• Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre as Morgan in "Return to Nowhere" (CBS, 1956), and as Nate Evers in "A Gun for My Bride" (1957), as Vic Grauer in "Three Days to Death", as Clay Culhane in "Threat of Violence", Deputy Sheriff Jason Merrick in "The Accuser", and Marshal Bly Newsome is "Bury Me Dead", (all 1958). The role of Clay Culhane was later taken by Peter Breck and expanded into the ABC's series Black Saddle, on which Alcaide guest starred as Bill Logan in the 1959 episode "The Long Rider".
• Broken Arrow as the Indian Brown Eagle in "Passage Deferred" (1956) and as John Brett in "Hired Killer" (ABC, 1958)
• Sugarfoot, as Clay Horton in "Trail's End" (ABC, 1957)
• Colt .45 as Grimes in "Small Man" (ABC, 1957)
• Maverick as Tony Cadiz in "Stampede" (ABC, 1957)
• Casey Jones as Dan Durgin in "Satan's Wail" (Syndicated, 1957)
• Sheriff of Cochise as Earl Palmer in "Federal Witness" (Syndicated, 1957)
• The Californians as Gordon in "The Street" (NBC, 1958)
• State Trooper as Bart in "The Case of the Happy Dragon" and "When the Cat's Away" (Syndicated, 1958)
• U.S. Marshal as Marko Corbin in "The Fugitives" (Syndicated, 1958)
• Trackdown as a prisoner in "The San Saba Incident" (1957) and as Cass Desmond in "Deadly Decoy" (1958)
• Texas John Slaughter of ABC's Disneyland as an outlaw in "Ambush in Laredo" (1958)
• Frontier Doctor, with Rex Allen in title role; Alcaide appeared as Ed Slater in episode "Broken Barrier" (Syndicated, 1959)
• Bronco as Brutus Traxel in "The Silent Witness" (ABC, 1959)
• Man Without a Gun as Johnny Kansas in "Teenage Idol" and "The Hero" (Syndicated, 1959)
• Shotgun Slade in "Freight Line" (Syndicated, 1959)
• Wanted: Dead or Alive as Bull Sherman in "Estralita" and as Cree Colter in "Chain Gang" (CBS, 1959)
• Tales of Wells Fargo, with Dale Robertson in the starring role, Alcaide appeared as Notch Duggin in "Forty-Four Forty" (NBC, 1960)
• The Texan, four episodes, 1958–1960, including as Deputy Luke Smith in "Presentation Gun" (CBS, 1960)
• Law of the Plainsman, three episodes, including as Charlie Wolf in "Blood Trails" (NBC, 1959)
• The Deputy as Fred Tanner in "The Choice" (NBC, 1960)
• Tate as Parney in "The Mary Hardin Story" (NBC, 1960)
• Two Faces West as Willis in "The Prisoner" (Syndicated, 1961)
• Klondike as Greyson in "The Hostages" (NBC, 1961)
• Stagecoach West in "The Remounts" (ABC, 1961)
• Gunsmoke, five episodes, 1955–1961, including last appearance as Mike Boatright in "Big Man" (CBS, 1961)
• Lawman as Ben Moray in "The Shelter" (1959) and "Cold Fear" (ABC, 1961)
• The Tall Man as Joe Durango in "The Liberty Belle" (NBC, 1961)
• Rawhide, three episodes, including as Roy Craddock in "The Inside Man" (CBS, 1961)
• Laramie, three episodes, including as Greg in "Three Roads West" (NBC, 1960)Paul
• Frontier Circus, as Paul in "The Clan Macduff" (CBS, 1962)
• Cheyenne as Deputy Hack in "Star in the Dust" (1956) and as Harry Thomas in "The Quick and the Deadly" (ABC, 1962)^[4]
• The Dakotas as Metric in "Thunder in Pleasant Valley" (ABC, 1963)
• Have Gun – Will Travel, four episodes from 1958–1963, including as Brock March in "The Eve of St. Elmo" (CBS, 1963)
• Destry as Ace in "Ride to Rio Verde" (ABC, 1964)
• Death Valley Days as Jules Reni in "The Man Who Died Twice (1963) and as Hackett in "Birthright" (Syndicated, 1965)
• A Man Called Shenandoah as Frank Abbott in "The Locket" (ABC, 1965)
• The Virginian in "The Judgment" (1963) and "Beyond the Border" (NBC, 1965)
• Branded as Karp in "Leap Upon Mountains" (1965) and as John F. Parker in "This Stage of Fools" (NBC, 1966)
• Daniel Boone as Flathead Joseph in "Tekawitha McLeod" (1964) and as Noah Pierce in "The Prisoner" (NBC, 1966)
• Bonanza, three episodes, as Captain James Bolton in "Escape to Ponderosa" (1960), as Gus Hannah in "The Boss" (1963), and as Blake in "The Deed and the Dilemma" (NBC, 1967)
• Hondo as Selby in "Hondo and the Ghost of Ed Dow" (ABC, 1967)
• The Big Valley, four episodes, including as Ryan in "Hell Hath No Fury", Alcaide's last appearance in a western (ABC, November 14, 1968).^[4]

Dramatic roles

Alcaide also appeared in network drama series:

• Meet McGraw, starring Frank Lovejoy, with Alcaide in the role of "Frank" in the episode "Mohave" (NBC, 1957).^[7]
• Official Detective "The Silk Stocking Gang" - Al (1958). ^[8]
• Richard Diamond, Private Detective, starring David Janssen, as a thug in "One Foot in the Grave" (CBS, 1958) and as Robert in "The Popskull" (NBC, 1960)
• The Roaring 20's as Nick Zorich in "Vendetta on Bleecker Street" (ABC, 1960)
• Dante as Nick Steele in "A Punch from Judy" (NBC, 1960)
• 87th Precinct as Sergeant Briggs in "Run, Rabbit, Run" (NBC, 1961)
• Shannon as Jack O'Hara in "Duke of the Valley" (Syndicated, 1962)
• Perry Mason, two episodes: Jerry Morrow in "The Case of the Shattered Dream" (1959) and as Gus Wiler in "The Case of the Lurid Letter" (CBS, 1962)
• The Greatest Show on Earth as Hodges in "A Black Dress for Gina" (ABC, 1963)
• The Outer Limits as Colonel Danvers in "The Invisible Enemy" (ABC, 1964)
• The Fugitive as Lieutenant Horvath in "Trial by Fire" (ABC, 1965)
• Run for Your Life as unidentified man in "Night Train from Chicago" (NBC, 1965)
• T.H.E. Cat as Bayo in "A Slight Family Trait" (NBC, 1967)
• Lassie as Banning in "Lure of the Wild" (CBS, 1967)
• Dragnet, second Jack Webb series, in "The Bank Jobs" (NBC, 1967)
• Land of the Giants as Sergeant Arnak in "Seven Little Indians", his last drama role before retirement from acting (ABC, 1969).^[4]

Later years

Alcaide came out of retirement in 1982 to play an unnamed man in a corporate boardroom in the film Hammett, a fictional story of author Dashiell Hammett.^[4] He appeared as the Chief Justice in the 1987 Charles Bronson film Assassination.^[3]

In 1956, Alcaide married the former Peri Hatman (July 27, 1923 – March 15, 2008) formerly of New York State. After his retirement from acting, the couple operated Peri's Pictures, an art gallery in West Hollywood, which specialized in old movie stills.^[3] In 1995, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.^[9]

Death

Alcaide died of cancer, aged 81, in Palm Springs, California. His widow died in Palm Springs some four years later.^[10] The couple is interred at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City in Riverside County, California.^[11]

References