Paul Lambert (actor)

Paul Lambert (August 1, 1922 – April 27, 1997) was an American character actor who appeared in movies and on television.

Paul Lambert
in Death Wish II (1982)
Born	August 1, 1922 El Paso, Texas, U.S.
Died	April 27, 1997 (aged 74) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Years active	1956–1995

Early life

Lambert was born in El Paso, Texas, and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. During World War II he was a lieutenant in the Army Air Forces.[1]

Career

He trained at the Actors' Lab in Los Angeles[1] and then moved to New York City, where he first worked Off Broadway, subsequently appearing with Rod Steiger on Broadway in a revival of Clifford Odets's Night Music (a credit that is often misrepresented as A Little Night Music because of the similarity of the titles and the fact that the Sondheim musical featured an actor named Mark Lambert).

Lambert's husky dark looks suited his frequent screen portrayals of gangsters and other heavies. In addition, he often appeared as authority figures such as executives, judges, and police officers.

Among his major films were Spartacus (his movie debut),[1] Planet of the Apes (in a brief role as a simian minister), and All the President's Men, in which he played the national editor of The Washington Post.

It was on television that Lambert played his biggest roles. He acted on 300 shows and appeared fourteen times on CBS's Playhouse 90 anthology series, more than any other actor.[2] He appeared twice in the role of Yates in the 1962 syndicated adventure series The Everglades, with Ron Hayes. Lambert was a frequent guest star on 1960s television (including roles in Gene Barry’s TV Western Bat Masterson, in 1959 as unscrupulous financier Charles Hamilton in the episode “Flume to the Mother Load”, and in 1960 as the crooked Augustus Ulbrecht in “The Rage of Princess Ann”) and was able to maintain a successful career into the 1990s.

Though he never became a "name" actor, Lambert was often able to secure billing that eluded his contemporaries, such as the coveted title-sequence billing he received both times he appeared on The Man From U.N.C.L.E., in "The Bow-Wow Affair" (1965) and "The Take Me To Your Leader Affair". He played a doctor in the 1960 Twilight Zone episode "King Nine Will Not Return". He also appeared in three episodes of the CBS courtroom drama series Perry Mason, twice in 1961 as Ben Nicholson in "The Case of the Envious Editor," and murdered news correspondent Lawrence Vander in "The Case of the Renegade Refugee." He also appeared as Del Compton in the 1965 episode, "The Case of the Mischievous Doll" and in four episodes of Hogan's Heroes. He was also recognized for playing the French-Canadian revolutionary Durain in The Wild Wild West episode "The Night of the Firebrand". In 1970, he guest-starred in an episode of The Silent Force. Lambert also appeared in a Barnaby Jones episode titled, "Sing a Song of Murder" (04/01/1973).

Death

Lambert died at the age of 74 at St. John's Medical Center in Santa Monica, California, where he resided.[1]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1960	Spartacus	Gannicus
1962	House of Women	Richard Dunn
1967	The Big Mouth	Moxie
1968	Planet of the Apes	Minister
1971	A Gunfight	Ed Fleury
1972	Where Does It Hurt?	Dr. Pinikhes
1972	Play It as It Lays	Larry Kulik
1974	Mama's Dirty Girls	Harold
1976	All the President's Men	National Editor
1976	Sparkle	Moe
1979	Scavenger Hunt		Uncredited
1982	Death Wish II	New York Police Comm.
1982	Wrong Is Right	Defense Secretary
1983	Blue Thunder	Holmes
1983	Cracking Up	Joe - Carpet Installer
1985	Avenging Angel	Arthur Gerrard
1992	Rain Without Thunder	Swedish Doctor

References

1. Oliver, Myrna (May 3, 1997). "Paul Lambert; Veteran Actor of TV, Movies". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
2. "Paul Lambert, 74, Actor in Films and on TV". The New York Times. May 6, 1997. Retrieved January 5, 2021.

External links

• Paul Lambert at IMDb
• Paul Lambert at the Internet Broadway Database

• Paul Lambert at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)