Alfred Sandor (November 5, 1918 – September 22, 1983), born Alfred Sandwina, and billed early in his career as Al Sandwina, was a

Hungarian Hungarian may refer to: * Hungary, a country in Central Europe * Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946 * Hungarians, ethnic groups in Hungary * Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the assignme ...

-born American and Australian

character actor A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to ...

and singer. He was also credited as Al Sander and Al Sandor.

Early life and career

Sandor was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

during the turmoil of the Hungarian Revolutions and Interventions, He spent his early years travelling with the circus, where his mother,

Katie Sandwina Katie Sandwina (born Katharina Brumbach and also known as Katie Brumbach; 1884 – 21 January 1952) was an Austrian-American circus strongwoman. Life in the circus Katie Brumbach was one of fourteen children born to circus performers Phili ...

, was a circus strongwoman, and he had a background as a ringmaster. After a brief career working as a boxer in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, he was a spy behind enemy lines during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Acting career

After World War II he returned to America, where he established himself as an actor, appearing in Broadway productions and musical theatre. On US television he appeared on ''

The Phil Silvers Show ''The Phil Silvers Show'', originally titled ''You'll Never Get Rich'', is a sitcom which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959. A pilot titled "Audition Show" was made in 1955, but it was never broadcast. 143 other episodes were broadcast – all half- ...

'', in a single episode of ''

Dark Shadows ''Dark Shadows'' is an American gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulations of the wealthy Collins family of Collinspor ...

'' in 1968 (playing Sheriff George Patterson) and on ''

Our Five Daughters ''Our Five Daughters'' is a daytime soap opera that ran on NBC from January 2 to September 28, 1962. The show was written by Leonard Stadd and directed by Paul Lammers, and aired for a half-hour, five days a week, at 3:30 PM EST, right after ' ...

''. His theatre work included

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

's ''

The Odd Couple Odd Couple may refer to: Neil Simon play and its adaptations * ''The Odd Couple'' (play), a 1965 stage play by Neil Simon ** ''The Odd Couple'' (film), a 1968 film based on the play *** ''The Odd Couple'' (1970 TV series), a 1970–1975 televisi ...

'', and ''

Gypsy The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with si ...

'' opposite

Ethel Merman Ethel Merman (born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) was an American actress and singer, known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and for leading roles in musical theatre.Obituary '' Variety'', February 22, 1984. ...

. His film work included ''

The Return of Captain Invincible ''The Return of Captain Invincible'' is a 1983 Australian superhero musical comedy film directed by Philippe Mora, and starring Alan Arkin and Christopher Lee. It was a box office disappointment on release but has become a cult film since then. ...

''. Sandor later travelled to Australia (where he took up citizenship), to appear in a touring production of ''Plaza Suite'', the play ''

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas ''The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas'' is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall. It is based on a story by King that was inspired by the real-life Chicken Ranch in La Gran ...

'' (with

Lorraine Bayly Lorraine Daphne Bayly AM (born 16 January 1937) is an Australian actress of film, television and theatre, presenter, singer, dancer, pianist and theatre director and writer. She is perhaps best known to small screen audiences for her soap ...

and

Mona Richardson Mona Richardson was an American-born singer and actress who had performed with Johnny Otis, Ray Charles and Ike Turner. She ended up in Australia, where she died in 1985. She released a number of singles and albums for the Philips, RCA Victor and ...

Theatre Australia Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

'', September, 1980
Page 45 NSW THEATRE
/ref>), and he appeared in the film ''

Nickel Queen ''Nickel Queen'' is a 1971 Australian comedy film starring Googie Withers and directed by her husband John McCallum. The story was loosely based on the Poseidon bubble, a nickel boom in Western Australia in the late 1960s, and tells of an outback ...

'', whilst doing television work with roles in ''

Number 96 96 (ninety-six) is the natural number following 95 and preceding 97. It is a number that appears the same when turned upside down. In mathematics 96 is: * an octagonal number. * a refactorable number. * an untouchable number. * a semiperfect ...

'', ''

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the Nine Network between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first dramas to follow up on the enormous success ...

'', ''

Boney Boney may refer to: People *Boney James (born 1961), American jazz saxophonist *Brad Boney, American author of gay and lesbian fiction *George Frank Boney (1930-1972), Alaska Supreme Court justice *Hank Boney (1903–2002), Major League Baseball p ...

'' and ''

The Evil Touch ''The Evil Touch'' is an Australian television series, originally broadcast in Australia in 1973 and produced by Amalgamated Pictures Australasia in association with Olola Productions Australia. An anthology series, each episode had a self-con ...

''. However, he would become best known for his long-running role as the "dandy" surgeon Dr. Raymond Shaw in the Australian television

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

The Young Doctors ''The Young Doctors'' is an Australian early-evening soap opera originally broadcast on the Nine Network and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation, it aired from Monday, 8 November 1976 until Wednesday, 30 March 1983. The series is prima ...

''. An original cast member of the serial, he continued in the role for six years, leaving around 20 episodes before the programme's conclusion due to ill health.

Death

After suffering from ill health for some time, he died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

in Sydney, Australia in 1983, aged 64.

References

External links

* * * American male soap opera actors American male television actors Deaths from lung cancer 1918 births 1983 deaths Deaths from cancer in New South Wales 20th-century American male actors Hungarian emigrants to Australia Hungarian emigrants to the United States {{US-tv-actor-1910s-stub