Arab Americans

Tige Andrews

Tige Andrews (March 19, 1920 – January 27, 2007) was an American character actor. He is best remembered for his law-enforcement roles as Captain Adam Greer and Lieutenant Johnny Russo in two ABC crime drama television series, The Mod Squad and The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor respectively.

Andrews was reportedly born as Tiger Andrews in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Syrian parents Selma (née Shaleesh) and George E. Andrews, a shopkeeper. His family’s surname was originally “Androwas”. His parents, following Syrian custom, named him after a strong animal to ensure good health. His mother died when he was three years old, and his father later remarried. Andrews moved with his family to Middlesex, New Jersey.

Andrews was wounded in Sicily while serving in the United States Army during World War II and after returning home, graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York in 1946.

In 1955, Andrews won critical acclaim in the off-Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera, as the Streetsinger. He reprised the role in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California. Andrews went on to direct The Threepenny Opera in Arizona. While in New York, director John Ford cast him in the 1955 film version of Mister Roberts after seeing his Broadway performance.

Andrews made frequent appearances on television in the 1960s. In addition to being a cast member of The Phil Silvers Show (1955–1957, as Tiger Andrews), Andrews appeared in such series as U.S. Marshal, The Lawless Years, Mr. Novak, Dundee and the Culhane, The Big Valley, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and Star Trek (as Kras in the episode “Friday’s Child”, in which he was the first Klingon ever to die in that series).

His best known roles were Lieutenant Johnny Russo on The Detectives and as Captain Adam Greer on The Mod Squad. For the latter role, he received both an Emmy and a Golden Globe award nomination and won a Logie Award. Andrews reunited with his fellow Mod Squad cast members for a 1979 made-for-television film, The Return Of Mod Squad; it was their last appearance together. After The Mod Squad ended, Andrews continued to make guest appearances on various television series, such as Kojak, Marcus Welby, M.D., Police Story, CHiPs, and Murder, She Wrote.

His film career included roles in Onionhead (1958), A Private’s Affair (1959), In Enemy Country (1968), The Last Tycoon (1976), and Raid on Entebbe (1977, as Shimon Peres). He retired from acting in the early 1990s after having appeared in more than one hundred acting roles onstage, on film and on television.

In addition to his acting career, Andrews was an accomplished painter and singer. His artwork has been shown in Los Angeles art galleries, and some of it was published in the book Actors As Artists by Jim McMullan and Dick Gautier. He collaborated with Sandy Matlowsky and Sid Kuller on two original songs on his Tiger Records label in Los Angeles, California. “The Modfather” and “Keep America Beautiful” were the A and B sides of the vinyl 45 single release.

Before moving to California, Tige married Norma Thornton, a ballerina who was a regular on The Ed Sullivan Show. Norma Thornton Andrews died in 1996.

Andrews died of cardiac arrest at his home in Encino, California, on January 27, 2007, aged 86.

Source: Wikipedia