Sal Mineo
Salvatore Mineo Jr. was an American actor. He was best known for his role as John "Plato" Crawford in the drama film Rebel Without a Cause, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at age 17, making him the fifth-youngest nominee in the category.
Mineo also starred in films such as Crime in the Streets, Giant, Exodus, for which he won a Golden Globe and received a second Academy Award nomination, The Longest Day, John Ford's final western Cheyenne Autumn and Escape from the Planet of the Apes.
Early life and education
Mineo was born in The Bronx, New York City, the son of coffin makers Josephine and Salvatore Mineo Sr. He was of Sicilian descent. His father was born in Italy. His mother, of Italian heritage, was born in the United States. Mineo's sister Sarina and brothers Michael and Victor were also actors. He attended the Quintano School for Young Professionals, a performing arts school in New York City. Mineo was one of the few Italian-American actors of his era to keep his surname, saying he was proud of his heritage and identity.Acting career
Child actor
Mineo's mother enrolled him in dancing and acting school at an early age. He had his first stage appearance in Tennessee Williams's play The Rose Tattoo. He also played the young prince opposite Yul Brynner in the stage musical The King and I. Brynner took the opportunity to help Mineo better himself as an actor.On May 8, 1954, Mineo portrayed the Page in the NBC Opera Theatre's production of Richard Strauss's Salome, set to Oscar Wilde's play. Elaine Malbin performed the title role, and Peter Herman Adler conducted Kirk Browning's production.
As a teenager, Mineo appeared on ABC's musical quiz program Jukebox Jury. Mineo made several television appearances before making his screen debut in the Joseph Pevney film Six Bridges to Cross. He beat out Clint Eastwood for the role. Mineo successfully auditioned for a part in The Private War of Major Benson, as a cadet colonel opposite Charlton Heston.
''Rebel Without a Cause'' and stardom
Mineo's breakthrough as an actor came in Rebel Without a Cause, in which he played John "Plato" Crawford, a sensitive teenager smitten with main character Jim Stark. Mineo's performance resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and he became the fifth-youngest nominee in the category, at the age of 17. Mineo's biographer Paul Jeffers recounted that Mineo received thousands of letters from young female fans, was mobbed by them at public appearances, and further wrote: "He dated the most beautiful women in Hollywood and New York City."In Giant, Mineo played Angel Obregon II, a Mexican boy killed in World War II. Many of his subsequent roles were variations of his role in Rebel Without a Cause, and he was typecast as a troubled teen. In the Disney adventure Tonka, for instance, Mineo starred as a young Sioux named White Bull who traps and domesticates a clear-eyed, spirited wild horse named Tonka that becomes the famous Comanche, the lone survivor of Custer's Last Stand.
By the late 1950s, Mineo was a major celebrity. He was sometimes referred to as the "Switchblade Kid", a nickname he earned from his role as a criminal in the movie Crime in the Streets.
In 1957, Mineo made a brief foray into pop music by recording a handful of songs and an album. Two of his singles reached the Top 40 in the United States' Billboard Hot 100. The more popular of the two, "Start Movin' ", reached No. 9 on Billboards pop chart. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. He starred as drummer Gene Krupa in the movie The Gene Krupa Story, directed by Don Weis with Susan Kohner, James Darren, and Susan Oliver. He appeared as the celebrity guest challenger on the June 30, 1957, episode of What's My Line?
Mineo made an effort to break his typecasting. In addition to his roles as an Indian brave in Tonka, and a Mexican boy in Giant, he played a Jewish Holocaust survivor in Exodus ; for his work in Exodus, he won a Golden Globe Award and received his second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Career shift
By the early 1960s, Mineo was becoming too old to play the type of role that had made him famous, and rumors of his homosexuality led to his being considered inappropriate for leading roles. For example, he auditioned for David Lean's film Lawrence of Arabia but was not hired. Mineo appeared in The Longest Day, in which he played a private killed by a German after the landing in Sainte-Mère-Église. Mineo was baffled by his sudden loss of popularity, later saying: "One minute it seemed I had more movie offers than I could handle; the next, no one wanted me."Image:Sal Mineo B&W Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|Mineo in 1973, photographed by Allan Warren
Mineo was the model for Harold Stevenson's painting The New Adam. Now in the Guggenheim Museum's permanent collection, the painting is considered "one of the great American nudes". Mineo also appeared on the Season 2 episode of The Patty Duke Show: "Patty Meets a Celebrity".
Mineo's role as a stalker in Who Killed Teddy Bear, which co-starred Juliet Prowse, did not seem to help his career. Although his performance was praised by critics, he found himself typecast again—this time as a deranged criminal. The high point of this period was his portrayal of Uriah in The Greatest Story Ever Told. Mineo guest-starred in an episode of the TV series Combat! in 1966, playing the role of a GI wanted for murder. He did two more appearances on the same show, including appearing in an installment with Fernando Lamas.
In 1969, Mineo returned to the stage to direct a Los Angeles production of the gay-themed play Fortune and Men's Eyes, featuring then-unknown Don Johnson as Smitty and Mineo as Rocky. The production received positive reviews, although its expanded prison rape scene was criticized as excessive and gratuitous. Mineo's last role in a motion picture was a small part in the film Escape from the Planet of the Apes ; he played the chimpanzee Dr. Milo.
In December 1972, Mineo stage-directed the Gian Carlo Menotti short opera The Medium in Detroit. Muriel Costa-Greenspon portrayed the title character, Madame Flora, and Mineo played the mute, Toby. In 1975, Mineo appeared as Rachman Habib, the assistant to a murderous consular head of a Middle Eastern country, in the Columbo episode "A Case of Immunity," on NBC-TV. One of his last roles was a guest spot on the TV series S.W.A.T., in which he portrayed a cult leader similar to Charles Manson.
By 1976, Mineo's career had begun to turn around. While playing the role of a bisexual burglar in a series of stage performances of the comedy P.S. Your Cat Is Dead in San Francisco, Mineo received substantial publicity from many positive reviews; he moved to Los Angeles along with the play.
Personal life
In a 1972 interview with Boze Hadleigh, Mineo confirmed his bisexuality.Mineo met English-born actress Jill Haworth on the set of the film Exodus in 1960, in which they portrayed young lovers. Mineo and Haworth were in an on-and-off relationship for many years. They were engaged to be married at one point. According to Mineo biographer Michael Gregg Michaud, Haworth cancelled the engagement after she caught Mineo engaging in sexual relations with a man. The two remained very close friends until Mineo's death.
Mineo expressed disapproval of Haworth's brief relationship with television producer Aaron Spelling, because he was 22 years older than she. One night, when Mineo found Haworth and Spelling at a private Beverly Hills nightclub, he punched Spelling in the face, yelling, "Do you know how old she is? What are you doing with her at your age?"
At the time of his death, he was in a six-year relationship with actor and retired acting coach Courtney Burr III.
In 2010 Michael Gregg Michaud released a biography on Sal Mineo and it received critical acclaim for its depth of research and the contributions from Sal’s friends, family, acquaintances and co-stars. The book was dedicated to Jill Haworth and Courtney Burr III as they were both Mineo’s significant partners and remained close friends until Haworth’s death.
Death
On the night of February 12, 1976, Mineo returned home from a rehearsal for the play P.S. Your Cat Is Dead at 10:00 pm. After parking his car in the carport below his West Hollywood apartment, he was stabbed in the heart by a mugger. Mineo was found lying and bleeding profusely in the parking alley by his neighbor Raymond Evans, who had heard his cries for help, but Mineo was only able to walk a few steps, after which he collapsed immediately. Mineo was pronounced dead at the scene at the age of 37, due to massive hemorrhage.A funeral for Mineo was held at Most Holy Trinity Church, Mamaroneck, on February 17, 1976, and was attended by 250 mourners. Mineo was buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.
In March 1979, Lionel Ray Williams, who had a long criminal record, was convicted and sentenced to 51 years in prison for killing Mineo, and for committing ten robberies. After several years of speculation about possible motives for the murder, the police investigation concluded that it was a random robbery. Williams was released in 1990 and continues to deny his guilt. A 2024 documentary film titled Unseen Innocence seeks to raise awareness of Williams' case and further his exoneration efforts however was unsuccessful.