Sam Melville (actor)

Sam Melville
Melville in 1973
Born	(1936-08-20)August 20, 1936 Fillmore, Utah, U.S.
Died	March 9, 1989(1989-03-09) (aged 52) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1966–1989

Samuel Gardner Melville (August 20, 1936 – March 9, 1989) was an American film and television actor. He appeared as a guest star on many television programs of the 1960s and 1970s.

Career

He portrayed Officer Mike Danko in four seasons of Aaron Spelling's ABC series The Rookies, and The Bear in the 1978 surfing movie Big Wednesday, with Celia Kaye as his unnamed "bride".

Melville also had small parts in Hour of the Gun (1967) playing the role of Morgan Earp, The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) starring Steve McQueen, as Lieutenant James Crandall / Schmidt on Hogan's Heroes (1966), and the television disaster film Terror in the Sky (1971) as the co-pilot. On Gunsmoke and Hawaii Five-O, both on CBS, he played villains as a guest-star. However, on the episode "A Mule ... Like the Army's Mule" of the syndicated anthology series Death Valley Days, Melville portrayed United States Army Lt. Jason Beal, who befriended Sandy King, played by Luke Halpin, the youngest member of the Curly Bill Brocius outlaw gang. In 1967, he guest starred in an episode of the CBS western, Dundee and the Culhane.

Cast photo of The Rookies. Clockwise from the top: Georg Stanford Brown (Terry Webster), Kate Jackson (Jill Danko), Gerald S. O'Loughlin (Eddie Ryker), Bruce Fairbairn (Chris Owens) and Sam Melville (Mike Danko) in 1975

In 1970, Melville was cast as Indian agent John Clum in the Death Valley Days episode, "Clum's Constabulary", hosted by Dale Robertson. In the story line, Clum recruits an elite team of Apaches to aid the U.S. Cavalry in the Southwest but faces opposition within the white community. Tris Coffin was cast as Captain Loren Phillips and John Considine as Lago.

Melville again portrayed a villain on the 1980s CBS drama Scarecrow and Mrs. King, which starred Kate Jackson as Mrs. King, and he later portrayed Mrs. King's ex-husband and father of her children on that series. He also played opposite Kate Jackson as her husband in the 1970s series The Rookies. He guest starred as a jewel thief, alongside Janie Fricke, in a seventh season episode of CBS's The Dukes of Hazzard titled "Happy Birthday, General Lee".

Melville was born in Fillmore, Utah, and died from heart failure in Los Angeles. He was survived by his wife, Annie.

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1966	A Smell of Honey, a Swallow of Brine	Lowell Carter	Credited as Neville Coward
1967	Hour of the Gun	Morgan Earp
1968	The Thomas Crown Affair	Dave
1972	Bigfoot: Man or Beast?	Himself	Documentary
1976	In Search of Bigfoot	Himself	Documentary
1978	Big Wednesday	Bear
	Hooper	—	Stuntman
1988	Twice Dead	Harry Cates
1989	Fists of Steel	George Breenberg
	Deadly Weapon	Sheriff Bartlett
1990	The Assassin	Senator Berkeley	Final film role Posthumous release

Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1966	That Girl	Roddy Waxman	Season 1 episode 6: "Rich Little Rich Kid"
	Shane	Len / Shane's Companion	2 episodes
	T.H.E. Cat	Chris	Episode 11: "Curtains for Miss Winslow"
	Hogan's Heroes	Lieutenant James Crandall / Schmidt	Season 2 episode 15: "Information Please"
1967	The Fugitive	Deputy Lee Runnels	Season 4 episode 15: "Run the Man Down"
	The Big Valley	Jack	Season 2 episode 17: "Image of Yesterday"
	The Guns of Will Sonnett	Kirk	Season 1 episode 6: "Message at Noon"
	Iron Horse	Lloyd Barrington	Season 2 episode 7: "Leopards Try, But Leopards Can't"
	Dundee and the Culhane	Dave Howard
1967–1971	Gunsmoke	Various characters	10 episodes
1968–1970	Death Valley Days	John Clum / Lt. Jason Beal / David Meriweather	3 episodes
1968–1971	Hawaii Five-O	Hawkins / Gary Oliver / Jerry Parks	3 episodes
1969	Here Come the Brides	Lew	Season 1 episode 13: "The Log Jam"
1970	Bonanza	Coulter	Season 11 episode 20: "The Law and Billy Burgess"
	The Young Lawyers	Gabe Thomas	Episode 6: "We May Be Better Strangers"
	The Name of the Game	Gary Johnson	Season 3 episode 9: "All the Old Familiar Faces"
1971	Mannix	John Ogilvy	Season 5 episode 1: "Dark So Early, Dark So Long"
	Terror in the Sky	Stewart	TV movie
	The Man and the City		Episode 14: Jennifer
1972	Killer by Night	Book Store Owner	TV movie Uncredited
1972–1976	The Rookies	Officer Mike Danko	Main role – 93 episodes
1974	Fools, Females and Fun	Stephen Cole	TV movie
1975	Hollywood Squares	Himself	Panelist – September 22
1976	The $10,000 Pyramid	Himself	5 episodes
1980	Roughnecks	O'Dell Hartman	TV movie
	When the Whistle Blows	Charlie Sullivan	Episode 10: "Run for the Roses"
	Fantasy Island	Tony Chilton	Season 4 episode 2: "Flying Aces/The Mermaid Returns"
1980–1984	The Dukes of Hazzard	Russell "Snake" Harmon / Tommy Dunkirk / Rick	3 episodes
1982	Strike Force	Dennis	Episode 10: "Internal Affairs"
	Code Red		Episode 13: "Burnout"
1983–1986	T.J. Hooker	Mitoski / Hank Carmichael	2 episodes
1984	Airwolf	Mace Taggart	Season 2 episode 8: "HX-1"
1984–1985	The A-Team	Shaw / Rocco	2 episodes
1985–1987	Scarecrow and Mrs. King	Joe King / Glen Tucker	5 episodes
1986	Dallas	Dr. David Kenfield	3 episodes
	The Colbys	Michael Grogan	Season 1 episode 14: "The Trial"
	Starman	Joe Floss	Episode 3: "Fatal Flaw"

External links

• Sam Melville at IMDb
• Sam Melville at Find a Grave