Simon Oakland

Simon Oakland was born on Aug 28, 1915 in USA. Simon Oakland's big-screen debut came with The Desperate Hours directed by William Wyler in 1955, strarring State Trooper (uncredited). Simon Oakland is known for Kolchak: The Night Stalker directed by Don Weis, Darren McGavin stars as Carl Kolchak and Simon Oakland as Tony Vincenzo. The upcoming new tvshow Simon Oakland plays is David Cassidy - Man Undercover - Season 1 which will be released on Nov 02, 1978.

One of the movies' most memorable tough guys, Simon Oakland actually began his career as a concert violinist, turning to acting in the late 1940s. After a long string of roles in Broadway hits, including "Light Up the Sky," "The Shrike" and "Inherit the Wind," Oakland made his film debut as the tough but compassionate journalist who speaks up for Susan Hayward's "Barbara Graham" in Je veux vivre! (1958). He would go on to play a long series of tough guy types, albeit usually on the right side of the law, in such films as La canonnière du Yang-Tsé (1966), Tony Rome est dangereux ! (1967), Psychose (1960), and, most notably, nasty Lieutenant Schrank in West Side Story (1961). He was also a frequently seen face on TV, at one point serving as a regular or semi-regular on four different series at once. Much respected by his co-workers as a total professional, he died, after a long battle with cancer, one day after his 68th birthday.