Joe Mantell

Who was Joe Mantell?

Joe Mantell was an American actor of film and television. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as "Angie" in the 1955 film Marty, which earned the Best Picture Award.

Mantell appeared in the episode "Storm Center" of the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, the pilot of the ABC crime drama, The Untouchables, starring Robert Stack. In the 1974 film Chinatown, Mantell played Lawrence Walsh, associate of private eye Jake Gittes. He delivered the film's famous last line, "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." The character of Walsh reappeared in The Two Jakes. He had a small role in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Mantell appeared frequently in series television, including two episodes of The Twilight Zone: "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room" and "Steel". Mantell played a two-timed husband in the "Guilty Witness" episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He had a recurring role from 1961 to 1962 as Ernie Briggs in six episodes of the CBS sitcom, Pete and Gladys, starring Harry Morgan and Cara Williams.

Mantell was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City to immigrant parents from Austria. His name was originally spelled "Mantel" and accented on the first syllable, but at the beginning of his acting career Mantell added the extra "L" and changed the pronunciation to "Man-TELL". On September 29, 2010, Mantell died in Tarzana, California, at the age of ninety-four.