Nico Minardos

Nico Minardos (born Nicholas Minardos; February 15, 1930, Pangrati, Athens – August 27, 2011, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California) was a Greek-American actor. Work in Hollywood His first Hollywood screen appearance was as an extra in the 1952 film Monkey Business. His film credits also include Holiday for Lovers; Twelve Hours to Kill; It Happened in Athens; and Cannon for Cordoba. The majority of Minardos's work was in television, where he made guest appearances in a wide variety of shows. Due to his dark looks and accent, he was often cast as a Mexican. He played a thief in the Maverick episode, "The Judas Mask"; a doctor in The Twilight Zone episode "The Gift"; and two roles in the TV show Alias Smith and Jones, first as a bandit chief in "Journey from San Juan", and then as the Alcalde of a Mexican resort town in "Miracle at Santa Marta". These latter two appearances reunited him with Cannon for Cordoba co-star, Pete Duel, who played Hannibal Heyes, the alias Smith of the title. He was cast as an Italian, Giangiacomo, in the 1965 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Sad Sicilian". Minardos also appeared in an episode of Barnaby Jones titled "The Loose Connection" (1973). In 1975, Minardos starred in and produced Assault on Agathon based on the book by Alan Caillou. It is the story of a revolutionary from World War II, the mysterious Agathon, who is committing terrorist acts in Greece and Albania. Minardos stars as Cabot Cain, a Western agent assigned to stop Agathon and locate a missing Interpol agent. Minardos obtained financing for the film from Kjell Qvale, a Bay Area-based automotive entrepreneur who was then the majority shareholder in Jensen Motors. Minardos had approached Qvale for a product placement deal to use a Jensen Interceptor during filming but ultimately convinced Qvale to finance the entire movie. MGM distributed the film but it was a financial failure. Minardos's last appearance on the screen was in an episode of The A-Team in 1983.