He was one of those guys all over the TV screen in the 60s like Lloyd Bochner and Patrick O'Neal. Don't ask, for me first and foremost his turn as a priest in a The Invaders episode is the personal mind-keeper. A couple years ago a friend told me her mother dated an actor named Joseph Campanella and asked if I had heard of him. Ha!
Sad to have learned of his death. For years, whenever I watched Silent Running, one of the people on one of the other ships - the guy who said, "VALLEY FORGE! VALLEY FORGE! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OVER THERE!?", or something close to that... I ALWAYS thought that was Campanella(Sure sounds like him!)... but I don't think it was.
Joseph Campanella made his feature film debut in a small role as "Panto" in the 1960 organized crime thriller MURDER, Inc. Burt Balaban and Stuart Rosenberg co-directed the film. Frank DeVol' score was released on a Canadian American Records LP, but it has not been re-issued on CD.
THE YOUNG LOVERS concerned the relationship between art student "Eddie Slocum" (Peter Fonda) and "Pam Burns" (Sharon Hugueny), a teacher trainee. Joseph Campanella played "Professor Reese." This was the only film directed by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. Sol Kaplan's score for the 1964 film was released on a Columbia LP, but it has not been re-issued on CD.
Before Bob goes to poster town, I just wanted to mention that the first thing about Josph Campanella that comes to mind is "Science International-What Will They Think of Next?" It aired on Nickelodeon circa 1979-80, and I never missed an episode. Of course, I am also familiar with Campanella from One Day at a Time and Mannix, but it was on that forgotten-by-everyone-on-Earth -but-me TV show that I will forever fondly remember Joseph Campanella (and the beautiful and xorically-named Tiiu Leek, Campy's co-host).
Sad to have learned of his death. For years, whenever I watched Silent Running, one of the people on one of the other ships - the guy who said, "VALLEY FORGE! VALLEY FORGE! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OVER THERE!?", or something close to that... I ALWAYS thought that was Campanella(Sure sounds like him!)... but I don't think it was.
Defo was him, uncredited says imdb.
I remember seeing him in St valentines day massacre. And then he really was in "everything" on tv series in the 70s. From Rockford to Night Gallery to Knots Landing.
Sad to have learned of his death. For years, whenever I watched Silent Running, one of the people on one of the other ships - the guy who said, "VALLEY FORGE! VALLEY FORGE! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OVER THERE!?", or something close to that... I ALWAYS thought that was Campanella(Sure sounds like him!)... but I don't think it was.
Defo was him, uncredited says imdb.
I remember seeing him in St valentines day massacre. And then he really was in "everything" on tv series in the 70s. From Rockford to Night Gallery to Knots Landing.
Well, I'll be damned! I was right all along! Thanks for confirming it, Bill!
In the Fall of 1962, the television show "The Nurses" debuted on CBS. The hour-long drama dealt mainly with the personal and professional lives of two nurses working in a large metropolitan hospital. "Liz Thorpe" (Shirl Conway) was the older, more experienced head nurse, and "Gail Lucas" (Zina Bethune) was the somewhat naive student nurse. Edward Binns and Stephen Brooks played the doctors with whom they dealt. For its third and final season (1964-65), two additional doctors were added to the cast: Michael Tolan as "Dr. Alexander" and Joseph Campanella as "Dr. Ted Steffen." The title of the show was also changed to "The Doctors and the Nurses"
Zina Bethune and Joseph Campanella in "The Doctors and the Nurses"
In 1967's THE ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE, Joseph Campanella played the real-life Albert Weinshank, who managed several cleaning and dyeing operations for Bugs Moran (played by Ralph Meeker in the film). Weinshank's resemblance to Moran, including the clothes he was wearing, is what allegedly set the massacre in motion before Moran actually arrived.
Roger Corman directed this gangland drama. The film's score, by Fred Steiner and Lionel Newman, was released by Intrada in 2009.
"The Bold Ones" was the umbrella title for several rotating NBC drama series that appeared in the same time-slot. One of those series, which appeared for three seasons from 1969 to 1971, was "The Lawyers".
The show starred Burl Ives as "Walter Nichols," the senior partner of Nichols, Darrell and Darrell. "Brian" (Joseph Campanella), the older of the Darrell brothers, was a superb researcher and detail man who did everything by the book. "Neil" (James Farentino), the younger brother, was more sympathetic to unpopular causes and was more unorthodox than either of his partners.
In the 1972 sci-fi classic SILENT RUNNING, Joseph Campanella was the voice of "Neil," the captain of the U.S.S. Berkshire, the lead ship of several far-roving space freighters that are carrying the remaining specimens of Earth's vegetation in huge geodesic domes. Special effects wizard Douglas Trumbull directed the film. Peter Schickele's score was released on a Decca LP, which was re-issued on CD by Intrada in 2016.
BEN was the sequel to 1971's WILLARD, which was about a young man and his pet rat. Underneath the credits for BEN is footage of “Willard Stiles,” played by Bruce Davison, finding the rat “Ben,” whom he thought was dead, in his house. Ben organizes his army of rats to kill Willard, and after he is dead, the credits end and the film begins as a crowd gathers outside of Willard’s home. Detective "Cliff Kirtland" (Joseph Campanella) and his assistant, "Joe Greer" (Kaz Garas), lead the investigation into his death.
Phil Karlson directed the 1972 film, on which Campanella received his first poster credit. Walter Scharf's score has not had a release. “Ben’s Song,” was sung by Michael Jackson, and was released as a single and as the title track of a Michael Jackson album. The song received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song and won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song. It became one of the young Jackson’s most popular hits and was recorded by several other singers.
Mike Connors’ most famous role was that of private investigator “Joe Mannix” in the long-running CBS series “Mannix”. The show was created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller. During the first season of the series, Joe Mannix worked for a large Los Angeles detective agency called Intertect, which was the planned original title of the show. His superior was “Lew Wickersham,” played by Joseph Campanella, with the agency featuring the use of computers to help solve crimes. As opposed to the other employees who must wear dark suits and sit in rows of desks with only one piece of paper allowed to be on their desks at one time, Mannix belongs to the classic American detective archetype, thus he usually ignores the computers' solutions, disobeys his boss's orders, and sets out to do things his own way.
“Mannix” was initially a production of Desilu Productions, which had been purchased by Gulf + Western earlier in 1967. During the first season, Gulf + Western integrated Desilu's operations into its Paramount Pictures subsidiary and the company became Paramount Television. CBS premiered the series on 16 September 1967, on Saturday nights at 10 PM. The show had some rough competition during its first season, going up against NBC’s “Saturday Night at the Movies,” the tenth highest rated show for the season. Nevertheless, the series was renewed, primarily due to pressure on CBS from their long-time star Lucille Ball.
Campanella was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, losing to Milburn Stone for "Gunsmoke."
To improve the ratings of the show for the second season, Desilu head Lucille Ball and producer Bruce Geller made some changes, making the show similar to other private-eye shows. Ball thought the computers were too high-tech and beyond the comprehension of the average viewer of the time and had them, Intertect, and Joseph Campanella removed. From the second season on, Mannix worked on his own with the assistance of his loyal secretary “Peggy Fair,” a police officer's widow played by Gail Fisher – one of the first African American actresses to have a regular series role.
Here are the original opening and closing credits from Season One, which feature Joseph Campanella and a dynamic split-screen opening credits sequence:
Author Gay Talese talked to real-life Mafia godfather Joseph Bonanno for seven years for his 1971 book HONOR THY FATHER. They both got heat for it. Talese dodged a subpoena, and Bonanno was called a rat. In 1973, the book became a television movie, with Joseph Bologna starring as Salvatore (Bill) Bonanno, the son of Joseph Bonanno (Raf Vallone). Joseph Campanella was the narrator of the film.
The teleplay was written by Lewis John Carlino who had previously written the screenplay for the 1968 gangster movie THE BROTHERHOOD. Paul Wendkos directed the film, and George Duning provided the unreleased score. The film first aired on CBS on 1 March 1973.
The made-for-television film THE PRESIDENT'S PLANE IS MISSING was a political thriller based on the 1967 novel by Robert J. Serling (Rod Serling's brother) about an incompetent Vice President (Buddy Ebsen) who is left in control of the government when Air Force One mysteriously disappears with the President (Tod Andrews) on board. Joseph Campanella played "Col. Doug Henderson."
Daryl Duke directed the film, which aired on ABC on 23 October 1973. Gil Melle's score has not had a release.
In the made-for-television film HIT LADY, Yvette Mimieux plays a beautiful young artist who moonlights as a syndicate killer. Joseph Campanella co-stars as "Jeffrey Baine," a union leader who has had a contract put out on him. Tracy Keenan Wynn directed the film, which aired on ABC on 8 October 1974. George Aliceson Tipton provided the unreleased score.
