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I remember him from lots of TV performances over the years, usually in very suave and dashing roles. He's the father of actress Stephanie Zimbalist, who some of us remember from "Centennial," although "Remington Steele" was a bigger part of her career. Zimbalist was 95.
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He was on the seventh season of Rawhide.
Episode #25: The Last Order
written by Tom Seller
directed by Robert L. Friend
guest: Efrem Zimbalist Jr, Lawrence Dobkin, Harry Lauter, Kelton Garwood, Rex Holman, Bruce Mars, Ken Konopka
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Efrem Zimbalist Jr.'s first theatrical film role was in 1949's HOUSE OF STRANGERS. He didn't appear in a feature film again until 1957.
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Zimbalist's next appearance on the big screen was in 1957's BAND OF ANGELS. Zimbalist played the lover of a plantation owner's daughter (Yvonne De Carlo).
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In late 1957, in BOMBERS B-52, Zimbalist played an Air Force officer. Reportedly, he replaced Tab Hunter in the role.
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Zimbalist had a busy 1958, appearing in four feature films and four episodes of "Maverick," as well as beginning his series "77 Sunset Strip" in the Fall. First up for the features was the January release of the Alan Ladd World War II naval film THE DEEP SIX. Zimbalist played the ship's doctor. The film also marked the feature film debut of Joey Bishop.
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In October 1958, Zimbalist began a 6-year run in Warner Bros. best-known detective series, "77 Sunset Strip." Zimbalist had first played his character, Stuart Bailey, in an episode of Warner's anthology show "Conflict," entitled "Anything for Money," which aired on 23 July 1957. The pilot episode for '77 Sunset Strip," GIRL ON THE RUN was turned into a feature which was released overseas in 1959.
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In 1960, Zimbalist co-starred in THE CROWDED SKY, an airborne soap opera that addressed a real life problem--the need for better air traffic control as more and more planes took to the skies in the late 1950s. Zimbalist played an airline captain, with a mid-air collision in his past, who is the husband of a philandering wife played by Rhonda Fleming.
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With his continued television stardom, Zimbalist had his first lead role in a feature film in 1961's A FEVER IN THE BLOOD. He played a judge in a sensational murder trial, who also has political ambitions of becoming governor. The film was written and produced by Roy Huggins, who was the creator of "77 Sunset Strip" and "Maverick," and who would go on to create "The Fugitive" and "The Rockford Files." Ernest Gold scored the film, as he had Zimbalist's earlier TOO MUCH, TOO SOON.
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In June 1961, Zimbalist co-starred with Lana Turner in an adaptation of the steamy best-seller BY LOVE POSSESSED. Zimbalist played a law firm partner with a shaky marriage. A United Artists release, this John Sturges-directed film was Zimbalist's first film away from his home studio of Warner Bros. since he had signed with the company. As he had done for Sturges' THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN the previous year, Elmer Bernstein provided the score.
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Zimbalist returned to Warner Bros. for his second lead role, in 1962's THE CHAPMAN REPORT, based on an Irving Wallace best-seller. Zimbalist played an assistant to a famous psychologist, who arrives in a Los Angeles suburb to conduct a survey on the sex habits of American women. The drama was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck (on one of his hiatuses from 20th Century Fox), directed by George Cukor, and scored by Leonard Rosenman.
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1965 saw the production of two biopics of 1930's actress Jean Harlow. The major studio film was Paramount's "Harlow," a widescreen color production starring Carroll Baker, directed by Gordon Douglas, and scored by Neal Hefti. But producer Lee Savin, who the year before had filmed and distributed the rock concert "The T.A.M.I. Show," had the idea of getting a competing Harlow film into theaters before Paramount's film opened. Using the same procedure he had used for "The T.A.M.I. Show," in what was essentially a videotaped television production, Savin's HARLOW was shot in just eight days at Desilu Studios by director Alex Segal, with the videotape being converted to film in a process developed by Bill Sargent called Electronovision. The image may have been in grainy black and white, but it arrived on theater screens five weeks ahead of Paramount's "Harlow."
Savin's HARLOW was played by Carol Lynley. Zimbalist played an actor named William Mansfield, a fictional character who did not appear in Paramount's film. Nelson Riddle and Al Ham scored the film.
Bill Sargent had also used his Electronovision process in 1964 to record and distribute to theaters a performance of Richard Burton's "Hamlet," which was then playing on Broadway.
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Later in 1965, Zimbalist co-starred with Max Von Sydow and Yvette Mimieux in THE REWARD, a desert-set drama in which Zimbalist plays a man who flees to Mexico from charges of kidnapping and murdering a boy in the United States. Elmer Bernstein scored the Aaron Rosenberg production for 20th Century Fox.
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