Skip to main content
Robert Alda

Robert Alda

Actor · 1914 – 1986 · New York City, New York, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert Alda (February 26, 1914 – May 3, 1986) was an American theatrical and film actor and father of actors Alan and Antony Alda. A singer and dancer, Alda was featured in a number of Broadway productions before moving to Italy during the early 1960s. He appeared in many European films over the next two decades, occasionally returning to the U.S. for film appearances such as The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1969). Alda, an American of Italian descent, was born Alphonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto D'Abruzzo in New York, New York, the son of Frances (née Tumillo) and Antonio D'Abruzzo, a barber born in Sant'Agata de' Goti, Benevento, Campania, Italy. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York in 1930. He began as a singer and dancer in vaudeville after winning a talent contest, and moved on to burlesque. Alda is known for portraying George Gershwin in the biopic Rhapsody in Blue (1945) as well as the talent agent in the Douglas Sirk classic Imitation of Life (1959). He was very successful on Broadway, starring in Guys and Dolls (1950), for which he won a Tony Award, and in What Makes Sammy Run? (1964). He was also the host of the short-lived DuMont TV version of the game show What's Your Bid? (May–June 1953). Alda's first wife, and mother of actor Alan Alda, Joan Browne, was a homemaker and former beauty pageant winner. Alda was married to his second wife, Flora Marino, an Italian actress whom he met in Rome, until his death. Alda made two guest appearances with his son Alan on M*A*S*H, in the episodes "The Consultant" (January 1975) and "Lend a Hand" (February 1980). The latter episode also featured Antony Alda (1956–2009), his younger son by his second wife. Alda appeared in an episode of The Feather and Father Gang in 1977. Alda died on May 3, 1986, aged 72, after a long illness following a stroke.

Movies24

  • Movie7.4

    Imitation of Life

    1959 · 328 votes

  • Movie5.8

    Spider-Man Strikes Back

    1978 · 86 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Nora Prentiss

    1947 · 23 votes

  • Movie6.5

    Cloak and Dagger

    1946 · 73 votes

  • Movie4.4
  • Movie9.0

    Fame

    1978 · 1 votes

  • Movie5.9

    La donna più bella del mondo

    Beautiful But Dangerous

    1955 · 31 votes

  • Movie6.1

    Le Serpent

    The Serpent

    1973 · 51 votes

  • Movie9.0

    Hollywood Varieties

    1950 · 1 votes

  • Movie6.1

    The Man I Love

    1946 · 29 votes

  • Movie6.4
  • Movie5.6
  • Movie4.8
  • Movie8.0

    All Woman

    1967 · 1 votes

  • Movie3.3

    Lucy Moves to NBC

    1980 · 3 votes

  • Movie6.3

    Mister Universe

    1951 · 3 votes

  • Movie5.7

    Homicide

    1949 · 10 votes

  • Movie4.6

    The Devil's Hand

    1961 · 44 votes

  • Movie4.5
  • Movie5.8

    Il sepolcro dei re

    Cleopatra's Daughter

    1960 · 7 votes

  • Movie6.0
  • Movie6.6

    Rhapsody in Blue

    1945 · 18 votes

  • Movie5.9

    The Squeeze

    1978 · 7 votes

  • Movie4.5

    The House of Exorcism

    1975 · 32 votes

Series24

  • TV7.0

    What's My Line?

    1950 · 29 votes

  • TV6.3

    The Love Boat

    1977 · 199 votes

  • TV7.1

    The Facts of Life

    1979 · 108 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Merv Griffin Show

    1962 · 12 votes

  • TV6.8

    Ironside

    1967 · 71 votes

  • TV7.5

    Quincy, M.E.

    1976 · 123 votes

  • TV7.6

    The Rockford Files

    1974 · 133 votes

  • TV7.9

    M*A*S*H

    1972 · 769 votes

  • TV7.6

    Mission: Impossible

    1966 · 320 votes

  • TV6.0
  • TV7.8

    Alfred Hitchcock Presents

    1955 · 265 votes

  • TV8.0

    Emergency!

    1972 · 53 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Ed Sullivan Show

    1948 · 23 votes

  • TV6.3

    Matt Houston

    1982 · 28 votes

  • TV5.7

    Naked City

    1958 · 13 votes

  • TV6.6

    Trapper John, M.D.

    1979 · 23 votes

  • TV7.1

    The Lucy Show

    1962 · 53 votes

  • TV7.2

    The Incredible Hulk

    1977 · 514 votes

  • TV6.5

    Fantasy Island

    1978 · 130 votes

  • TV7.3

    Kojak

    1973 · 154 votes

  • TV7.1

    Laverne & Shirley

    1976 · 75 votes

  • TV7.7

    Judd, for the Defense

    1967 · 3 votes

  • TV6.9

    The Colgate Comedy Hour

    1950 · 13 votes

  • TV6.7

    Here's Lucy

    1968 · 31 votes