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Alexander Livingston Nicol Jr., a sturdy, blond-haired actor known for playing both heroes and villains in early 1950s sagebrush sagas and action films, was born in 1916 in Ossining, New York. He was the son of a Sing Sing prison warden and his wife, who was a detention center matron. Alex developed an interest in acting early on and trained initially at the Fagin School of Dramatic Art.
He began his professional stage career in 1938 and soon apprenticed under Maurice Evans. As a member of Evans' respected Shakespearean company, he appeared on Broadway alongside the renowned actor in productions such as "Henry IV, Part I" (1939) and "Richard II" (1940). After performing in "Return Engagement," his career was interrupted by World War II. Serving five years as a Tech Sergeant with the National Guard and Cavalry Unit, Alex then studied and became a founding member of Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio. He returned to Broadway in productions like "Sundown Beach" and "South Pacific," where he was part of the ensemble as a Marine. Post-war stage credits also included "Waiting for Lefty," "Forward the Heart," and "Mister Roberts," in which he replaced Ralph Meeker as the sailor Minnion and was an understudy to Henry Fonda. The highlight of his Broadway tenure came in 1956, when he took over the role of Brick in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" from Ben Gazzara, earning strong reviews.
Alex’s film career began when Universal-International director George Sherman cast him in a leading role in the 1950 mystery The Sleeping City, starring Richard Conte and Coleen Gray. He followed this with Tomahawk (1951), the first of many westerns, featuring Yvonne De Carlo, Van Heflin, and a young Rock Hudson. Throughout the early 1950s, he played a variety of roles ranging from upright sheriffs to sinister gunslingers in westerns such as The Redhead from Wyoming (1953), where he co-starred with Maureen O'Hara, The Lone Hand (1953), Law and Order (1953), Dawn at Socorro (1954), and his standout film, The Man from Laramie (1955), in which he notably antagonized James Stewart. Outside of westerns, he appeared in outdoor and war films including Target Unknown (1951), Air Cadet (1951), Red Ball Express (1952), and Strategic Air Command (1955), the latter also starring Stewart. He also led several British productions during this decade.
On television, Alex appeared in popular series such as "The Twilight Zone," "Dr. Kildare," and "The Outer Limits." Struggling to escape his rugged secondary character typecasting, he ventured into directing, debuting with the cult horror film The Screaming Skull (1958), in which he also acted among a small cast. He found more directing opportunities on television, notably helming episodes of the 1960s "Tarzan" series starring Ron Ely.
In 1959, after securing a significant role in the Italian/Yugoslavian film 5 Branded Women (1960), Alex and his family moved to Rome for several years where he continued working in cinema. Returning to the U.S. in 1961, he still appeared occasionally in European-made spaghetti westerns during the early 1960s. His film and TV appearances became sporadic over the next decade, with his final feature being the low-budget giant monster movie Ape (1976), about a 36-foot gorilla terrorizing Korea, a project he accepted as a favor to his friend Paul Leder. Alex retired completely in 1987 and passed away in Montecito, California, in 2001 at age 85. He was survived by his long-time wife Jean Fleming, a former actress whom he married in 1948, and their three children: two sons and a daughter.
