Obituary: Eddie Albert

Eddie Albert, actor. Died aged 99.

Two-time Oscar nominee Eddie Albert, was best known for his starring role as a big-city lawyer turned farmer on the popular TV comedy series Green Acres.

A prolific actor whose career spanned radio, Broadway, films and television, Albert made his Hollywood debut in the 1938 picture Brother Rat, co-starring with another little-known performer of that era, Ronald Reagan.

Edward Albert Heimberger was born in Illinois, and changed his name when a radio announcer persisted in introducing him as Eddie Hamburger. As Eddie Albert he appeared in dozens of films and TV shows over the next six decades.

Along the way he earned Academy Award nominations as best supporting actor for his 1953 role as Gregory Peck's sidekick in Roman Holiday and his 1972 role as Cybill Shepherd's father in The Heartbreak Kid.

One of his more memorable roles was as the cowardly company commander in Robert Aldrich's World War II film Attack.

But he is best remembered for his star turn on Green Acres as Oliver Wendell Douglas, the affable Manhattan lawyer who leaves behind the big city and moves with his socialite wife (Eva Gabor) to a farm outside the small town of Hooterville. The show ran from 1965 to 1971.

Albert, a lifelong fitness enthusiast who was still shooting baskets in his driveway until last month, died at his home of complications from pneumonia, which he contracted after a bout of flu.

"By the time I leave this Earth, I should have improved our relationships here and now, so that in the next generation sons, daughter and friends have my shoulders on which to stand, so it's easier to make their contribution," he once wrote in his personal journal.

Albert's wife, Margo, died in 1985. He is survived by son Edward Albert, also an actor, daughter Maria and two grandchildren.

- REUTERS