Albert Salmi was born on March 11, 1928, in Brooklyn, New York, to Finnish parents.

After serving in the Army during W.W.II, Salmi used the GI Bill to study at the Dramatic Workshop of the American Theater Wing and the prestigious Actors Studio. He became a stage actor, eventually making it to Broadway, where his role as Bo Decker in Bus Stop was his biggest stage success.

A compromise between the stage and screen was live TV drama, in which Albert Salmi was cast regularly. His portrayal of Bruce Pearson in The United States Steel Hour live 1956 broadcast of Bang the Drum Slowly was heart-tuggingly poignant.

Salmi's very first film appearance was a choice role in the The Brothers Karamazov (1958), for which he turned down an Oscar nomination. The National Board of Review succeeded in presenting him with their award for the same picture, however.

Salmi came to enjoy film work and actively sought out parts in westerns. He then became a very familiar presence, especially on the TV screen, where he guest starred in many of the westerns and other series of the sixties and seventies.

In 1967, he was presented with the Western Heritage (Wrangler) Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma for his role in the Gunsmoke episode: "Death Watch." This bronze cowboy on horseback became his most cherished award. Salmi demonstrated his versatility as the years went on.

Tall, brawny and sometimes quite intimidating, he was often cast as the bad guy or the authority figure. He was equally convincing, though, as a wronged or misunderstood good guy or a good-natured sidekick. A method actor, Salmi had the ability to make you love or hate his character.

Albert Salmi was, in real life, quite different from most of the characters he portrayed. A quiet-natured family man, he was an oddity by glitzy Hollywood standards. Many of his friends and co-stars have commented on his sense of humor and his lack of pretense. In later years, he shared his knowledge of theatre by teaching drama classes in Spokane. Salmi died tragically in a murder/suicide on April 22, 1990.

~ Sandy Grabman

Finn Film Entertainment salutes Taina Elg for her six decades of acting and dancing in movies, on television and on stage. Thank you, and congratulations, Taina Elg ! BIOS OF FINNISH HOLLYWOOD ACTORS BIOS OF FINNISH FILM DIRECTORS IMAGES OF FINNISH-AMERICAN FILMSTARS IMAGES OF FINNISH-AMERICAN DIRECTORS FINNISH CULTURE LINKS ENTERTAINMENT NEWS RECENT TOP STORIES FINN FILM HOMEPAGE HELSINKI LIVE CAM In 1957, Actor-Dancer Taina Elg was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, for her role in the MGM's Cole Porter Musical Les Girls, in which she played and danced against Gene Kelly. Besides five other major awards and six additional nominations, Les Girls won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. The Les Girls' girls, Taina Elg, Mitzi Gaynor and Kay Kendall looked suberp ! Taina Elg's skills were recognized already the year before, in 1956, when she won the Golden Gloge Award for New Foreign Star Of The Year. Click the images below for biographies of Taina Elg and Marian Nixon. For more biographies, please use the links on the left.