RIP NICHOLAS GEORGIADE

1933-2021

Nicholas Georgiade was born in New York City on March 25, 1933, of Greek ancestry. After serving four years in the Army, he attended Syracuse University, where he was a heavyweight boxer for three years. Intending to become a teacher, he majored in sociology and psychology, and graduated 1956. A role in a college play convinced him to give acting a try so he moved to California. 

Lucille Ball saw him perform as the lead in the play A View From the Bridge at a small Los Angeles theater in 1958 and he was soon asked to become one of the first members of the Desilu Workshop, a troupe of up-and-coming actors that Ball believed showed promise.

One of his first roles on television was in a CBS “Playhouse 90″ adaptation of the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. Which likely indirectly led to his casting in a Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse television version of The Untouchables, based on the real-life Prohibition-era agent Elliot Ness. 

Ratings were so high that a weekly series was rushed into production. Georgiade played a thug in Desilu Playhouse’s original broadcast, but producers bumped him up to series regular as Enrico Rossi alongside Robert Stack as Ness (above right). The series ran for four seasons. 

Before “The Untouchables” he was also in the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse production of “Chain of Command” in March 1959. In January 1960, he was seen on the series again in a story titled “Meeting at Appalachia”.  Both episodes were crime drama, just like “The Untouchables.”  

Not crime drama, but still working for Desilu, Georgiade did an episode of Desilu’s helicopter series “Whirlybirds” that aired in August 1959. 

Georgiade appeared in the films It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Indecent Proposal. He also has credits in “The Rockford Files”, “Hawaii Five-0″, “The Equalizer”, and many other TV shows. His last role was in the 2007 film Three Days to Vegas. 

He was 88 years old.