Tiger "Tige" Andrews was an American character actor. He is best remembered for his law-enforcement roles as Captain Adam Greer and Lieutenant Johnny Russo in two ABCcrime drama television series: The Mod Squad, and The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor, respectively.
Life and career
Andrews was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Syrian parents Selma and George E. Andrews, a shopkeeper. His family's surname was originally "Androwas". His parents, following Syrian custom, named him after a strong animal to ensure good health. His mother died when he was three years old, and his father later remarried. Andrews moved with his family to Middlesex, New Jersey. Andrews was wounded in Sicily while serving in the United States Army during World War II and after returning home, graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York in 1946. Andrews made his Broadway debut in the original 1948 cast of Thomas Heggen and Joshua Logan's war comedy Mister Roberts. Hollywood director John Ford saw the play while visiting New York and, remembering his performance in it, cast him in the 1955 film version of Mister Roberts. Back in New York in 1955, Andrews won critical acclaim as The Streetsinger in the long-running revival of Marc Blitzstein's translation of the Brecht-Weill musical, The Threepenny Opera, off-Broadway. It featured German star Lotte Lenya and an ensemble cast of future stars, including Beatrice Arthur, Jo Sullivan, John Astin, Jerry Orbach, Ed Asner, and Jerry Stiller. He reprised the role in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, and went on to direct The Threepenny Opera in Arizona. Andrews made frequent appearances on television in the 1960s. In addition to being a cast member of The Phil Silvers Show, Andrews appeared in such series as U.S. Marshal, The Lawless Years, Mr. Novak, Dundee and the Culhane, The Big Valley, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and as Kras in the episode "Friday's Child |Friday's Child", in which he was the first Klingon ever to die in that series. His best known roles were Lieutenant Johnny Russo on The Detectives and as Captain Adam Greer on The Mod Squad. For the latter role, he received both an Emmy and a Golden Globe award nomination and won a Logie Award. Andrews reunited with his fellow Mod Squad cast members for a 1979 made-for-television film, The Return Of Mod Squad; it was their last appearance together. After The Mod Squad ended, Andrews continued to make guest appearances on various television series, such as Kojak, Marcus Welby, M.D., Police Story, CHiPs, and Murder, She Wrote. His film career included roles in Onionhead, A Private's Affair, In Enemy Country, The Last Tycoon, and Raid on Entebbe. He retired from acting in the early 1990s after having appeared in more than one hundred acting roles onstage, on film and on television. In addition to his acting career, Andrews was an accomplished painter and singer. His artwork has been shown in Los Angeles art galleries, and some of it was published in the book Actors As Artists by Jim McMullan and Dick Gautier. He collaborated with Sandy Matlowsky and Sid Kuller on two original songs on his Tiger Records label in Los Angeles, California. "The Modfather" and "Keep America Beautiful" were the A and B sides of the vinyl 45 single release.
Personal life
Before moving to California, Tige married Norma Thornton, a ballerina who was a regular on The Ed Sullivan Show. Norma Thornton Andrews died in 1996. They had had six children, three boys and three girls: Barbara, Gina, Julie, John, Steve and Tony, and eleven grandchildren.
