Nicol was born in
Ossining, New York, in 1916. When his movie career started thirty-four years later he adjusted the year to 1919. "I was a little older than some of the other people under contract so I thought, 'Well, I'll cure that right now'," he later confessed. His father was the arms keeper at
Sing Sing. He studied at the
Feagin School of Dramatic Art before joining
Maurice Evans' theatrical company, with whom he made his Broadway debut with a walk-on in
Henry IV, Part 1 (1939). Later a member of
The Actors Studio, Nicol would play Brick in
Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, under the direction of Studio co-founder
Elia Kazan. However, it was as a
character actor that Nicol spent most of his career. He also
directed films, and appeared frequently on television. His acting career was interrupted by a five-year stint in the
army. He served with the
101st Cavalry and attained the rank of
Technical Sergeant. Upon
discharge, Nicol returned to Broadway in a revival of
Clifford Odets' pro-union drama
Waiting for Lefty (1946). Shortly thereafter, he was admitted to The Actors Studio, where he worked with
Elia Kazan; this led to a role in the Studio's 1948 production of
Sundown Beach, staged by Kazan. Nicol next appeared in
Forward the Heart, and then as part of the original cast of
Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical
South Pacific (1949), playing one of the
marines, but after a few weeks in the show he successfully auditioned to replace
Ralph Meeker as Mannion in
Mister Roberts, and was also made
understudy to the play's star
Henry Fonda. While acting in
Mister Roberts, Nicol was seen by the
Universal Studios director
George Sherman, who was in
New York City to film
The Sleeping City (1950). He cast Nicol as a young doctor. Nicol was given a contract by Universal, and Sherman also directed his second film,
Tomahawk (1951), in which he played a
cavalry officer with a hatred of
Indians. Small roles as a
prisoner of war in
Target Unknown (1951) and a trainee
pilot in
Air Cadet (1951) preceded Nicol's first major part, co-starring with
Frank Sinatra and
Shelley Winters in the musical drama
Meet Danny Wilson (1952). In his next film he was an
antagonist again, causing
Loretta Young to be wrongly sent to
prison in
Because of You (1952). He played a troublesome sergeant in
Red Ball Express (1952), directed by
Budd Boetticher. Nicol's first lead role was opposite
Maureen O'Hara in
The Redhead from Wyoming (1953) directed by
Lee Sholem. Going
freelance, Nicol was directed by
Daniel Mann in
About Mrs. Leslie (1953) starring
Shirley Booth and
Robert Ryan. Nicol returned to Universal (at a much larger salary than he had been getting as a contract player) to appear in two George Sherman films,
The Lone Hand (1953) and
Dawn at Socorro (1954). Nicol then made three films in
England, including the lead role in
Face the Music (1954), and
Ken Hughes'
The House Across the Lake (1954).
Anthony Mann directed Nicol in his role as a navigator in
Strategic Air Command (1955), and it was Mann who then gave the actor his best-remembered role as the weak
psychopathic son of a
patriarch rancher (
Donald Crisp) who menaced
Jimmy Stewart in
The Man from Laramie (1955). After a supporting role in
Jacques Tourneur's Great Day in the Morning (1956) Nicol believed his
Hollywood career was not progressing. In 1956 he returned to Broadway to replace
Ben Gazzara in the lead role of Brick, in
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. When the Broadway run ended Nicol starred in the tour. '' Nicol starred with Shelley Winters in the play
Saturday Night Kid (1958). He then returned to Hollywood where he made his first film as a director,
The Screaming Skull (1958), in which he also acted. Nicol traveled to
Italy when director
Martin Ritt gave him a role in
Five Branded Women (1959). While there he was offered parts in other movies. He and his family remained in
Europe for two years. One of his last assignments in Italy was another directorial credit,
Then There Were Three, also known as
Three Came Back, a World War II combat and spy actioner, which he also produced and was one of the co-stars, along with
Frank Latimore. Returning to the United States in 1961, he played
Paul Anka's father in the thriller
Look in Any Window (1961), with subsequent acting roles including
The Twilight Zone episode
"Young Man's Fancy" in 1962; two westerns,
The Savage Guns (1962) and
Gunfighters of Casa Grande (1964);
Brandy (1964),
Roger Corman's
Bloody Mama (1969), based on the life of
Ma Barker, and the independently made religious horror
The Night God Screamed. Second-billed to star
Jeanne Crain, he portrayed her husband, a small-time evangelist whose death at film's midpoint occurs through crucifixion by religious fanatics led by a charismatic guru styled upon
Charles Manson, whose 1969 cult murders were still fresh in the public's mind during the film's production in 1971. Nicol later worked as a director in television and did episodes of
Daniel Boone,
Wild Wild West, and many episodes for
Tarzan starring
Ron Ely. The last film in which he acted was
A*P*E (1976), an independent movie made by a friend of the actor. He retired in the late 1980s and died of natural causes in Montecito, California in 2001. Alex Nicol was survived by his wife, Jean and his three children, Lisa Nicol, Alexander Nicol III, and Eric Nicol. ==Selected filmography==