- Born
- Died
- Birth nameStanley Abramowitz
- Stanley Adams (born Abramowitz) had a lengthy career on both stage and screen, the majority of which was spent playing minor supporting roles. A possible exception was the part of Rusty Trawler, a pint sized millionaire in the classic romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). Otherwise, he portrayed innumerable minor ethnic villains, bartenders and avuncular, fast-talking characters, known in the credits only by their first names. On television, conversely, he proved himself more of a scene stealer, particularly in the 1960s and early '70s, when his face popped up on just about every major prime time show. He was at his best as pool hustler Sure-shot Wilson in an episode of The Odd Couple (1970), Rollo, a quirky time-traveling scientist on The Twilight Zone (1959), and - famously - as 'asteroid detecting', tribble-dispensing galactic entrepreneur Cyrano Jones on Star Trek (1966). Alas, he may also be remembered as a sentient space carrot named Tybo on Lost in Space (1965)....
His suicide in April 1977 has been attributed to severe depression as a result of a back injury, sustained earlier in the decade. Apart from the obvious pain, it would almost certainly have limited his employment opportunities.- IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis
- SpouseFlorence Harriette Fellner(June 9, 1941 - August 1973) (divorced, 3 children)
- Children
- Appeared in the first episode of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959) and in the last episode of Gilligan's Island (1964), both of which starred Bob Denver.
- Following his suicide, his body was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea.
- Found dead in his Santa Monica home by his former wife, Harriette, who said there was a .22 pistol in his hand and a note nearby.
- Adams also had a lengthy theatrical motion picture career. In the 1962 theatrical film adaptation of Rod Serling's teleplay Requiem for a Heavyweight he played the supporting role of Perelli, a sleazy promoter who offers a washed-up boxer a degrading job as a professional wrestler. He played the Chicano café owner in Lilies of the Field and portrayed Rutherford "Rusty" Trawler, "the 9th richest man in America under 50" in the Audrey Hepburn film Breakfast at Tiffany's.
- Concurrent with his acting career, Adams also maintained a career as a freelance television scriptwriter from the mid-1950s through the early 70s, writing for shows such as It's Always Jan, Mister Ed, Dr. Kildare, Bonanza, Star Trek, The Outsider, The Flying Nun, Mannix, The Name of the Game and others. Although he did appear in guest roles in many of these series, Adams generally did not appear as an actor in episodes he wrote.
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