Simon Oakland

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Simon Oakland August 28 1915 August 29 1983 was an American actor of stage screen and television During his career Oakland performed primarily on television appearing in over 130 series and madefortelevision movies between 1951 and 1983 His most notable bigscreen roles were in Psycho 1960 West Side Story 1961 The Sand Pebbles 1966 Bullitt 1968 The Hunting Party 1971 and Chatos Land 1972 On television he was a regular on the cult classic horror series Kolchak The Night Stalker 19741975 and the military drama Baa Baa Black Sheep 19761978 Early life and career Oakland was born in Brooklyn New York the eldest of the three sons of immigrant Jewish parents Jacob Weiss and Ethel Oaklander born in Romania and the Russian Empire respectively His father was a plasterer and builder While he later claimed in media interviews to have been born in 1922 a date repeated in his New York Times obituary Social Security and vital records indicate he was born Simon Weiss in 1915 his stage name was derived from his mothers maiden name Oaklander Film and television In 1955 Oakland made his film debut albeit uncredited as an Indiana state trooper in The Desperate Hours He appeared in two films released in 1958 as Mavrayek in The Brothers Karamazov and as journalist Edward Montgomery in I Want to Live  Oaklands notable performance in I Want to Live led to his playing a long series of toughguys either as authority figures or villains or a mix of both He appeared in Psycho as the psychiatrist who at the end of the film explains Norman Batess multiple personality disorder He appeared in the films West Side Story The Sand Pebbles and Bullitt He made two guest appearances as murder victims on CBSs Perry Mason He appeared in the syndicated crime drama Decoy starring Beverly Garland Oakland appeared once on the CBS Western Dundee and the Culhane and once on the series Sheriff of Cochise He was also a regular in a comedic supporting role as General Thomas Moore on NBCs Baa Baa Black Sheep starring Robert Conrad He appeared in two episodes of the original The Twilight Zone TV series The Rip Van Winkle Caper and The ThirtyFathom Grave and in The Outer Limits as the alien birdman in Second Chance In 1974 and 1975 he was a series regular on Kolchak The Night Stalker playing newspaper editor Tony Vincenzo He had previously played the same character in two madefortelevision movies Personal life Oakland was married to Lois Lorraine Porta The couple had one daughter Barbara Death Oakland continued working up to the year of his death His last credited acting appearance was in the episode Living and Presumed Dead on the CBS television series Tuckers Witch That episode aired three months before Oaklands death from colon cancer in Cathedral City California on August 29 1983 the day after his 68th birthday CLR