| Martin E. Brooks | |
| Birth Name: | Martin Baum |
| Birth Date: | 30 November 1925 |
| Birth Place: | New York, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Years Active: | 1951–1996 |
| Death Place: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Martin E. Brooks (born Martin Baum; November 30, 1925 – December 7, 2015) was an American character actor known for playing scientist Rudy Wells in the television shows The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, from 1975 onward. The role had very briefly been played by Martin Balsam and then by Alan Oppenheimer.
Brooks was born Martin Baum in The Bronx in New York City in 1925. When he was 10, he moved with his family to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. After high school, he volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army, became a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne Division and was awarded a Purple Heart for injuries received during World War II. He attended Penn State University and enrolled at the Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research in New York City. He won the off-Broadway best actor award for his performance in Outside the Door and changed his name to Martin Brooks, following the advice of producer Richard Rodgers.
In 1959, Brooks starred in Saul Levitt's hit play The Andersonville Trial with Brian Donlevy and Charles Durning.[1] He was very proud of his theatre work that included An Enemy of the People and I Am a Camera, as well as the actors with whom he appeared, including Julie Harris and Barbara Bel Geddes. Brooks was also in John Steinbeck's Burning Bright as Victor with Kent Smith as Joe Saul, Barbara Bel Geddes as Mordeen, and Howard Da Silva as Friend Ed which he had adapted from his 1950 novel of the same name.
In the 1950s, Brooks appeared in The Philco–Goodyear Television Playhouse.In the 1960s, he appeared in Combat!.[2] In the 1972–73 TV season, he had a recurring role as Deputy D.A. Chapman in McMillan & Wife. In the fall of 1977, Brooks and Richard Anderson (as Oscar Goldman) became the first known actors to portray the same characters as regulars simultaneously on two different networks. NBC picked up The Bionic Woman after the series had been cancelled by ABC. ABC continued to air The Six Million Dollar Man. Brooks had, by that time, been promoted to series regular on both series. The unusual situation lasted only one season as the two series were cancelled by their respective networks in the spring of 1978.[3]
Brooks reprised the role of Wells in three television movies: The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987), Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989) and Bionic Ever After? (1994). His other television roles include in Mike Snow in Hunter, Arthur Bradshaw in General Hospital, Car 54, Where Are You?, Gunsmoke (“The Lure”-1967), Mission: Impossible, Night Gallery, Love, American Style, The Mod Squad,[3] and ten appearances as Edgar Randolph in the prime-time soap opera Dallas, playing a pivotal role in a story arc involving J.R. Ewing.[4] Brooks also guest-starred in an episode of The Silent Force in 1970.[5] He appeared in Knots Landing as Ted Burton in the 1990s.[2]
Brooks wrote two novels: Danny Brown and Roman Candle.[1] His play Flo and Joe was optioned for a Broadway production and received several workshop productions at the Actors Studio and at Theatre West.[1]
According to Jon Landau, Brooks was the "soulmate" of Landau's mother, Edie, for over 20 years. They were friends as children and reconnected in 1993 after her husband died. Brooks was friends with Charles Durning when they met in 1959 in Saul Levitt's hit play The Andersonville Trial until Durning's death in 2012.[1]
Brooks died on December 7, 2015, of natural causes at his home in Studio City in Los Angeles one week after his 90th birthday.[6] [7]
Brooks won the Theatre World Award and the Donaldson Award for his role in Burning Bright.[8]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Johnny Gunman | Johnny G. | Drama film written and directed by Art Ford | [9] | |
| 1970 | Dr. Jefferson J. Johnson | [10] [11] | |||
| 1972 | The Man | Wheeler's Lawyer | [12] [13] | ||
| 1994 | T-Force | Dr. Jon Gant | Science fiction directed by Richard Pepin | ||
| 1996 | Street Gun | Man thrown off the roof | Thriller film directed by Travis Milloy (final film role) |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Sure as Fate | Episode: "The Rabbit" (S 1:Ep 17) | ||
| The Philco–Goodyear Television Playhouse | Episode: "Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal" (S 3:Ep 41) | |||
| Fireside Theatre | Episode: "A Little Night Music" (S 3:Ep 41) | |||
| 1952 | Suspense | Harry Raymond | Episode: "Remember Me?" (S 4:Ep 45) | |
| Joan of Arc | Made-for-TV Movie | [14] | ||
| 1953 | Suspense | Meros Leckow | Episode: "The Man Who Cried Wolf" (S 5:Ep 33) | |
| Campbell Summer Soundstage | Episode: "Deception" (S 2:Ep 6) | |||
| Studio One in Hollywood | Episode: "The Storm" (S 5:Ep 50) | |||
| Armstrong Circle Theatre | Episode: "The Honor of Littorno" (S 4:Ep 10) | |||
| 1954 | Suspense | Episode: "Once a Killer" (S 6:Ep 43) | ||
| Studio One in Hollywood | Stephano | Episode: "The Cliff" (S 6:Ep 52) | ||
| The Philco–Goodyear Television Playhouse | Episode: "Time of Delivery" (S 7:Ep 4) | |||
| 1955 | Justice | Episode: "Cry Wolf" (S 2:Ep 15) | ||
| Armstrong Circle Theatre | Episode: "Leap for Freedom" (S 5:Ep 31) | |||
| Climax! | [15] | |||
| Studio One in Hollywood | Paul | Episode: "Mama's Boy" (S 7:Ep 51) | ||
| Peters | Episode: "Shakedown Cruise" (S 8:Ep 8) | |||
| 1956 | Eye on New York | Lt. Jan Kepart | Episode: "Night of the Auk" (S 1:Ep 1–Pilot) | |
| 1957 | Armstrong Circle Theatre | Aristides Andros | Episode: "Have Jacket Will Travel" (S 8:Ep 11) | |
| Decoy | Larry | Episode: "Necklace of Glass" (S 1:Ep 9) | ||
| True Story | Bruce Mansfield | Episode: "Girl in Hotel" (S 1:Ep 12) | ||
| Suspicion | Episode: "The Sparkle of Diamonds" (S 1:Ep 8) | |||
| Armstrong Circle Theatre | The Priest | Episode: "The Shepherd of Paris" (S 8:Ep 7) | ||
| 1957–58 | Love of Life | Paul Raven | Contract role | |
| 1958 | The United States Steel Hour | Martin Mandow | Episode: "The Charmer" (S 5:Ep 9) | |
| True Story | Bill Farrell | Episode: "22 March 1958" (S 1:Ep 18) | ||
| Kraft Television Theatre | Mr. Ferguson | Episode: "Death Wears Many Faces" (S 11:Ep 420 | ||
| 1958 | The Secret Storm | Skip Curtis | Contract role | |
| 1959 | New York Confidential | Sammy Watts | Episode: "Broadway Sam" (S 1:Ep 17) | |
| Ralph | Episode: "The Skin Game" (S 1:Ep 20) | |||
| 1960 | Sunday Showcase | Episode: "The Margaret Bourke White Story" (S 1:Ep 16) | ||
| Armstrong Circle Theatre | Lewis Benson | Episode: "Full Disclosure" (S 10:Ep 7) | ||
| Dow Hour of Great Mysteries | Jack Bailey | [16] | ||
| 1961 | Way Out | The Face | Episode: "False Face" (S 1:Ep 7) | |
| Car 54, Where Are You? | Petrucio | Episode: "The Taming of Lucille" (S 1:Ep 12) | ||
| 1962–64 | Search for Tomorrow | Dr. Everett Moore | Contract role | |
| 1963 | Look Up and Live | Jim | Episode: "The Presence of Death" (S 3:Ep 12) | |
| The DuPont Show of the Week | Joe Vanderling | Episode: "Diamond Fever" (S 2:Ep 13) | ||
| Armstrong Circle Theatre | Major Rickert | Episode: "The Aggressor Force" (s 13:Ep 17 |