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A troubled youth, American actor Sal Mineo was a member of a street gang by the age of eight, and thrown out of school.

His mother tried to calm him by making him take dancing lessons, to not avail, and he was arrested for robbery in 1949.

Choosing acting school over juvenile confinement, he appeared in Tennessee Williams’ ‘The Rose Tattoo’ on Broadway, in 1951, then proceeded to star opposite Yul Brynner in ‘The King and I’.

In 1955, Mineo made his film debut with ‘Six Bridges to Cross’, going on to appear in ‘The Private War of Major Benson’, which starred Charlton Heston.

That year, he also starred as Plato, opposite James Dean, in ‘Rebel Without A Cause’, perfect for the role of reckless youth. A critical success, he gained a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for the performance.

Throughout the late 1950s, Mineo remained a top-billing film name, in such movies as ‘Giant’, again with Dean, and ‘Somebody Up There Likes Me’, in 1956.

Branching out, Mineo even scored two Top 40 hits with ‘Lasting Love’ and ‘Start Movin’ (In My Direction)’.

Mineo starred as the eponymous jazz drummer in the 1959 biopic, ‘The Gene Krupa Story’, and the 1960 film, ‘Exodus’, for which he earned a second Oscar nomination.

After co-starring in 1962’s ‘The Longest Day’, Mineo’s next major role was in ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ in 1965, after which his film career effectively dried up.

Moving into television and theatre work, Mineo directed ‘Fortune and Men’s Eyes’ in 1969 throughout the US. Apart from ‘Escape From The Planet Of The Apes’ in 1971, the actor faded away.

Aged 37, Mineo, almost penniless, was fatally attacked on a West Hollywood street, in February 1976.
Sal Mineo biography



In 1957, at the height of Mineo's fame, Bob Hope announced on a TV special that all public schools in Brooklyn would be closed the following day, in honour of Sal Mineo's birthday. Hope meant this as a joke, but many youngsters in Brooklyn took it seriously, and there was record absenteeism in the borough's public schools the following day.
Sal Mineo biography




Sal Mineo biography