Neville Brand - Acting Career

Acting Career

Brand started his big screen career in D.O.A. (1950) as a henchman named Chester. He became well known as a villain when he killed the character played by Elvis Presley in Love Me Tender. He has the distinction of being the first actor to portray outlaw Butch Cassidy in the film Three Outlaws, opposite Alan Hale, Jr. as the Sundance Kid. Though not the big-budget romp the later Paul Newman–Robert Redford film was, both Brand's Cassidy and Hale's Kid are played as likable outlaws, a rare change from Brand's typecasting as a murderous psycho. He played the villain in so many movies, his self-image became affected, culminating in a television interview on Entertainment Tonight with the actor moving about in agitation repeating, "I'm a loser. I'm a loser."

However, Brand played a very romantic lead in the movie Return from the Sea with Jan Sterling and a heartwarming character who was brain damaged and misunderstood in an episode of the TV show Daniel Boone. He played Hoss Cartwright's (Dan Blocker) Swedish uncle "Gunnar Borgstrom" on Bonanza in the episode "The Last Viking". He also played U.S. Navy Lieutenant Kaminsky, ignored as he tried to warn his commander of the opening skirmish in Tora! Tora! Tora!, who later waves his arms at the Pearl Harbor carnage, exclaiming to a shocked Captain John B. Earle (Richard Anderson) "Sir, THERE'S your confirmation!"

Of the hundreds of roles he played, he is probably most well known as Al Capone in the TV show The Untouchables and again in the movie The George Raft Story. The characterization caused an outcry from the Italian American community over stereotypes.

Many will remember him as Bull Ransom, the prison guard of Birdman of Alcatraz, and as the antagonistic and untrusting, yet dedicated POW, "Duke", in Stalag 17.

Known also for his cowboy roles, he appeared twice on the long running TV western The Virginian, he then went on to star as Reese Bennet in the television series, Laredo, with William Smith, Peter Brown, and Philip Carey. Laredo was a spinoff series from The Virginian. One of the most heart-rending scenes on television showed Brand's character, Reese waiting in torment when he realizes he has been stood up by the love of his life. In another episode, the gruff and dusty Reese has an immaculate and proper lookalike that confounds the other Texas Rangers. The producers suspended Brand from Laredo due to his heavy drinking and problems between directors and co-stars. Brand admitted "I missed a lot of days I should have been on the set and wasn’t."

In his memoir, actor Bruce Dern said that "Neville Brand was the baddest guy I’ve ever met in the business. Second baddest was Audie Murphy". Actress Coleen Gray described him as "the steely-eyed, evil person of all time... he was mean." She also said "...he was a nice person, and an intelligent person."

Actress Roberta Collins accused him of date rape but did not press charges.

Brand co-starred with George Takei in "The Encounter", an episode of the original Twilight Zone series. Ironically, Brand, a genuine decorated veteran, portrays a phony war hero, a coward who obtained his prize trophy (a Japanese soldier's sword) by murdering a Japanese officer after he had surrendered. After its initial airing, "Encounter" triggered complaints from Japanese-Americans due to the backstory of the character played by Takei: he portrays a Nisei (the U.S.-born son of Japanese immigrants) whose father spied for the Japanese navy during the Pearl Harbor attack. Although "Encounter" is a taut drama with excellent performances by Brand and Takei, this historical inaccuracy (and the complaints it engendered) has caused this episode to be omitted from syndicated broadcasts of The Twilight Zone. (This episode, in three parts, is available for view on YouTube, and in its entirety on streaming Netflix.)