Harry Bellaver (February 12, 1905 – August 8, 1993) was an American stage, film and television actor who appeared in many roles from the 1930s through the 1980s.

Life and career 

Bellaver was born in Hillsboro, Illinois, the son of Italian immigrants working in the Hillsboro coal mines. He appeared in numerous Broadway plays over the years, with his Broadway debut in the 1931 Group Theatre production of the play 1931. He also appeared in the Elmer Rice play We, The People in 1933, and in the Broadway debut that year of The Threepenny Opera.

Bellaver's greatest Broadway success was in 1946, when he appeared in the original production of Annie Get Your Gun, as Chief Sitting Bull. He appeared in the same role in the 1966 revival.

Bellaver was also a prolific film character actor, mainly in "working class" roles, from 1939 through the 1960s. He appeared in the film adaptation of From Here to Eternity and in several notable film noirs. He appeared in The House on 92nd Street as a taxi driver spying for the Nazis, and again played a cab driver, this time victimized by a gangster, in Side Street. He also appeared in "Love Me or Leave Me" with James Cagney and Doris Day in 1955 and The Old Man and the Sea with Spencer Tracy in 1958. He also appeared in the comedy Hero at Large a 1980 comedy film starring John Ritter and Anne Archer.

Bellaver is probably best known for his featured role as Sgt. Frank Arcaro in the television series Naked City. He played an older, mellow detective who was a counterpoint to the dedicated young detective played by Paul Burke. Bellaver continued to play small film and television roles through the 1980s, with his last film role in 1985 as an old miner in the movie The Stuff.

Death 

Harry Bellaver lived in Tappan, N.Y. when died of pneumonia on Sunday, August 8, 1993, at Nyack Hospital in Nyack, N.Y. He donated his body to science. He was survived by his daughters Lee Bellaver of Stone Ridge, N.Y., and theatrical casting director Vaughn Bellaver-Allentuck of East Hampton, L.I., two grandsons, a granddaughter, and two great-granddaughters.

Source: Wikipedia