Biff Elliot

Early life

Elliot was born Leon Shalek in Lynn, Massachusetts, the son of Susan M. (née Bernstein) and Israel Michael Shalek. All of his grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. His father was a former semi-pro baseball player who had, after retiring, opened a burlap-bag manufacturing business in Presque Isle, Maine.

Elliot had a childhood nickname "Bith" but later adapted it to "Biff" when he went into boxing, which he did when he was 16 and his family had moved to Presque Isle. He then became known as Biff Harris. Eventually Elliot went on to become the North Maine champion and even reached the New England regional championship, but once his mother found out about his boxing, she refused to allow him to continue. In 1943 Elliot signed up for the United States Army, was placed in the 34th Infantry Division and later stationed to North Africa.

Once the war finished, Elliot was discharged and decided to return to the University of Maine in 1945. He graduated in 1949 and moved to New York City in hopes of pursuing a writing career. After failing to make out as a writer, Elliot switched his attention to acting, and began taking courses at the actors' studio.

Career

He first started doing stage and television work, mostly playing tough, working-class characters. When he was spotted by a Hollywood attorney while performing a television episode, the attorney recommended him to Victor Saville, the producer who was preparing the first film adaption of Mickey Spillane's I, the Jury. When accepted for the audition, Elliot was brought to Hollywood, and began preparing for his role by cramming with Mike Hammer novels, spending the whole night re-reading them. After a successful 15-minute audition, Elliot landed his first leading role on film and became the first actor to portray the famed Mike Hammer in a motion picture. Over the next few years, Elliot was a prominent fixture in classic war films of the 1950s and '60s, appearing in Between Heaven and Hell, The Enemy Below, Pork Chop Hill, and PT 109. But mostly he worked in television. In 1959, Elliot got a seemingly good break when playwright Clifford Odets happened to see I, the Jury and offered him a role in The Story on Page One, which Odets wrote and directed. Thereafter, over the next decade, Elliot was mostly seen on television, including an appearance on Frank Lovejoy's detective series, Meet McGraw, and an appearance on Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr. In 1966, he portrayed a government agent in an episode of the comedy series The Dick Van Dyke Show. In 1967, he appeared in the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark". He guest-starred in an episode of Gibbsville in 1976. In 1977, he had a memorable supporting role in Telly Savalas's Beyond Reason with Diana Muldaur. A late notable role came in 1981 when he co-starred in Back to the Planet of the Apes, a TV movie. Elliot would make his final film appearance in 1986 in a comedy, co-starring with Jack Lemmon in a scene from That's Life!. His last appearance on television was in 1986 on the set of the television series of Starman, and he retired in 2001.

Personal life

After Elliot's retirement he worked in radio sports, covering Los Angeles sports for CBS Radio Network. Elliot was previously married to Betty Cole, a former model, whom he met during his tenure at the University of Maine and married in his sophomore year in 1948. She died in 1974. In 1977, he married Connie and they resided in Los Angeles.

A brother of Win Elliott, longtime CBS Radio Network sportscaster and 1950's TV game show host, Biff Elliot died in his home in Studio City, California on August 15, 2012, aged 89.