Nico Minardos

Q: When did Nico Minardos die?

Nico Minardos died on August 27, 2011.

Q: How old was Nico Minardos when they died?

Nico Minardos was 81 years old at the time of death.

Q: What was Nico Minardos's cause of death?

The cause of death of Nico Minardos was natural causes.

Q: When was Nico Minardos born?

Nico Minardos was born on February 15, 1930.

Nicholas Minardos (February 15, 1930, Pangrati, Athens – August 27, 2011, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles) was a Greek-American actor.

Work in Hollywood

His first Hollywood screen appearance was as an extra in the 1952 film Monkey Business. His film credits also include Holiday for Lovers; Twelve Hours to Kill; It Happened in Athens; and Cannon for Cordoba.

The majority of Minardos's work was in television, where he made guest appearances in a wide variety of shows. Due to his dark looks and accent, he was often cast as a Mexican. He appeared in "Have Gun Will Travel" S2 E19 "The Monster" as Carlos (1960). He played a thief in the Maverick episode, "The Judas Mask"; a doctor in The Twilight Zone episode "The Gift"; and two roles in the TV show Alias Smith and Jones, first as a bandit chief in "Journey from San Juan", and then as the Alcalde of a Mexican resort town in "Miracle at Santa Marta". These latter two appearances reunited him with Cannon for Cordoba co-star, Pete Duel, who played Hannibal Heyes, the alias Smith of the title. He was cast as an Italian, Giangiacomo, in the 1965 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Sad Sicilian".^{[citation needed]} Minardos also appeared in an episode of Barnaby Jones titled "The Loose Connection" (1973).

In 1975, Minardos starred in and produced Assault on Agathon based on the book by Alan Caillou. It is the story of a revolutionary from World War II, the mysterious Agathon, who is committing terrorist acts in Greece and Albania. Minardos stars as Cabot Cain, a Western agent assigned to stop Agathon and locate a missing Interpol agent. Minardos obtained financing for the film from Kjell Qvale, a Bay Area-based automotive entrepreneur who was then the majority shareholder in Jensen Motors. Minardos had approached Qvale for a product placement deal to use a Jensen Interceptor during filming but ultimately convinced Qvale to finance the entire movie. MGM distributed the film but it was a financial failure. Minardos's last appearance on the screen was in an episode of The A-Team in 1983.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Nicholas Minardos was born in Greece and emigrated to the United States permanently in 1954; he became a naturalized citizen in 1960. Minardos was married twice, first briefly in the mid-1950s to the former Deborah Jean Smith (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Deborah Ann Montgomery). There were no children from that marriage. Two years after the divorce, Deborah married the legendary actor Tyrone Power, and after he died, producer Arthur Loew Jr. Minardos remarried in 1965. He and his wife Julie had two children together, a son named George and a daughter named Nina. Minardos reputedly lived with the actress Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s and with the actress/dancer Juliet Prowse.

Notable events

On September 28, 1966, Minardos, who was co-starring with actor Eric Fleming in an MGM-TV movie filming on location in Peru to be titled Selva Alta (High Jungle), was involved in a canoeing mishap on the Huallaga River in which Fleming drowned. Minardos, a strong swimmer, was unable to rescue Fleming from the rapids and only barely survived himself. Fleming's body was swept away in the turbulent waters and was only found three days later.

In 1986, Minardos was one of the defendants in a case related to the Iran–Contra affair, resulting from Minardos' business association with the Saudi arms merchant Adnan Khashoggi. Minardos was caught in an FBI sting operation in New York and was indicted by then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani on charges of conspiracy to illegally ship arms to Iran. He was represented by attorneys William Kunstler and Ron Kuby in this case. Minardos was interviewed by Mike Wallace for a segment of the show 60 Minutes regarding his role in the case. Although the indictment was dismissed, the cost of his legal defense drove him to the point of bankruptcy and ended his Hollywood career. Minardos traded his home in Beverly Hills for a sailing yacht in Florida, which he outfitted and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to his Greek homeland with a crew that included his son George.

Later life

Minardos retired to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, during the 1990s and 2000s, but moved to Southern California in 2009 after suffering a stroke. He died in 2011 in Woodland Hills, California, at age 81. He was the subject of a 2010 documentary about his life titled Finding Nico, produced and directed by his godson Owen Prell, whose father, Donald Prell, was a longtime friend of Minardos from their bachelor days in Los Angeles in the 1950s.

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1.Where was Nico Minardos born in 1930?

2.What was the first Hollywood film in which Nico Minardos appeared as an extra?

3.In what year did Nico Minardos become a naturalized citizen of the United States?

4.Who provided the financing for the 1975 film Assault on Agathon produced by Nico Minardos?

5.What was the name of Nico Minardos's second wife?

6.During which event did the actor Eric Fleming drown while filming with Nico Minardos?

7.Who was the U.S. Attorney that indicted Nico Minardos for conspiracy to illegally ship arms to Iran?

8.What was the profession of Adnan Khashoggi, with whom Nico Minardos had a business association?

9.What was the result of the indictment against Nico Minardos in the Iran-Contra case?

10.What kind of vessel did Nico Minardos use to sail across the Atlantic Ocean back to his Greek homeland?

11.In what year did Nico Minardos make his last appearance on the screen?

12.Who produced and directed the 2010 documentary titled Finding Nico?

13.In which television show did Nico Minardos play the character of a doctor?

14.What was the name of the son Nico Minardos had with his wife Julie?

15.What health event caused Nico Minardos to move from Florida to Southern California in 2009?

16.Which actor reunited with Nico Minardos in episodes of the show Alias Smith and Jones?

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