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Though he spent most of his film career below the title, Eddie Albert, who died May 26 of pneumonia in Pacific Palisades, Calif., at age 99, ultimately transcended second-banana status. Indelibly etched in viewers' minds as Green Acres' urban transplant Oliver Wendell Douglas, the affable thespian, who was born Edward Albert Heimberger, began his 75-year career in radio, before easing into theater, film, and television (where, in addition to Acres, he costarred with Robert Wagner in the '70s series Switch and logged more than 100 guest appearances). On the big screen, he racked up 79 credits, including the 1974 original version of The Longest Yard, in which he memorably played Burt Reynolds' sadistic prison warden. Albert also earned Supporting Actor Oscar nominations for his turns as a dogged photographer tailing Audrey Hepburn in 1953's Roman Holiday and as Charles Grodin's imperious father-in-law in 1972's The Heartbreak Kid. ''Everything he did was so honest,'' says Shirley Jones, his costar in 1955's Oklahoma! ''Whenever he was on screen, you were riveted by his performance. He was just a very intuitive, very bright, very well-read man — and he had a lot more going for him than just acting.''
An understatement. The versatile Albert spent time as a trapeze artist in 1930s Mexico, received a Bronze Star for rescuing 142 Marines during World War II's Battle of Tarawa, and devoted much of his offscreen time to humanitarian relief. A conservationist before it became hip, Albert initiated a campaign against the toxic pesticide DDT, traveled the world with UNICEF, and helped establish the U.N. program Meals for Millions. Says his actor son Edward Albert, ''Even when he was working on films, his whole life was about helping other people.''
BEST OF EDDIE
1947 Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman
1953 Roman Holiday
1955 Oklahoma!
1955 I'll Cry Tomorrow (VHS)
1956 The Teahouse of the August Moon (VHS)
1972 The Heartbreak Kid
1974 The Longest Yard
