A Brief Biography of Edward Albert
by Avril Bowles

Edward was born on 20 February 1951 to legendary Hollywood actor Eddie Albert and the well-known Spanish dancer and actress whose lengthy name was abbreviated to simply ‘Margo’ (shown above in her most famous Hollywood movie, "Lost Horizon"). He has one adopted sister, Maria, and remembers a secure and happy childhood surrounded by love, warmth and visitors that included Henry Fonda, Clark Gable, Lauren Bacall and Katherine Hepburn. Something not generally known to the public is that Edward is named not only after his own father, but also his godfather, the late, greatly respected English actor, Lord Olivier, and this is why he is sometimes billed as ‘Edward Laurence Albert’ as well as ‘Edward Albert Jr.’ and, more commonly, simply as Edward Albert.

While Edward’s mother sadly died in 1985, Mr Albert Snr. celebrated his 95th birthday in April 2000! While father and son have rarely acted together over the years, they can be seen in the movie ‘The Girl From Mars’ and the TV shows ‘Kung Fu’ (a two part story from the 1972 season), ‘Time Trax’ (episode ‘Treasure of the Ages’) and the as yet unscreened ‘California’, a pilot intended as a spin-off from ‘Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman’. It is still something of a mystery why this show has not surfaced, and with the cancellation of ‘Dr Quinn’ one can only speculate as to its future. Eddie and Edward have also filmed ‘Illusion Infinity’ together and we can only hope that both these projects will appear on our screens sometime in the foreseeable future.

Prior to completing his education at UCLA and England’s prestigious Oxford University, Edward made his first film. Aged only 11, he co-starred with Anthony Perkins in a black and white feature called ‘The Fool Killer’, which although an extremely entertaining movie, was apparently not a pleasant experience for its young star despite having his mother’s protective and comforting presence with him throughout shooting. In fact, so disenchanted was he, that he didn’t make another movie until "Butterflies Are Free" in which his performance garnered a Golden Globe for Best Actor. 

Another movie which proved to be less than enjoyable for Edward was the delightful ‘Forty Carats’ in which he starred with Liv Ullman and Gene Kelly. A motorbike stunt went badly wrong and Edward broke his shoulder and collar-bone in 6 places. Despite being in constant pain, he continued filming without losing a minute of production time. He describes the shooting of the movie as "a nightmare of pain for me", and in fact has only ever watched the movie once. Years later at a party, his host, unaware of the circumstances, screened the film believing he was paying a compliment to his celebrity guest and Edward had no choice but to watch it. He commented that, "it wasn’t that bad a movie, but the experience was so harsh that I have never been able to watch the film since". Interestingly, for film buffs, he comments that his left eye is half-closed throughout almost the entire film, due to the pain he was suffering, although personally, despite studying Edward very closely (!) I can’t see evidence of this. Perhaps watching the movie brought back such bad memories for him that he sees something in himself which is indiscernible to viewers.

While his looks are unquestionably those of a leading man, Edward has always considered himself a ‘character actor’, and indeed he has played a multitude of widely diverse roles. He seems to play villains often these days, but his fans yearn for him to once again be cast as the romantic lead in a major movie. With around 80 films and well over 40 television appearances in his 50 years, it can only be a matter of time. 

Actually, when you consider his numerous hobbies; he makes drums, is an accomplished stunt co-ordinator, singer/songwriter, musician, linguist/dialectician, photographer, and sculptor; has a predeliction for collecting anything he can from every possible source of interest; and his passionate commitment and involvement with the Native American people and their culture, it’s amazing that he manages to fit in acting at all; particularly as he prefers if possible these days, to have some element of control over a production, either directing or producing. 

In the early ‘70’s he struck up a friendship with a man he saw building a house in the hills of Malibu, L.A. The ‘builder’ turned out to be the brother of singer Rita Coolidge, and the two men ended up building the ranch that Edward still lives in to this day with his wife and daughter. 

Apart from his involvement with the Native American community (for whom he is the current California State Commissioner), Edward and his father also spend a considerable amount of time with disadvantaged Latin-American children improving their education and conditions in poorer areas. 

Despite his hectic life and constant travelling around the world, he has, to date, graciously attended four Beauty and the Beast conventions in the USA, where he has worked like the proverbial beaver and greatly increased donations to charities at those events. In fact, in 1995 in Los Angeles, he ‘sold’ an hour of his time to an audience paying $50 a time to hear him sing and play his guitar. As one of those who attended, I can honestly say it was a remarkable experience; although tired, Edward seemed to be completely relaxed and appeared to really enjoy his time with the group, singing, playing and sharing stories and precious memories for us all to take home with us.

Currently Edward is working on six Public Service Announcements (controlling every element in their production) and writing his own book entitled ‘Sacred Visions’; not an autobiography as might have been expected (and hoped for by his fans!), but a serious work exploring and profiling the medicine animals so important to the Native American peoples.

Those who have met him, have found Edward to be a gracious, warm, highly intelligent and genuinely compassionate man. He enjoys meeting people and gives generously of his time to those less fortunate than himself. While he possesses all the confidence, wit and vitality expected of a multi-talented actor/celebrity, he displays none of the ego and arrogance often associated with Hollywood stars.

Other than the fact his long, happy marriage to former actress, * Kate Woodville has produced one treasured daughter, little is known about his personal life, since he prefers to keep his family firmly out of the spotlight. And surely no one can blame him for that. Coming from a ‘Hollywood family’ background where intrusive reporters with powerful zoom lenses must have been a permanent ‘necessary evil’, privacy must be precious and difficult to protect. * Sci-fi buffs will be keen to spot Kate as the beautiful ‘Natira’ in the classic ‘Star Trek’ episode, ‘For The World is Hollow and I Have Touched The Sky’.

Check out The Offical Edward Albert Site - see Links.