Born on this day – Martin Balsam:

Martin Balsam

Actor

November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996

Credits:

12 Angry Men (1957); 12 O'Clock High (1965); A Brand New Life (1973); A Thousand Clowns (1965); Actor's Studio (1949); Ada (1961); After the Fox (1966); Al Capone (1959); Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1958); All the President's Men (1976); Among the Paths to Eden (1967); Archie Bunker's Place (1979); Arrest and Trial (1964); Aunt Mary (1979); Blood and Diamonds (1977); Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1964); Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961); Breaking Point (1963); Brenner (1959); Brothers in Blood (1987); Cain's Hundred (1962); Cape Fear (1962 / 1991); Catch-22 (1970); CBS Playhouse (1970); Chronicle of a Homicide (1972); Cold Storage (1983); Colonel Humphrey Flack (1954); Confessions of a Police Captain (1971); Conquered City (1962); Contract on Cherry Street (1977); Counselor at Crime (1973); Cry, Onion (1975); Cuba (1979); Danger (1950); Death Among Friends (1975); Death Rage (1976); Death Wish 3 (1985); Decoy (1958); Dr. Kildare (1962); Espionage (1964); Everybody Go Home! (1960); Eyes Behind the Stars (1978); Father Knows Best (1958); Five Fingers (1960); Frontiers of Faith (1955); Gardenia il giustiziere della mala (Gardenia) (1979); Glitter (1985); Goodyear Television Playhouse (1953); Goodyear Theatre (1960); Great Performances (1985); Harlow (1965); Have Gun - Will Travel (1958); Hombre (1967); Hotel (1987); Hunters Are for Killing (1970); I Want to Live (1983); Inner Sanctum (1954); Innocent Prey (1984); ITV Play of the Week (1965); Kids Like These (1987); Kojak (1974); Kraft Mystery Theatre (1958); Kraft Mystery Theatre / The Philco Television Playhouse (1954); Kraft Mystery Theatre / The United States Steel Hour (1955); La piovra (1986); Legend of the Spirit Dog (1997); Little Big Man (1970); Little Gloria... Happy at Last (1982); Man Against Crime (1953); Marjorie Morningstar (1958); Maude (1976); Me, Natalie (1969); Middle of the Night (1959); Midnight Caller (1990); Miles to Go Before I Sleep (1975); Mister Peepers (1953); Mitchell (1975); Money to Burn (1973); Mr. Broadway (1964); Murder in Space (1985); Murder on the Orient Express (1974); Murder, She Wrote (1986); Naked City (1959); Night of Terror (1972); O. Henry's Christmas (1996); Ocean (1989); Official Detective (1958); On the Waterfront (1954); Once Again (1987); P.I. Private Investigations (1987); Playhouse 90 (1958); Police Story (1973); Psycho (1960); Pursuit (1958); Queenie (1987); Quincy, M.E. (1982); Raid on Entebbe (1976); Rainbow (1978); Rawhide (1959); Risking (1976); Rocky King, Detective (1950); Route 66 (1961); Season for Assassins (1975); Second Serve (1986); Seven Days in May (1964); Siege (1978); Silver Bears (1977); Smiling Maniacs (1975); Soldato ignoto (1995); Space (1985); St. Elmo's Fire (1985); Studio One (1957); Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973); Sunday Showcase (1960); Suspense (1964); Target: The Corruptors (1962); The Anderson Tapes (1971); The Bedford Incident (1965); The Big Story (1950); The Brother from Space (1988); The Carpetbaggers (1964); The Child Saver (1988); The Defenders (1961); The Delta Force (1986); The DuPont Show of the Month (1959); The Eleventh Hour (1963); The Fugitive (1967); The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen (1959); The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969); The Goodbye People (1984); The Greatest Gift (1954); The Hassled Hooker (1972); The House on Garibaldi Street (1979); The Last Match (1991); The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976); The Living Bible (1952); The Living Christ Series (1951); The Love Tapes (1979); The Man (1972); The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1965); The Millionaire (1978); The Name of the Game (1968); The New Breed (1961); The Old Man Who Cried Wolf (1970); The People vs. Jean Harris (1981); The Robert Herridge Theater (1960); The Salamander (1981); The Sands of Time (1992); The Seeding of Sarah Burns (1979); The Sentinel (1977); The Silence of the Hams (1994); The Six Million Dollar Man (1973); The Stone Killer (1973); The Storyteller (1977); The Stranger (1954); The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974); The Twilight Zone (1986); The Untouchables (1961); The Warning (1980); There Goes the Bride (1980); Time Limit (1957); Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970); Trapped Beneath the Sea (1974); Treasury Men in Action (1950); Trilogy (1969); Two Evil Eyes (1990); Two-Minute Warning (1976); Valiant Lady (1955); Wagon Train (1964); 'Way Out (1961); Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1958); Whatever It Takes (1986); Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963); Winterset (1959); Zane Grey Theatre (1959).

On this day in movie and book history - The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (1974 and 1973)

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

directed by Joseph Sargent,

written by Peter Stone, and based on the novel by John Godey,

was released in the United States on October 2, 1974.

Music by David Shire.

Cast:

Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, Earl Hindman, James Broderick, Dick O'Neill, Lee Wallace, Tom Pedi, Beatrice Winde, Jerry Stiller, Nathan George, Rudy Bond, Kenneth McMillan, Doris Roberts, Julius Harris, Cynthia Belgrave, Anna Berger, Gary Bolling, Carol Cole, Alex Colon, Joe Fields, Mari Gorman, Michael Gorrin, Thomas La Fleur, María Landa, Louise Larabee, George Lee Miles, Carolyn Nelson, Eric O'Hanian, Lucy Saroyan, William Snickowski, Barry Snyder, Walter Jones, Jerry Holland, Robert Weil, Penny Krompier, Christopher Murney, Timothy Meyers, Ruth Attaway, Thomas Barbour, Marvin Silbersher, Neil Brooks Cunningham, Sal Viscuso, Tony Fasce, Burtt Harris, Gene Gross, Walter Lott, Conrad Yama, Sho Onodera, Toru Nagai, Tura Nakamura, Rowena Rollins, Joseph Attles, Willis Pinkett, Michelle Matthow, Isabella Hoopes, Bill Cobbs, Jim Pelham, Joe Seneca, Gino Gennaro, Carmine Foresta, Tony Roberts, Hy Anzell, Ines Hellendall, Jean-Paul Hellendall, Ben Lautman, Carey Loftin, James Mapes, Paul Nuckles, Jay Rasumny, Charles Silvern, Dominique St. Pierre, Dolph Sweet, Frank Ventgen.

Recommended reading:

 

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

by John Godey.
 
First published 1973.
Published by Penguin Publishing Group.
Paperback.
 
ISBN-10: 0425253309
ISBN-13: 978-0425253304
 
Description:
 
"Chillingly real." – Houston Chronicle.
 
"A cliff-hanger." – The New Yorker.
 
"Harrowing, terrifying, and so, so good." – Business Week.
 
THIS AFTERNOON IN NEW YORK CITY, AFTER A SUBWAY TRAIN LEFT THE PELHAM STATION AT 1:23 P.M., THE EVENTS OF THE DAY TOOK A TERRIFYING DETOUR…
 
“You will all remain seated. Anyone who tries to get up, or even moves, will be shot. There will be no further warning. If you move you will be killed…”
 
Four men, armed with submachine guns, have seized a New York City subway train, holding all seventeen passengers – and the entire city – hostage.
 
The identities of the hijackers are unknown.
 
Their demands seem impossible.
 
Their threats are real.
 
Their escape seems inconceivable.
 
Only one thing is certain: they aren’t stopping for anything.

On this day in movie history - The Stone Killer (1973)

The Stone Killer

directed by Michael Winner,

written by Gerald Wilson,

based on the novel A Complete State of Death by John Gardner,

was released in the United States on August 8, 1973.

Music by Roy Budd.

Cast:

Charles Bronson, Martin Balsam, Jack Colvin, Paul Koslo, Norman Fell, David Sheiner, Stuart Margolin, Ralph Waite, Alfred Ryder, Walter Burke, Kelley Miles, Eddie Firestone, Charles Tyner, Byron Morrow, Lisabeth Hush, Frank Campanella, Gene Woodbury, Robert Emhardt, David Moody, John Ritter, Mary Cross, Harry Basch, Tom Falk, Jan Arvan, Barry Cahill, Richard Armbruster, Ed Madsen, Arthur French, William J. Daprato, Hy Anzell, Ta-Tanisha, Hoke Howell, Hunter von Leer, Sam Locante, Norman D. Wilson, Larry J. Blake, Frenchia Guizon, Denny Arnold, Roberta Collins, Jack English, John Hudkins, Ernie F. Orsatti, Christa Raines, Chuck Roberson, Angelo Rossitto, Lew Sleeman, Robert Snively.

On this day in movie history - Catch-22 (1970)

Catch-22

directed by Mike Nichols,

written by Buck Henry,

based on the novel by Joseph Heller,

was released in the United States on June 24, 1970.

Music by Richard Strauss.

Cast:

Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Art Garfunkel, Jack Gilford, Buck Henry, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, Jon Voight, Orson Welles, Bob Balaban, Susanne Benton, Norman Fell, Charles Grodin, Austin Pendleton, Peter Bonerz, Jon Korkes, John Brent, Collin Wilcox Paxton, Philip Roth, Bruce Kirby, Jack Riley, Felice Orlandi, Marcel Dalio, Evi Maltagliati, Elizabeth Wilson, Richard Libertini, Liam Dunn, Olimpia Carlisi, Wendy D’Olive, Gina Rovere, Fernanda Vitobello, Seth Allen, Steve ‘Bunker’ de France.

On this day in movie and book history - The Anderson Tapes (1971)

The Anderson Tapes

directed by Sidney Lumet,

written by Frank Pierson,

based on the novel by Lawrence Sanders,

was released in the United States on June 17, 1971.

Music by Quincy Jones.

Cast:

Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, Ralph Meeker, Alan King, Dick Anthony Williams, Val Avery, Garrett Morris, Stan Gottlieb, Christopher Walken, Conrad Bain, Margaret Hamilton, Anthony Holland, Scott Jacoby, Judith Lowry, Meg Myles, Norman Rose, Max Showalter, Janet Ward, Paul Benjamin, Richard B. Shull.

Recommended reading:

The Anderson Tapes

by Lawrence Sanders.

Filmed as The Anderson Tapes (1971), directed by Sidney Lumet.

Published by DELL PUBL CO.
First published 1970.

ISBN-10: 0440102170
ISBN-13: 9780440102175
 
Description:

With clockwork precision, Lawrence Sanders outlines the inspiration, planning and execution of an ambitious robbery of an apartment building on New York's Upper East Side in The Anderson Tapes, the best-selling thriller that established him as one of the most popular suspense writers of his generation. The premise is clever – the entire story is told in surveillance tape transcripts and reports from law enforcement agencies, each of which seems to be observing some aspect of the situation in which the robbery takes place.

John "Duke" Anderson was recently paroled from Sing Sing, after serving time on a charge of breaking and entering. A rich woman picks him up one evening and takes him back to her apartment, in a small but elegant building on the Upper East Side. 

Anderson is intrigued by the situation in the building, seeing it as a possible target for a large-scale robbery. He needs backing, though, and he gets it through his contacts with the underworld. What Anderson does not know is that much of what he is already doing is being captured as evidence through electronic surveillance. The catch is that the different entities doing the surveillance are not communicating with each other. The evidence is assembled and the puzzle solved, after the robbery takes place and ends violently, by NYPD Capt. Edward X. Delaney.

The Anderson Tapes marks the first appearance in a Sanders novel of Delaney, a character who will be central to the author's Deadly Sin series of thrillers. Sanders brilliantly unfolds the story in short, fact-filled chapters constructed as police reports and tape transcripts, some of which are tantalizingly garbled. The Anderson Tapes won for Sanders the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar as the Best First Mystery Novel of 1970.