29 Facts About Michael Ansara

Michael George Ansara was born in a small village in the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, and his family immigrated to the United States when he was two years old.

Michael Ansara originally wanted to be a physician, but developed a passion for becoming a performer after he began taking acting classes at Pasadena Playhouse to overcome his shyness.

Michael Ansara was educated at Los Angeles City College, from which Ansara earned an Associate of Arts degree.

Michael Ansara served as a medic in the army during World War II.

Michael Ansara played King Kamehameha in the Jeannie episode "The Battle of Waikiki", and in the final season, he played Major Biff Jellico in the episode "My Sister, the Home Wrecker".

The couple had one son together, actor Matthew Michael Ansara, who died on June 25,2001, of a heroin overdose.

Michael Ansara starred in his own ABC-TV series, Law of the Plainsman, with Gina Gillespie and Robert Harland.

Michael Ansara performed as an Apache Indian named Sam Buckhart, who had been appointed as a US Marshal.

Michael Ansara played in Biblical epics: The Robe as Judas Iscariot, The Ten Commandments as a taskmaster, and The Greatest Story Ever Told as Herod's commander.

Michael Ansara appeared as Belshazzar in Columbia's 1953 film Slaves of Babylon.

In 1961, Michael Ansara played the role of Miguel Alvarez in the film Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, co-starring with Barbara Eden and Walter Pidgeon, who played the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson.

Michael Ansara later appeared in an episode of the television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, playing the rebel sub commander Captain Ruiz in "Killers of the Deep".

Michael Ansara appeared in the episode "Hot Line" as a Soviet scientist who disarms a defective Soviet atomic satellite that has crashed off the coast of California and he appeared as Carl in the episode "Night Visitors" of the NBC anthology series The Barbara Stanwyck Show.

Michael Ansara starred in a supporting role in the 1965 Elvis Presley film, Harum Scarum.

Michael Ansara played the Ruler on episode 22, "The Challenge," of the television series Lost in Space with a young Kurt Russell as his son Quano.

Later that same year, Michael Ansara appeared in the feature film Texas Across the River with Dean Martin.

Michael Ansara appeared on Daniel Boone as Red Sky in a 1966 episode.

In 1976, Michael Ansara starred in the film Mohammad, Messenger of God, about the origin of Islam and the message of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

In 1978, Ansara starred in the acclaimed miniseries Centennial, based on the novel by James A Michener.

Michael Ansara played the Indian leader Lame Beaver, whose descendants are showcased throughout the centuries alongside the growth of the West and the town that the novel and miniseries are named after.

Michael Ansara narrated Paul Goble's "The Gift of the Sacred Dog" at Crow Agency, Montana, on June 17,1983, and Sheila MacGill-Callahan's "And Still the Turtle Watched" on October 21,1993, on the PBS series Reading Rainbow.

In 1988, Michael Ansara appeared in an episode of the television series Murder, She Wrote titled "The Last Flight of the Dixie Damsel".

In 1994, Michael Ansara portrayed the Technomage Elric in the Babylon 5 episode "The Geometry of Shadows".

Michael Ansara was nominated for a Saturn Award, and has won a Western Heritage Award for Rawhide.

On February 8,1960, Michael Ansara received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in the television industry, located at 6666 Hollywood Boulevard.

Michael Ansara was married three times, first to actress Jean Byron in 1955; the couple divorced in 1956.

In 1958, Michael Ansara married Barbara Eden, who co-starred with him in Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Michael Ansara died from complications of Alzheimer's disease at his home in Calabasas on July 31,2013, at the age of 91.

Michael Ansara's interment is at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, next to his son Matthew.