Nicholas Georgiade, R.I.P.

Nicholas "Nick" Georgiade, the last surviving regular cast member of The Untouchables TV show died last Sunday in Las Vegas at the age of 88. He was also one of the two last surviving cast members of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World to have a speaking part. He played the policeman, seen above at left, who was working with Norman Fell's character to tail Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante).

Georgiade was best known as Enrico Rossi, sidekick to Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) on The Untouchables when it aired from 1959 to 1963 on ABC and forever after in reruns.  The story is that one of his fellow cast members on that series, Paul Picerni, was originally cast in the role in Mad World but had to drop out due to a schedule conflict.  When he did, he recommended Georgiade, who was hired for what you'd think, seeing the film, was a one-day part.

But when interviewed years after, Georgiade said he spent several weeks working on the picture, waiting to shoot other scenes which didn't make it into the final cut.  He also said that he loved the whole experience, hanging around with so many fine comedians.

This makes Barrie Chase the last surviving cast member with a speaking part in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.  She (of course) played Mrs. Halliburton, the bikini-clad lady who did the memorable dance scene with Dick Shawn.