This is my first audio post about a silent artist.
Randomly flipping through the TV one day. The cowboy channel was playing an episode of "Tales of Wells Fargo", a series featuring Dale Robertson, William Demarest, Chubby Johnson
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various other denizens of the old west, and in this one, a mime.
Kind of an interesting touch for old TV. There were a lot of ensemble-style TV Westerns in the early 60s, where a dozen or so regulars would have a weekly one-off with some crazy miner or an out-of-control posse, and the demand for oddballs and eccentrics was high. But I don't think I ever saw a mime before.
And this guy was a pretty good mime. In 1960 Hollywood? Probably not an American actor. Who knew from mimes in 1960? Would Marceau appear on le Western Americain? It's probably someone I've never seen, in years of watching TV, and growing up recognizing all these guys. Some theater actor. Unless it's something crazy like Ken Berry or Tim Conway.
So I stayed for the credits. And you're not gonna believe it. It was indeed someone very familiar.
Here's his act, it's only about a minute, once the cursor calms down. (If Starz has an issue, I'll reluctantly take it off. Not a problem. My intent is to inform, not defraud. They can tell YouTube and it's gone. I'm just a little gadfly.)
Classic mime. He plays to the audience like Harpo Marx and Charlie Chaplin.
Can you guess?
It's Vito Scotti.
One of the most That Guy! of all those guys and gals. About half a dozen appearances a year for 45 years, (241 total per IMDB). And a formidable scene stealer.
It makes sense because Vito was a lifelong adept at the business of The Stage. But he was definitely not known for any physical comedy more developed than slapstick. Finding out he could mime, and was very good at it, was a big surprise for this fan.
