Tige Andrews, the tough-looking actor who gained mainstream popularity when he was cast as the sympathetic police captain in the left field cop show The Mod Squad died on January 27 of cardiac arrest at his Encino, California home. He was 86.

He was born Tiger Androwaous in Brooklyn on March 18, 1920. The son of Lebanese immigrants, Andrews attended the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts and after years of study was cast in the 1948 Broadway smash Mister Roberts. He worked extensively on the New York stage over the next several years, but made the move to films when he was cast by John Ford in the screen adaptation of Mister Roberts (1955).

Andrews got his first regular television gig as Private Gander in the classic Phil Silvers sitcom Sgt. Bilko (1955-59), and continued to work in movies such as The Wings of Eagles (for Ford again, 1957) and Glenn Ford's disarming war comedy Imitation General (1958). His work on television in the '60s was non-stop: Run for Your Life, The Big Valley, The Fugitive, and The F.B.I. were just a few of the series he guest starred in, often a playing a tough authority character. Yet it was his casting as Captain Adam Greer, the sympathetic police administrator who oversaw three young undercover cops (Michael Cole, Peggy Lipton and Clarence Williams III) in the hip television police drama The Mod Squad (1968-71) that made him a familiar face. Wise yet never condescending to his young charges, he was easily the most humane Police Captain that ever graced the small screen.

After his stint on that series finished, he made a few television movies: Raid on Entebbe (1977), Return of the Mod Squad (1979); and some more guest appearances on popular shows: Quincy M.E., Sledge Hammer!, Murder, She Wrote, before retiring from acting and becoming an oil painter of some note. He is survived his sons; John, Steve and Tony; daughters Barbara, Gina, and Julianna; and 11 grandchildren.

by Michael T. Toole