Martin Balsam, a character actor who won an Oscar for "A Thousand Clowns" and played the ill-fated detective in "Psycho," was found dead Tuesday in a Rome hotel. He was 76.
The cause of death was not immediately clear, said police spokeswoman Ornella Migliaccio.Balsam was found lying on the floor near his bed at the Ripetta Residence, an upscale, residential hotel in the center of Rome,
Migliaccio said.
His Italian agent, Vittorio Squillante, said Balsam had been staying at the hotel for about two weeks while on vacation. Squil-lante said he was unaware of any recent health problems the Bronx-born actor may have had.
The balding, heavyset Balsam was a film Everyman, the face people recognize in innumerable pictures and TV shows but can't always name. In his words, he played everyone's "rotten sergeant," the good friend, gangsters, producers and agents.
Broadway columnist Earl Wilson called him "The Bronx Barrymore," and Balsam once said, "I think the average guy has always identified with me."
Balsam made his movie debut in 1954 in "On the Waterfront," and also appeared in "Twelve Angry Men," "Marjorie Morningstar," "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "Catch-22," "Tora! Tora! Tora!," "Little Big Men," "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three," "Murder on the Orient Express" and "All the President's Men."
He was especially well known for his role as the detective in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho." His death scene, in which he reels backward down a staircase as he is repeatedly stabbed, rivaled the famous scene in which Janet Leigh is stabbed in the shower.
Balsam won an Oscar for best supporting actor in the 1965 movie "A Thousand Clowns," playing the stuffy brother to nonconformist Jason Robards. He won a Tony award for his stage role in "You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running."
During the stage run of the play in 1967, Balsam told an interviewer: "I'll tell you, I still don't feel whatever change you're supposed to feel when your name goes up above the title. I think that's because this star thing has never been the first consideration with me. Never. The work has always come first."