Nicholas Cuccia (pronounced coo-cha; January 10, 1912 - January 29, 1994), better known by his stage name Nick Cravat, was an American actor and stunt performer.

Early life

Cravat was born in New York City, New York. He took his stage name from a character in a play he had seen and liked.

Career

Cravat and Burt Lancaster met as youngsters at a summer camp in New York and became lifelong friends. They created an acrobatic act called Lang and Cravat in the early 1930s, and joined the Kay Brothers circus in Florida. The pair worked at various circuses and in vaudeville. In 1939, Lancaster suffered a hand injury that ended their act. They would later reunite. He co-starred with Lancaster in nine films, including The Crimson Pirate, The Flame and the Arrow, and Run Silent, Run Deep. He played a mute character in several films such as The Flame and the Arrow, The Crimson Pirate, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, and the TV series The Count of Monte Cristo mostly because his thick Brooklyn accent would have been out of place. He also played the "gremlin" on the wing of an airplane in the 1963 Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet".

Personal life

Cravat had two daughters from his second and final marriage, Marcelina "Marcy" Cravat-Overway and Christina "Tina" Cravat, who also goes by the name Tina Cuccia. His first wife, Arlene, died in the 1950s.

Death

Cravat died of lung cancer in Woodland Hills, California on January 30, 1994. He is interred at North Hollywood's Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]