Stocky character actor Stanley Adams had a relatively minor career in motion pictures, with the possible exception of his baby-faced millionaire Rusty Trawler of Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) fame. Otherwise, he played innumerable minor ethnic villains, bartenders and avuncular, fast-talking characters, known in the credits only by their first names. In other words, most of his roles were rather small. On television, conversely, he proved himself quite a scene stealer, particularly in the 1960s and early ’70s, when his face appeared on just about every major show. He was at his best as pool hustler Sure-shot Wilson in an episode of The Odd Couple (1970), Rollo, a quirky time-traveling scientist on The Twilight Zone (1959), and – famously – as ‘asteroid detecting’, tribble dealing galactic entrepreneur Cyrano Jones on Star Trek (1966). Alas, he was also a space carrot named Tybo on Lost in Space (1965)….
His suicide in April 1977 has been attributed to severe depression as a result of a back injury, sustained earlier in the decade. Apart from the obvious pain, it would almost certainly have limited his employment opportunities.
