Veteran actor Mel Novak, who was best known for starring alongside Bruce Lee in Game Of Death, has died at the age of 90.
Novak was notable for his work in a string of martial arts movies, in which he impressively performed all of his own stunts.
Along with Game Of Death, his pictures included the blaxploitation film Black Belt Jones and the Chuck Norris classics A Force Of One and An Eye For An Eye.
Novak’s daughter Nikol Conant confirmed this Wednesday that her father had succumbed to natural causes that morning, via TMZ.
Nikol, who is one of his two daughters, shared that her father died at a board and care facility located in Southern California.
He had suffered physical pain every day, particularly in his final years, as a result of injuries he sustained during his Hollywood career, said Nikol.
Veteran actor Mel Novak, who was best known for starring alongside Bruce Lee in Game Of Death, has died at the age of 90
Game Of Death was released in 1978, combining newly filmed material with footage of Bruce Lee shot before his mysterious death of a brain edema in 1973.
In his most enduringly beloved role, Novak featured as the villainous hitman Stick, whose nickname derives from the matchstick he always twiddles between his teeth.
Born Milan Mrdjenovich to Serbian parents in small-town Pennsylvania, Novak grew up near Pittsburgh dreaming of playing professional baseball.
Although he signed a pro contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates, a shoulder injury and the resultant surgery left him ‘crippled’ for seven years, dashing his hopes of a career in sports when he was just 19, he told the fan website Nanarland.
He recovered thanks to years of extensive gym training and then struck out to Los Angeles, where he drifted into modeling and his agent then recommended he act.
Novak quickly found his niche playing action villains, particularly hit men, which he portrayed on both his acting debut – the popular detective show Mannix – and his big break on the big screen, the 1974 blaxploitation film Black Belt Jones.
Black Belt Jones was directed by Robert Clouse, who then enlisted Novak for a role fighting Yul Brynner in the 1975 picture The Ultimate Warrior.
Clouse also hired Novak to play Stick in Game Of Death, which had to be finished up in Hong Kong after Bruce Lee died under murky circumstances in 1973.
Game Of Death was released in 1978, combining newly filmed material with footage of Bruce Lee shot before his mysterious death in 1973
In his most enduringly beloved role, Novak featured as the villainous hitman Stick, whose nickname derives from the matchstick he always twiddles between his teeth
Novak was notable for his work in a string of martial arts movies, in which he impressively performed all of his own stunts
Novak only became involved with the project after Lee died, so the two men were never able to meet, in spite of co-starring in a martial arts classic.
As a result, Novak listed the ‘biggest star I worked with’ as Steve McQueen, whom he acted with in the 1980 action western Tom Horn.
‘When he was on screen it was magic,’ said Novak. ‘He did not like the “Hollywood I, me and my actors”, he liked down to earth people.’
On the other hand, Novak did two movies with Chuck Norris – A Force Of One in 1979 and An Eye For An Eye in 1981 – but evidently disliked him.
‘In Eye For An Eye, I packaged this film and was able to get it funded,’ said Novak, adding that although it ‘was nice working with’ the director and producer, ‘I was betrayed. I will not go into this. I am not a Chuck Norris fan!’
Alongside his acting career, Novak was also an ordained minister, performing such services as the funeral for Tim Burton’s father Bill and working extensively on Skid Row and in prisons, both in America and abroad in Ireland and Mexico.
He credited his religious beliefs for the fact he did not fall back on drugs after the injury that ended his baseball career – and also shared its impact on his acting work.
Novak took the roles of villains who got their just desserts, ‘like God’s justice,’ but refused ever to ‘play a role where I would rape a woman, molest a child, do nudity, kiss a man, or use God’s name in vain.’
In a departure from his action roles, Novak also worked in the 1990s on two movies for the famed comedy director Garry Marshall – Exit To Eden, with Dan Aykroyd and Rosie O’Donnell, and Dear God, with Greg Kinnear and Laurie Metcalf.
