Background
Andrews was reportedly born as Tiger Andrews in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Syrian parents Selma (née Shaleesh) and George E. Andrews, a shopkeeper. His mother died when he was three years old, and his father later remarried.
Andrews was reportedly born as Tiger Andrews in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Syrian parents Selma (née Shaleesh) and George E. Andrews, a shopkeeper. His mother died when he was three years old, and his father later remarried.
Andrews was wounded in Sicily while serving in the United States Army during World World War II and after returning home, graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York in 1946.
He is best remembered for his law-enforcement roles as Captain Adam Greer and Lieutenant Johnny Russo in two American Broadcasting Company crime drama television series, The Mod Squad and The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor respectively. His family"s surname was originally "Androwas". Andrews moved with his family to Middlesex, New Jersey.
He reprised the role in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California.
Andrews went on to direct The Threepenny Opera in Arizona. While in New York, director John Ford cast him in the 1955 film version of Mister Roberts after seeing his Broadway performance.
Before moving to California, Tige married Norma Thornton, a ballerina who was a regular on Columbia Broadcasting System"s The Editor Sullivan Show. Norma Thornton Andrews died in 1996.
Andrews made frequent appearances on television in the 1960s.
Andrews"s best known roles were Lieutenant Johnny Russo on The Detectives and as Captain Adam Greer on The Mod Squadron Andrews reunited with his fellow Mod Squad cast members for a 1979 made-for-television film, The Return Of Mod Squadron lieutenant was their last appearance together.
After The Mod Squad ended, Andrews continued to make guest appearances on various television series, such as Kojak, Marcus Welby, Doctor of Medicine, Police Story, CHiPs, and Murder, She Wrote.
He retired from acting in the early 1990s after having appeared in more than one hundred acting roles onstage, on film and on television His artwork has been shown in Los Angeles art galleries, and some of it was published in the book Actors As Artists by Jim McMullan and Dick Gautier.
He collaborated with Sandy Matlowsky and Sid Kuller on two original songs on his Tiger Records label in Los Angeles, California. "The Modfather" and "Keep America Beautiful" were the A and B sides of the vinyl 45 single release.
These songs had humor and poignancy for the post 60s youth culture that was embracing political awareness and the social revolution.
Sid"s clever writing techniques and Tige"s theatrical voice are at its finest in this rare collection that contributed to the advocacy of world peace and the environmental movement of the 1970s in America. Andrews died of cardiac arrest at his home in Encino, California, on January 27, 2007, aged 86.
In addition to being a cast member of The Philosophy Silvers Show (1955–1957, as Tiger Andrews), Andrews appeared in such series as United States. Marshal, The Lawless Years, Mr. Novak, Dundee and the Culhane, The Big Valley, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, Gomer Pyle, United States.M.C., and Star Trek (as Kras in the episode "Friday"s Child", in which he was the first Klingon ever to die in that series).