ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, February 14, 1996           TAG: 9602140047
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-2  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: ROME
                                             TYPE: NEWS OBIT 

MARTIN BALSAM, ACTOR, FOUND DEAD

Martin Balsam, the Everyman character actor who died in ``Psycho'' and won an Oscar for ``A Thousand Clowns,'' was found dead Tuesday in a Rome hotel room. He was 76.

The balding, heavyset Balsam had a face people recognize in innumerable pictures and TV shows but can't always name.

He won an Academy Award as best supporting actor in the 1965 movie ``A Thousand Clowns,'' playing the stuffy brother to nonconformist Jason Robards. He also could play the lead: He got a Tony for the main role in ``You Know I Can't Hear When the Water's Running.''

Police said he apparently died of natural causes.

- Associated Press

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