Abel Fernandez, One of Eliot Ness' 'The Untouchables' on Television, Dies at 85
He was not on the list.
The professional boxer-turned-actor starred as Prohibition
agent William Youngfellow on the fact-based ABC drama.
Abel Fernandez, who played Native American federal agent
William Youngfellow on the ultra-violent 1960s ABC series The Untouchables, has
died. He was 85.
Fernandez, who was a crowd-pleasing professional boxer in
Los Angeles before he turned to acting, died Tuesday of lung cancer in a
hospital in Whittier, Calif., his daughter Letty told The Hollywood Reporter.
Fernandez portrayed Youngfellow, one of the Prohibition
agents working for Eliot Ness (Robert Stack), in more than 80 episodes of the
1930s, Chicago-set Untouchables. The gritty crime series, from Desilu
Productions, aired for four seasons, from 1959-63.
The Youngfellow character was based on William Jennings
Gardner, a Native American member of the real-life Untouchables squad.
Born in Los Angeles on July 14, 1930, Fernandez attended
Belmont High School and at age 16 enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he became a
paratrooper with the Airborne 11th. While in the service, he captured the
Asiatic Forces middleweight championship.
After his discharge in 1950, Fernandez won the Los Angeles
Times Golden Gloves tournament and was runner-up at the national Golden Gloves
event in Chicago. He boxed professionally as a light heavyweight through 1953,
entertaining crowds at such venues as Hollywood Legion Stadium and the Olympic
Auditorium in Los Angeles, and was inducted into the California Boxing Hall of
Fame in October 2013.
"I don't think I'd be much good as a fighter
anymore," Fernandez told the Associated Press in August 1953. "I got
to the point where I hated to hit guys. I was afraid I'd hurt them. I sent
three boys to the hospital and spent most of my time visiting them. Fighters
shouldn't care who they hit or how or where."
Fernandez made his acting debut in the 1953 film Second
Chance in which his character, Rivera, engaged in a fierce boxing match under
the blazing Mexican sun with star Robert Mitchum. In the 2001 book Robert
Mitchum: "Baby I Don't Care," the star says Fernandez knocked him out
three times during the filming of the scene.
And in the Humphrey Bogart boxing classic The Harder They
Fall (1956), Fernandez played Chief Firebird, an Indian boxer who is hesitant
to throw a fight.
Fernandez's film résumé also included Alaska Seas (1954)
opposite Robert Ryan, Fort Yuma (1955), Pork Chop Hill (1959) with Gregory
Peck, Apache Uprising (1965), Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966), Madigan
(1968) and Quicksilver (1986).
Fernandez played Airman Abel Featherstone on the live-action
NBC series Steve Canyon, based on the comic strip character, and guest-starred
on other TV shows including Daniel Boone, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin,
Bonanza, Time Tunnel, Gunsmoke, Batman, Wagon Train, The Virginian, Tales of Wells
Fargo, Have Gun — Will Travel and Marcus Welby, M.D.
In addition to Letty, survivors include his other children
Delia, Patrick and Tony, 13 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
A visitation will take place at 5 p.m. on May 16 at the
Guerra-Gutierrez Mortuary in Whittier.
Partial filmography
Second Chance
(1953) - Rivera
Alaska Seas (1954)
- Ricci—tall crewman
Rose Marie (1954)
- Indian Warrior (uncredited)
Many Rivers to
Cross (1955) - Slangoh
Strange Lady in
Town (1955) - Apache (uncredited)
The Last Command
(1955) - Spanish Soldier (uncredited)
Devil Goddess
(1955) - Teinusi
Fort Yuma (1955) -
Mangas
Target Zero (1955)
- Pvt. Geronimo (uncredited)
The Harder They
Fall (1956) - Chief Firebird (uncredited)
The Last Wagon
(1956) - Apache Medicine Man (uncredited)
The Tijuana Story
(1957) - Policeman (uncredited)
Decision at
Sundown (1957) - Pete (uncredited)
Pork Chop Hill
(1959) - Kindley
The Age of
Violence (1964) - Gangster
Rio Conchos (1964)
- Mexican at Corral (uncredited)
Apache Uprising
(1965) - Young Apache Chief
The Appaloosa
(1966) - Mexican Farmer (uncredited)
Dead Heat on a
Merry-Go-Round (1966) - Aztec Airlines Attendant (uncredited)
Madigan (1968) -
Detective Rodriguez
Topaz (1969) -
Cuban Guerrilla Fighter (uncredited)
Quicksilver (1986)
- Guyamo
Buster's Bedroom
(1991) - Dr. Jacoby (final film role)
