How Vic Tayback Became Mel on ‘Alice’ After a Life-Changing Injury

ALICE, Vic Tayback, 1976-85 — Everett Collection

What To Know

Vic Tayback, best known as Mel on the TV show “Alice,” originally aspired to be a football player.
After a failed surgery during his Navy service, Tayback used the GI Bill to study sportscasting.
Tayback worked various jobs while pursuing acting.

If you grew up watching TV during the late ’70s or early ’80s, there is a pretty good chance that you spent some of your evenings hanging out at Mel’s Diner. It was, of course, the setting for the CBS TV show Alice, and it was a place that felt more like a real roadside stop than a Hollywood set. Just like any real diner, the coffee smelled great, the chili might be a little questionable, and the guy behind the counter was usually yelling.

That feller was Mel Sharples, played by Vic Tayback. While the show was named after the waitress Alice Hyatt (Linda Lavin), one could argue that Mel was the glue that held the whole darn thing together. He was grumpy and loud, but viewers always knew that he had a heart of gold buried somewhere under that grease-stained apron.

When you watched Tayback flipping burgers or shouting orders to whatever unlucky waitress was within earshot, part of the reason it looked so natural was because it was in his blood. You see, his father had been a fry cook for years.

ALICE, Polly Holliday, Linda Lavin, Vic Tayback, Philip McKeon, Beth Howland, 1976-85

In a 1978 newspaper article by journalist Dick Kleiner, Tayback told him: “My mother much preferred to say that he was a chef, but what he was, was a fry cook.”

That blue-collar work ethic clearly rubbed off on Tayback, because before he ever thought about acting, he had a completely different dream. Like a lot of young men in high school, he wanted to be an athlete, a football player, to be exact. He wasn’t interested in theater or movies; he was an athlete through and through.

Sadly, Tayback hurt his knee in high school and injured it again while playing in college. Somewhere along the way, Tayback heard that if he joined the Navy, they would fix his knee for him. He figured he could serve his country and get the surgery that he needed to get back on the field.

It seemed like a solid plan, so he enlisted. He went in with high hopes that the doctors would repair the damage to his knee and that he could return to his life as an athlete. Unfortunately, though, as so often happens, things did not go according to plan.

In that same 1978 article, Tayback said this: “They operated on my knee and ruined it.”

It was supposed to be a relatively simple operation, but things went wrong in a major way when his knee became infected. Ultimately, a relatively simple operation became a serious, life-altering ordeal that changed Tayback’s life forever.

After leaving the Navy, Tayback had to figure out what to do with his life now that football was off the table. He decided to use the GI Bill to further his education. He still loved sports, so he figured the next best thing to playing was talking about them. He enrolled in classes to study sportscasting and radio announcing.

As part of his broadcasting course, students were required to participate in a play. Tayback got a part in the school’s production of Stalag 17. He probably thought it was just a hoop to jump through to get his degree, but there happened to be someone special in the audience that night: Mickey Rooney‘s stand-in, who was thoroughly impressed. So much so, in fact, that he made the effort to go backstage after the performance to find him and tell him that he had real talent. That little nudge was all it took. Just like that, an actor was born.

Everett Collection

According to an Alice – The TV Series fan-site, Tayback’s “professional acting debut occurred in the 1959 movie T-Bird Gang, where he played the small part of a cop at the gas station, but with a lack of acting opportunities coming his way, he was forced to take on additional employment as a bank teller and cab driver.”

Tayback spent the next several years juggling part-time jobs and working hard to learn his craft and pay his dues. When he did land a role, it was usually doing community theater or working in commercials.

Regarding that specific time in his career, The Seattle Times reported that Tayback once said this: “I tell young actors to do anything that will sustain them. Too many actors get on an ego trip and won’t do commercials, so they sit around for 20 years between jobs.”

When TV shows finally came knocking at his door, Tayback was ready. While he had a look and a voice that made him perfect for playing tough guys and heavies, he also possessed great comic timing which opened the door for a host of different opportunities. By the time he landed the role of Mel, he was a seasoned pro.

Sadly, Hollywood lost Tayback in 1990. He succumbed to a sudden heart attack and died at the young age of 60. His obituary pointed out that he was a smoker and had a history of heart trouble, which had led to triple bypass surgery seven years prior to his passing.

One more interesting thing, Tayback actually played the character of Mel twice. First, he appeared in Martin Scorsese‘s 1974 film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. When CBS decided to adapt the movie into a television series, Tayback was the only actor from the original cast brought over to the show. The production team really couldn’t imagine anyone else in the role.