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Alexander "Sandy" Abbott Marshall (born February 9, 1946) is an American writer, author, producer, director, lyricist and actor.

Early Life
Marshall was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. His father, Jay Marshall, was a television pioneer ("The Ed Sullivan Show", "Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theatre", "Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows") and the 8th Dean of The Society of American Magicians. His mother, Naomi Marshall (nee Baker) was the daughter of magician Al Baker, the 3rd Dean of the Society of American Magicians and friend of Houdini. His father was Scottish-American and his mother was Jewish. At the age of 16 he moved to Oak Park, IL to live with his father and step-mother, Frances Ireland, and attended Oak Park and River Forrest High, and studied acting at The Goodman School of Drama at The Art Institute of Chicago.

Career
He has won two Emmy Awards (7 nominations); the first as Best Writer of an Entertainment Series for his nationally syndicated television series, "The Madhouse Brigade" (starring "Saturday Night Live" alumn Joe Piscopo and Frank Nastasi of the Soupy Sales Show), and the second for Outstanding Event Coverage for his documentary, "The Revenge of the Sons of the Desert" about an worldwide organization of Laurel & Hardy devotees. This documentary was later released on Marshall's compilation video, "Eat My Shorts" containing four of his short films (also "The Great Smoky Mountains Highland Games" - Emmy Nominee; "Alligator Shapiro" - winner New York Expo of Films; and "Linderman's Luck"), and also in 20th Century Fox's Cinema Classics Collection, "The Laurel and Hardy Collection Volume One". Some of his other Emmy nominations were for his series "Self-Portraits", about the lives of Groucho Marx, John Barrymore, and Edgar Allan Poe.

In 2010, Marshall's biography chronicling the life of his legendary entertainer/magician father, Jay Marshall, entitled "Beating a Dead Horse: The Life and Times of Jay Marshall" was released by Junto Publishing.

His play, "And in the End: The Death and Life of John Lennon" received critical acclaim in the UK and in Australia.

Marshall's film work includes roles in the Raymond Martino films "To The Limit" (starring Anna Nicole Smith, Michael Nouri and Joey Travolta), "Da Vinci's War" (starring Joey Travolta, Michael Nouri and James Russo), and "Dumb Luck in Vegas" (starring Joey Travolta, David Proval, Kelly Emberg and Richard Foronjy). In addition, he was 2nd Unit Director on Martino's "American Born" (starring Joey Travolta and Robert Gallo).

Sandy is also a respected New York voice-over actor. His voices can be heard in such cartoon series as "Thunderbirds 2086", "Barbapapa", and "The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers". He also did the voice for the animated character "Apod" in the Isaac Azimov film, "Light Years" (aka "Gandahar"), also starring Christopher Plummer, Glenn Close, Paul Shaeffer, Penn Jillette, Teller, and others.

He has narrated numerous audio books, including his own "Beating a Dead Horse: The Life and Times of Jay Marshall" (Junto Publishing), Kurt Vonnegut's "The Bagombo Snuffbox" (HighBridge Audio), Dr. Andrew Weil's "Eating Well for Optimum Health" (HarperCollins), and "Winnie the Pooh on Success" (Penguin Books), among others.

Marshall is also a gifted lyricist and often collaborates with his wife, Susan Palmer Marshall. His lyrics can be heard on their 9/11 tribute, "Remember", and "Standing Stones", "The Rare Old Times", "Lochs & Legends" and "Nessie & Me" CDs which he also produced. In addition, he has collaborated with British Composer Ted Dicks (of "Right Said Fred" fame) and Canadian Composer, Ron Paley.

Marshall has won dozens of international awards as well as the Clio Award and Andy Award for his commercial work. The award of which he is most proud, however, is the New York City Mayor's Award for Heroism which he earned by stopping the violent crime of a rape in progress in front of his New York City townhouse.

Personal Life
He was married to Joan Becker (his college sweetheart) from 1965 - 1969, until Joan's unexpected death of a cerebral hemorrhage in March of 1969. Since 1993 he has been married to Susan Palmer (a former member of The New Christy Minstrels).

He has one son, Alexander Abbott Marshall, Jr., born in 1965.

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References