Victor “Vic” Tayback (January 6, 1930 – May 25, 1990) was an American actor. Vic Tayback was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, the son of Helen (née Hanood) and Najeeb James Tayback. His parents were immigrants from Aleppo, Syria. Vic Tayback moved with his family to Burbank, California, during his teenage years and attended Burbank High School. He ended up living in the area for the rest of his life, eventually moving to nearby Glendale, California, where he resided until his death. A life member of The Actors Studio, Tayback was a familiar face on television in the 1960s and 70s, appearing on numerous shows as a character actor. Two notable appearances were in the “Et tu, Archie?” fourth season episode of All in the Family as Archie’s old friend, Joe Tucker, and as the 1930s style gangster-boss ‘Jojo Krako’ in the Star Trek episode “A Piece of the Action”. Tayback’s most famous role was diner owner Mel Sharples in both the 1974 movie Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and in the television series, Alice, which ran from 1976 to 1985. He was the only actor of the original film to reprise his role in the series. (Film co-star Diane Ladd joined Alice mid-series playing a different character, and Alfred Lutter reprised his film role as Tommy for the pilot episode only.) Tayback died of a heart attack in 1990 and was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Tayback was survived by his wife Sheila, whom he married in 1962. They had one son, Christopher Tayback, who briefly acted before attending law school. Christopher is a partner at Quinn Emanuel in Los Angeles.