Al Markim Dead at 88

Network television's first men in space, Frankie Thomas
(center), Jan Merlin and Al Markim, stars of Tom Corbett,
Space Cadet.

Al Markim, an early cast member of the CBS daytime soap opera Love of Life, died on November 24. He was 88.

Markim was a pioneering TV actor, award-winning producer, visionary video executive. He is perhaps best known as Astro, in the classic 1950s TV serial Tom Corbett, Space Cadet.

Born in 1927 in Wilkes Barre, PA, Alfred Markim served in the Army witnessing the Nuremberg trials. He later pursued acting, including stage and screen, from Love of Life to "La Ronde" at The Circle In The Square Theatre Off-Broadway. He often co-hosted Jerry Lewis' Muscular Dystrophy Telethons.

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet premiered on CBS in 1950, moved to ABC, then NBC, then DuMont, then back to NBC, with the final broadcast on June 25, 1955. (Frankie Thomas, Jr. played the lead role, and was also the star of one of the earliest TV soap operas, A Woman to Remember. He later starred in One Man's Family and First Love. Longtime Guiding Light star Edward Bryce played Captain Strong in Tom Corbett, Space Cadet.)