Steve Gravers

Steve Gravers, born April 8, 1922, in New York, was one of those character actors you might not recognize by name but, trust me, you’ve seen his face—a real staple of ‘70s film and TV. The guy just had that grit, you know? He popped up in all sorts of stuff that’s now cult-classic territory, like “Wizards” from ’77—a trippy animated flick that’s got this wild mashup of fantasy and post-apocalyptic weirdness. Gravers lent his voice to one of the characters, adding that gruff, unmistakable energy only a New York native could pull off. And then there was “The Car” in the same year, a bonkers horror movie where, honestly, the villain is a demonic car. I mean, it’s a killer automobile, and Gravers gets tangled up in that madness. He brought this edge to the screen, the kind of guy who always looked like he’d seen some stuff off-camera too. TV-wise, he was on “Griff” in 1973—the kind of crime show your dad probably watched, all hard-boiled cops and gritty cases. Gravers totally fit that world, no question. Off set, he was married to Vitina Marcus—yep, the same Marcus who had her own run in Hollywood. Gravers’ life wrapped up in Studio City, California, on August 26, 1978. He didn’t get a long run, but, man, he packed a lot into those years on screen. There’s this rawness to his work, a lived-in quality that makes even small parts memorable. That’s the thing with character actors—they’re like the secret sauce in all your favorite retro movies.