Alan Manson, a Broadway actor who left the stage for the armed services and landed a gig in the wartime show, This is the Army, died March 5 at the age of 83, The New York Times reported.

His biggest roles came later, as the lead in Angels Kiss Me, as Flo Ziegfeld in Funny Girl opposite Barbara Streisand and in The Tenth Man. In The Tenth Man, Mr. Manson played roles in both the original production and the revival.

Mr. Manson's early credits were the Grant Mitchell vehicle, Tide Rising and Maxwell Anderson's Journey to Jerusalem. During World War II, as a soldier, he was enlisted into the G.I.-filled Irving Berlin revue, This is the Army, in 1942. The show was a success and toured all over the United States and other countries. Mr. Manson was also featured in the 1943 film version with Ronald Reagan.

"His first encounters with the Broadway stage were while he was still in high school," according to an old program bio. He carried a battle-ax in John Gielgud's Hamlet. He would go on to be featured in Call Me Mister, Gideon, A Place for Polly, Broadway Bound and Allegro. The Times reported that when he was called before a House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955 he refused to answer questions about his political activities, and was blacklisted for a time.

He is survived by brother Arthur Manson and his wife, Corey Rose Land, whom he married in May 2001. — by Ernio Hernandez
and Kenneth Jones