Born Jan. 1, 1943, in New Jersey, Kamel was a veteran of the New York stage. He began working in TV in the 1970s, and virtually never stopped. It would almost be easier to list the shows he wasn't on. His résumé included stops at Mission: Impossible; Charlie's Angels; Three's Company; the original Knight Rider; Hill Street Blues; Star Trek: The Next Generation; Cagney & Lacey; Murder, She Wrote; The Golden Girls; ER; The Nanny; 7th Heaven; NYPD Blue and The West Wing.

His most memorable stints included a starring run in the 1970s on daytime soap Days of Our Lives; a turn as mobster Tony Marchette, Dylan McKay's very, very bad father-in-law, on Beverly Hills 90210; and a role as a lawyer with AIDS on L.A. Law.