Robert Lansing, dead at 66
Ray Hamel
NEW YORK- Robert Lansing, whose rugged good looks and deep voice served
him well on stage, as well as in films and television, died Sunday of
cancer in a hospice in the Bronx. He was 66.
Mr. Lansing starred in the television series "12 O'Clock High"
and in such Broadway plays as "The Great God Brown," "Suddenly Last
Summer" and "The Little Foxes." His film career included roles in "The
4-D Man," "A Gathering of Eagles," "Under the Yum Yum Tree," "The
Scalpel" and "The Nest."
Mr. Lansing was born in San Diego and began working on Broadway
in the 1950s, appearing in "Stalag 17," "Richard III," "Cyrano de
Bergerac" and "Charlie's Aunt."
His natural air of authority proved an asset in his best-known
TV role, as Brig. Gen. Frank Savage in "12 O'Clock High," the role that
brought him fame. He also appeared on episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock
Presents," "The Twilight Zone," "Star Trek," "Simon & Simon," "Murder,
She Wrote" and "Law and Order."
He is survived by his wife, Ann; son, Robert Frederick Orin
Lansing; and daughter, Alice Lucille Lansing.
John Riffe
was a magnificent actor whose presence will be greatly missed.
--
John V. Riffe "Nothing is often better than something."
Parmly Billings Library - Mary Bushing -
510 N. Broadway
Billings MT 59101
(406) 657-8248
jri...@billings.lib.mt.us
William Albert Davis
was great in TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH, why don't they show that anymore. I
always wished they had worked him and Terri Garr into the plot of STAR
TREK IV. It would've been great.
--
Bill Davis
******************************************************************************
William A. Davis * wmad...@iglou.com * P.O.Box 337 * Ghent * KY * 41045
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Alan Cantu
> in Little Foxes. He
> was a magnificent actor whose presence will be greatly
> missed.
What was he known for in TV/Movies?
Education Writers
: Lansing did a lot of Bank commercials here in Louisville, Kentucky. He
That explains it! I saw him in the Louisville airport years ago when I
was in town for a convention. Dressed in very actorish black, loose
clothes. He was still doing The Equalizer at the time.
And no obit mentioned that brow of his that rivaled the cliff overhang in
The Guns of Navaronne.
Wm. F. Hirschman
Ray Hamel
>
> What was he known for in TV/Movies?
Lansing, Robert (Robert Brown, 1928-94)
TV: "Young Dr. Malone" (Peter Brooks) 1959
"87th Precinct" (Det. Steve Carella) 1961-62
"Twelve O'Clock High" (Brig. Gen. Frank Savage) 1964-65
"The Man Who Never Was" (Peter Murphy/Mark Wainwright)
1966-67
"Automan" (Lt. Jack Curtis) 1983-84
"The Equalizer" (Control) 1985-89
1959 "The 4-D Man" (Scott Nelson)
1960 "The Pusher"
1963 "A Gathering of Eagles"
1963 "Under The Yum-Yum Tree"
1966 "An Eye For An Eye"
1966 "Namu, The Killer Whale"
1969 "It Takes All Kinds"
1971 "The Grissom Gang"
1972 "Killer By Night" (Warren Claman) tv
1972 "The Astronaut" (John Phillips) tv
1973 "Black Jack/Wild in the Sky" (Maj. Reason)
1975 "The Crime Club" (Alex Norton) tv
1976 "Widow" (Harold) tv
1976 "Bittersweet Love"
1976 "Scalpel" (Philip)
1977 "Empire of the Ants" (Dan Stokely)
1977 "The Deadly Triangle" (Charles Cole) tv
1978 "Acapulco Gold"
1980 "S*H*E" (Owen Hooper) tv
1981 "Island Claws"
1988 "The Nest" (Elias Johnson)
1989 "After School/Private Tutor" (C. A. Thomas)
1989 "Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the
Bionic Woman" (Gen. McAllister) tv
Ray Hamel ha...@primate.wisc.edu
Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center (608) 263-8316
------
"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair
for the future of the human race." -- H. G. Wells
Nancy Durgin
For TV, his most memorable role (at least for me), was probably
"General Frank Savage" on the first season of TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH (the
Gregory Peck role from the movie of the same name). It was a really
amazing, unforgettable portrayal of a character who definitely wasn't
your regular "dashing, likeable hero". It was such an unusual
portrayal that the network geniuses decided that the audiences
couldn't deal with it, say they replaced his character with Paul
Burke's "Colonel Joe Gallagher" for the next two seasons (supposedly
for the youth appeal, even though ironically Paul Burke is actually
older than Robert Lansing). The show was never as good after Lansing
left it, though it did still have its good moments....
The average viewer may remember him as "Gary Seven" in the Classic
Trek episode "Assignment Earth" (the episode also starred Teri Garr).
That episode was an attempted (failed) spin-off for a new series to
star Robert Lansing.
In the late 50's, he was in the show 87TH PRECINCT. More recently, he
was on THE EQUALIZER and (I think) KUNG FU: THE LEGEND CONTINUES. In
the 60's/early 70's, he was a guest star on just about all the
action/drama shows, and he also did various movies, though I don't
know if they were all TV movies or some were Theatrical.
Anyway, I'm sorry to hear of his passing. He's one of my favorite TV
actors from the 60's....
Nancy
--
==============================================================================
Nancy Durgin | (Usual disclaimers | The Aurora Group II
n...@aurora.com | apply...) | Menlo Park, California
==============================================================================
PDBO...@ulkyvm.louisville.edu
wmad...@iglou.iglou.com (William Albert Davis) writes:
>Lansing did a lot of Bank commercials here in Louisville, Kentucky. He
campaign in the 11 years I've been in Louisville. Lansing in front of one local
landmark or another just talkin' plain sense.
Preetham Gopalaswamy
Is it just me or is it weird that none of the obituaries for Lansing mention
the fact that he was currently a regular on "Kung Fu - The Legend Continues".
I read several obits and none of them stated this fact, so much so that I
thought I was mistaken and so I verified it this week on the show. Someone
had posted a filmography for Lansing on this group and even that does not
mention Kung-Fu. What gives ???
While on the subject, any news on how they are going to handle it on the show
itself ??? It should make for an interesting episode to see how Caine reacts
to it. And when does the new season for "Kung-Fu" begin ?? Or has it already
started. This is a show that has grown on me. I never used to watch it, and
chanced upon it by accident. Now I am hooked.
Preetham
Jeanne Powers
to Caine's son. At first it seemed they were going to make a
big deal out of it, work on the relationship, that sort of
thing, but it was abruptly dropped. I suspect Lansing helth
had a lot to do with that. There is an upscoming episode in
which Blaisdell has to leave town permanently because of
something in his past, a witness protection program or somthing
similar, which I bed bet was done to avoid killing off the
charcter and allow a way for Lansing to come back should he get
any better.
He was in a number of episodes, including the one aired this
past week.
About a year ago he also hosted one of the syndicated reality
show, this one about firefighters.
terry king
["Kung-Fu: The Legend Continues"]
While on the subject, any news on how they are going to
handle it on the show itself ??? It should make for an
interesting episode to see how Caine reacts to it. And
when does the new season for "Kung-Fu" begin ?? Or has
it already started. This is a show that has grown on
me. I never used to watch it, and chanced upon it by
accident. Now I am hooked.
I watched a few episodes early on only for Robert Lansing, then dropped it
until late this summer, when post-"Babylon 5" inertia kept me tuned in. :)
It's grown on me as well (Chris Potter in particular), and I've even taped
a few episodes to keep.
Watching the "vigilante" episode last week, I was shocked by Lansing's
appearance. Absolutely stunned. I do hope they managed to work out a way
of dealing with the situation for the series - Lansing's character is so
pivotal with respect to Peter Caine that I'd prefer to see them
interacting rather than the usual Off-Camera Incident(tm). Then again, the
stress and emotion of filming such a scene, given the circumstances, would
be extreme. It's hard enough *watching* the show, knowing how ill he must
have been when they were filming.
I have long enjoyed and admired Robert Lansing's work. He is greatly
missed.
Terry King | "got to kick at the darkness
prea...@mit.edu | til it bleeds daylight" - B. Cockburn
GSS d-- s+: g+ p0 !au a w+ v++(*) c++@ N+++ K--- M+$ -po+ Y+
t+ 5++ jx R G' tv+ b+++ !D B--- e+ u**(*) h+ f(+) n+ x+
Jeanne Powers
3rd or 4th new one. I think Robert Lansing has been in all of
them. This weeks episode is a followup of sorts to "Sunday at
the Hotel with George" with a return of the thief who was
trying to rob the hotel while Blaisdell's daughter was getting
married. Next week is the first of two followups to
"Dragonswing" with gueststars Patrick McNee and Robefrt
Vaughn. I also got huooked on the show by accident when
someone sent me a ape video of the 2 hour premiere.
I too have thought it very odd that NONE of the obits I've seen
have mentioned the KF role. IT's been pretty high profile.
Jeanne Powers
something in Blaisdell's past (I suspedct to do with his years
as an agent ) comes back to haunt him, and he is forced to
leave town permanently. I guess it's an old adversary and he
has to go into a Witness Protection Program or something. This
part is speculation. He does leave town, though, and isn't
supposed to come back-- I think that they knew RL wasn't going
to be able to work much longer and rather than kill off the
character off screen later or come up with flimsy excuses, they
wrote this nice way of haaving some closure, of saying good-bye
withoug making it too maudilin. David Carridine commented that
the producers had wanted to kill a character off, ut that he
had told them too many people were getting killed off in the
series (this was before I'd read the storyline about Lansing
but I suspect that it hwas his character._) Later in the same
interview he talked about how much he liked working with RL.
If you thought he looked bad in the recent episodes, you sould
have seen him in a couple of last season's. I was so shocked
and upset I couldn't tell you what the episode was, really, but
he looked terribly ill. He looks better in these, and his
voice is a bit stronger. I thought the way they've handled
this is a triblete (dart, tribute) to an actor who should be
allowed decent roles at the end of his career. They're still
letting him play Blaisedell as an action kind of guy.
terry king
jpo...@leo.vsla.edu writes:
>As to how the show is going to handle it, the storyline has
>something in Blaisdell's past (I suspedct to do with his years
>as an agent ) comes back to haunt him, and he is forced to
That makes sense - they've been dropping in too many references to his
past for it to be casual. I've had the definite feeling we're being
prepped for something big.
> [deletia] I thought the way they've handled
>this is a triblete (dart, tribute) to an actor who should be
>allowed decent roles at the end of his career. They're still
>letting him play Blaisedell as an action kind of guy.
And a *thinking* action kind of guy to boot. I'm glad they've put so much
thought and energy into coming up with a respectful solution. Thanks for
the info!
Terry King | "got to kick at the darkness
prea...@mit.edu | til it bleeds daylight" - B. Cockburn
GSS w+ v++(*) c++@ N+++ M+$ Y+ 5++ b+++ B--- e+ u**(*) xx
lis...@delphi.com
to the American Cancer Society in Mr. Lansing's name and would like to
invite all fans of this wonderful man to donate. Anyone interested can
send a donation to: Robert Lansing Memorial Fan Fund, P.O. Box 3341,
Enfield, CT 06083-3341. Please note that all donations must be in the
form of a check (money order okay, but must be good for 6 months, since
we plan on keeping donations open until mid January at the earliest, and
possibly longer. Checks MUST be made payble to: THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY.
If you require a receipt, enclose a note and the ACS should be able to supply
one. We will be collecting the checks, and passing them along to the Cancer
Society in one donation (so be advised the check may take a while to clear).
You may enclose a stamped self addressed envelope, if you require confirmation
that your donation has been received. For further info, please e-mail either
Swan...@aol.com or LAD...@aol.com. Thanks, Hope we can count on your
participation.