Robert Lansing

Robert Lansing (June 5, 1928 – October 23, 1994) was an American stage, film, and television actor. Born in San Diego, California, as Robert Howell Brown, he reportedly chose his acting surname from the state capital of Michigan. While working as a young actor in New York City, he was hired to join a stock company in Michigan but was required to first join the Actors Equity Association. Equity would not allow him to join as "Robert Brown" because another actor was already using that name. Since the stock company was based in Lansing, he adopted that as his new surname.

During the 1961–1962 television season, Lansing portrayed Detective Steve Carella on NBC's *87th Precinct*, a series based on the Ed McBain detective novels. His co-stars included Gena Rowlands, Ron Harper, Gregory Walcott, and Norman Fell. In 1961, he played the outlaw Frank Dalton in a two-part episode of NBC's *The Outlaws* with Barton MacLane. On film, he starred in the late-1950s sci-fi film *4D Man*, which featured a young Patty Duke.

Lansing also appeared in several other notable television roles, including a portrayal of an alcoholic college professor in ABC's drama *Channing*, General George Custer on Chuck Connors's NBC series *Branded*, and Gil Green in the 1963 episode "Fear Begins at Forty" of the NBC medical drama *The Eleventh Hour*. He appeared in a 1965 episode of *I Spy*, in a 1965 episode of *Gunsmoke* as a bounty hunter, as a parole officer in the 1968 episode "A Time to Love - A Time to Cry" of *The Mod Squad*, and as intergalactic secret agent Gary Seven in the 1968 *Star Trek* episode "Assignment: Earth." He portrayed General Frank Savage on *Twelve O'Clock High*, an international secret agent in *The Man Who Never Was*, Lt. Jack Curtis on *Automan*, and Control on *The Equalizer*. He also appeared in the *Twilight Zone* episode "The Long Morrow." His final role was as "Paul Blaisdell" on *Kung Fu: The Legend Continues*.