Forgotten Hollywood

Manny P. here…

   Robert Vaughn was an actor noted for his stage, film, and television work. His best-known small screen role was as the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. In cinema, he portrayed the quiet, skittish gunman in The Magnificent Seven, and a war veteran in The Young Philadelphians, which earned him a 1960 Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.    ROBERT VAUGHN —–>

   Vaughn made his television debut in 1955 on Medic, the first of more than two hundred episodic roles. His first big screen appearance was as an uncredited extra in The Ten Commandments. He was signed to a contract with Burt Lancaster’s film company and was to have played the Steve Dallas role in Sweet Smell of Success, but was drafted before he could begin the film. Vaughn served in the United States Army, and became a drill sergeant.

   in Hollywood, he had parts in The Glass Bottom Boat, The Bridge at Remagen, Bullitt, If It’s Tuesday This Must Be Belgium, The Towering Inferno, S.O.B., Superman III, and The Delta Force. On television, he also guest-starred in Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, Father Knows Best, Zorro, Wagon Train, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Bonanza, Thriller, The Untouchables, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Virginian, Hawaii Five-0, Laramie, Trapper John M.D., Murder She Wrote, The A-Team, Diagnosis Murder, Columbo, Law & Order, and of course, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.

   The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was part of an avalanche of secret agent shows (I Spy, Mission: Impossible, The Saint, The Avengers), spoofs (Get Smart), flicks (The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, Our Man Flint), and even songs (Secret Agent Man) inspired by the James Bond films.

   Vaughn’s most famous role spawned the spinoff series, merchandising, overseas theatrical motion pictures of re-edited episodes, and a sequel, The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. – The Fifteen-Year-Later Affair. The original show achieved such cultural prominence that costumes, props, documents, and a video clip are in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library’s exhibit on spies and counterspies. Similar U.N.C.L.E. exhibits are in the museums of the Central Intelligence Agency and other agencies and organizations gathering intelligence.

   Vaughn was the first popular American actor to take a public stand against the Vietnam War and was active in Another Mother for Peace; and, with Van Dyke and Carl Reiner, was a co-founder of Dissenting Democrats. Early in the 1968 presidential election, they supported the candidacy of Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy. became a friend of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and campaigned for him during his 1968 run for the presidency. When Kennedy was assassinated that year, Vaughn was so upset that he moved to England for five years. Continuing his higher education during his acting career, Vaughn earned a Ph.D in communications from the University of Southern California in 1970. Two years later, he published his dissertation as the book, Only Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting.

   The charismatic Robert Vaughn was 83.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Friday, November 11th, 2016 at 11:31 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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