Robert Stack
Charles Langford Modini Stack (
January 13,
1919 –
May 14,
2003), better known as
Robert Stack, was an
American stage and
movie actor. He was perhaps best known for his
film acting as well as his role in the
television series
The Untouchables and as host of
Unsolved Mysteries.
Early life
Stack was born in
Los Angeles, California but spent his early childhood growing up in
Europe. He became fluent in
French and
Italian at an early age, but he did not learn English until returning to Los Angeles. Raised by his mother, Mary Elizabeth Wood, Stack's parents divorced when Stack was 1 and his father, James Langford Stack, a wealthy advertising agency owner, died when Stack was 9. Stack always spoke of his mother with the greatest respect and love. When he wrote his autobiography
Straight Shooting, he included a picture of him and his mother. He captioned it "Me and my best girl." Stack's grandfather was an opera singer from Illinois named Charles Wood, who went by the name Modini.
Career
Stack took drama courses at the
University of Southern California. His deep voice and good looks attracted producers in
Hollywood. When Stack visited the set of
Universal Studios at age 20, producer
Joe Pasternak offered him an opportunity to enter the business. Recalled Stack, "He said 'How'd you like to be in pictures? We'll make a test with
Helen Parrish, a little love scene.' Helen Parrish was a beautiful girl. 'Gee, that sounds keen,' I told him. I got the part." Stack's first film teamed him with popular starlet
Deanna Durbin. He was the first actor to give Durbin an on screen kiss. As hard to believe today, this film was considered controversial at the time. Stack won acclaim for his next role, the 1940 film
The Mortal Storm. He played a young man who joins the
Nazi party. This film was one of the first to speak out against Hitler. As a youth, Stack admitted that he had a crush on
Carole Lombard and in 1942 he appeared with her in
To Be or Not To Be. He admitted he was terrified going into this role. He credits Lombard with giving him many tips on acting and with being his mentor. Sadly, Lombard was killed in a plane crash shortly after the film was released.
During
World War II, Stack served as gunnery instructor in the
United States Navy. He continued his movie career and appeared in such films as
Fighter Squadron (1948),
A Date With Judy (1948) and
The Bullfighter And The Lady (1951). In 1954, Stack was given his most important movie role. He appeared opposite John Wayne in
The High and the Mighty. Stack played the pilot of an airliner who comes apart under stress after the airliner encounters engine trouble.
In
1957, Stack was nominated for an
Academy Award for
Best Supporting Actor for
Written on the Wind. He starred in more than 40 films, including
The Iron Glove (1954);
Good Morning Miss Dove (1955);
John Paul Jones (1959); and
Is Paris Burning? (1966). Known for his steadfast, humorless demeanor, he made fun of his own persona in comedies such as
1941 (1979),
Airplane! (1980),
Caddyshack II (1988), the animated
Beavis and Butt-head Do America (1996), and
BASEketball (1998). He also provided the voice for the character Ultra Magnus in
Transformers: The Movie (1986).
Stack depicted the crimefighting
Eliot Ness in the television drama
The Untouchables from
1959 to
1963. The show portrayed the ongoing battle between gangsters and federal agents in a
Prohibition-era
Chicago. His role on the show brought Stack a best actor
Emmy Award in
1960. The Untouchables was one of the first "realistic" cop shows much like Dragnet. Stack also starred in three other series, rotating the lead with
Tony Franciosa and
Gene Barry in the lavish
The Name of the Game (TV series) (1968-1971),
Most Wanted, (1976) and
Strike Force (1981).
He began hosting
Unsolved Mysteries in 1988, where his serious, ominous voice and stoic facial expressions lent an authentic gravitas to the program's dark subject matter. Reportedly, he had an enormous interest in the unexplainedâ€"
psychic phenomena,
ghosts and the likeâ€"because he himself had had an unusual experience of this nature. However, he also said that he valued the storytellers above the stories themselves and did not necessarily believe every case of this nature that he presented. He thought very highly of the interactive nature of the show, saying that it created a "symbiotic" between viewer and program, and that the hotline was a great crime-solving tool.
Private life
Stack had undergone radiation therapy for
prostate cancer in October
2002. He died of
heart failure at his home in Los Angeles in May, 2003, aged 84. He was survived by his wife of 42 years, Rosemarie, and their two children, Elizabeth and Charles.
He is interred in the
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in
Westwood, California.
* Straight Shooting (with Mark Evans)(1980) ISBN 0026133202
*
Robert Stack at
NNDB
