Robert Lansing (actor)

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Robert Lansing (actor)
Born	June 5, 1928(1928-06-05)
Died	October 23, 1994 (aged 66)

Robert Lansing (June 5, 1928 – October 23, 1994) was an American stage, film, and television actor.

Born Robert Howell Brown in San Diego, California, he reportedly took his stage name from the state capital of Michigan. As a young actor in New York City, he was hired to join a stock company in Michigan but was told he would first have to join Actors Equity Association. Equity would not allow him to join as "Robert Brown" since there was already another actor using that name. Since the stock company was based in Lansing, this became the actor's new surname.

Notable TV roles include portrayals of Gen. George Custer on Branded, Gen. Frank Savage on Twelve O'Clock High, Peter Murphy/Mark Wainwright on The Man Who Never Was, Lt. Jack Curtis on Automan and Control on The Equalizer.

Fans of Star Trek however remember him in particular for his portrayal of secret agent Gary Seven, a/k/a "Supervisor 194" in the episode "Assignment: Earth" (which was originally intended as the pilot for a spin-off series which NBC decided not to buy). He also had a notable appearance in The Twilight Zone episode, "The Long Morrow". His final role was that of "Paul Blaisdell" on the series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. He had also been in the late-Fifties sci-fi film "The 4-D Man" (which included a young Patty Duke.)

Lansing had a son from his marriage to actress Emily McLaughlin, which ended in divorce. He went on to marry Gari Hardy, but this marriage ended in divorce as well, although it produced another child for Lansing. He married, lastly, in 1981 to Anne Pivar. They remained together until Lansing's death in 1994, aged 66 from lung cancer. He was interred in Union Field Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens, New York.