Robert Stachel
Robert Stachel is an actor and writer, known for Dorfers Donnerstalk (2004), Razzennest (2022) and Je Suis Auto (2022).
Robert Stack
"Straight Shooting" -- whether skeet shooting, or portraying Eliot Ness -- Robert Stack always told it like it was, and shot straight. Born in Los Angeles, California, the younger son of James Langford Stack (1860-1928), the owner of an advertising agency, and Mary Elizabeth Modini Wood (1891-1975), he was originally named Charles Langford Modini Stack at birth by his mother but his father soon changed the name to Robert Langford Stack. (The name Robert reportedly referred to no one in particular.) His elder brother and only sibling was James Langford Stack (1916-2006). His parents had divorced when he was one-year-old, and his mother took him to Europe when he was three. He did not learn to speak English until he was six years old. His brother, James Langford Stack Jr., stayed in the United States with their father. Young Robert spoke fluent Italian and French, but had to learn English when they returned to Los Angeles. His mother and father remarried in 1928. Robert took drama courses at USC. He was not interested in team sports, so he took up skeet shooting. In 1935, he came in second in the National Skeet Shooting Championship (held in Cleveland) and, in 1936, his 5-man team broke the standing record at the National Skeet Championships (held in St. Louis). Stack arrived at Universal City Studios in 1939, when the movie studio (once riding high on the successes of movies such as Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931)) was in financial trouble, and looking for a superstar. That superstar was Deanna Durbin (acquired from MGM), and Stack made his screen debut as her lover in First Love (1939). At first, he did not want to listen to the makeup man who had told him, "no blond has ever made it as a leading man", and insisted on dyeing his hair black and uncurling it. That makeup man was genius and Oscar winner, Jack P. Pierce (who had done all the monsters for Universal), and Stack became a matinee idol, overnight. After two more movies, he was teamed with Durbin again, in Nice Girl? (1941). he was now a bona-fide star, but Universal was still only paying him $150 a week. For the next 10 years, Stack did Westerns, war movies and romantic comedies. Stack had fond memories for Bullfighter and the Lady (1951), a movie produced by his friend, John Wayne, which meant 12 weeks filming in sunny Mexico. The movie had a great script; unfortunately, two bullfighters were gored while filming. There were several weeks of delays, they could not get a crew or a sound stage, until they realized that, in Mexico, it is necessary to bribe the local union; some money was passed and filming started, immediately. There were wild times, and lots of tequila. Robert became a local legend; when some Mexicans asked him what he did in the War, Robert said: "I taught machine gun." The rumor spread: "Roberto teaches chingas!" (that's Spanish for "hookers"). In 1952, he made movie history (much like Al Jolson had done in 1927, being in the first "talkie") -- he starred in Bwana Devil (1952), the first 3-D movie. This gave startling effects to the story, which was based on real-life lion attacks in Africa. Stack attended the premiere, and recalled people's reactions to the 3-D lion scenes: "People in the audience jumped out of their seats, some even fainted." The movie broke box office records, and immediately started the demand to film more movies in 3-D (such as House of Wax (1953)). Around 1955, Robert (Hollywood's most eligible bachelor) was introduced to Rosemarie Bowe, by mutual agent Bill Shiffrin. Rosemarie had been under contract to MGM and Columbia, making such movies as Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) and The Golden Mistress (1954). The couple wed two years later and had two children: Elizabeth Stack and Charles Stack. The former perennial bachelor found out he liked being married and being a father. His onscreen fame had grown and, for Written on the Wind (1956), he received an Academy Award nomination. Unfortunately, this did not sit well with 20th-Century Fox, which had him under contract, and had lent him to Universal for this picture. His contract with Fox came to an end. Stack made the transition to the new medium that was sweeping the country: television. He delivered breakout performances in his signature role as T-man (Treasury agent) Eliot Ness on The Untouchables (1959) which, after the pilot, ran for four seasons (118 episodes). And there was also the television movie, The Scarface Mob (1959). There were some funny behind-the-scenes anecdotes, such as this one: there is no scene which stood out more as the most potentially evil, and risky in terms of audience acceptance, as the "bacio di morte" ("kiss of death"), the Sicilian gesture whenever a Capo (Neville Brand) kissed a Mafia soldier (Frank DeKova) to send him out as an executioner. The two actors were nervous enough about this scene (two guys had never kissed on television before), but then some crewman decided to be a prankster and told each star, in private, just before filming, "look out -- your co-star likes kissing guys" (a complete deception, of course). There were some unfortunate anecdotes: Joseph Wiseman was a fine actor, but trained to work on the New York stage with props; he was not accustomed to real Hollywood sets. In a 1960 episode of "The Untouchables", Stack was supposed to take an axe and smash up a brewery. He hit a real pipe, the axe ricocheted off the metal, and cut through his Achilles tendon. "I never felt so sorry for anyone in my life", Stack commented. They wrote a role for Wiseman as a crippled, renegade chemist a few weeks later in "The Antidote", which Stack noted, "was one of our half-dozen top shows". Stack went on to do television series, such as The Name of the Game (1968) alternating lead with Gene Barry and Anthony Franciosa, then later Most Wanted (1976), and he pleasantly surprised everyone with his flair for comedies in movies like 1941 (1979) and Airplane! (1980). Stack hosted Unsolved Mysteries (1987) and did more zany humor in Caddyshack II (1988), Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) and BASEketball (1998). He also provided the voice of the character Ultra Magnus in The Transformers: The Movie (1986). He portrayed the no-nonsense G-man Ness again in The Return of Eliot Ness (1991). Stack was being treated for prostate cancer when he died at age 84 on May 14, 2003 at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, after suffering a heart attack.
Robert Stadlober
Robert Stadlober was born on August 3, 1982 in Friesach, Carinthia, Austria. He is an actor and producer, known for Sommersturm (2004), Enemy at the Gates (2001) and Engel & Joe (2001).
Robert Stanton
Robert Stanton was born on March 8, 1963 in San Antonio, Texas, USA. He is known for Mr. Mercedes (2017), Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) and Dennis the Menace (1993).
Robert Starr
Robert Starr is known for Cellblock Sisters: Banished Behind Bars (1995), Happy Together Now (2006) and His Secret Past (2016).
Robert Steffey
Robert Steffey is known for Life of Crime 1984-2020 (2021).
Robert Steiner
Robert Steiner is known for Devils (2020), The Penitent (2023) and Leonora Addio (2022).
Robert Stephens
Sir Robert's career fell into two distinct parts. In the '60s, he was widely regarded as the heir of Laurence Olivier. But, after his departure from Britain's National Theatre in 1970 and the breakup of his marriage with Maggie Smith three years later, he suffered a slump made worse by heavy drinking. In the '90s, the Royal Shakespeare Company invited him to play first Falstaff in "Henry IV" and then Lear in "King Lear", and this re-established Stephens's career. He was knighted early in 1995.
Robert Stephens
Robert Stephens is an actor and writer, known for On the Bright Side (2016), The Brat Cave (2015) and The State of Us (2013).
Robert Sterling
Born William Sterling Hart in 1917, the Pennsylvania-born actor was the son of a professional ballplayer. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, then worked as a clothing salesman before deciding to give acting a try. He certainly had the requisite dreamboat looks as Columbia signed this blue-eyed, black-haired, extraordinary-looking specimen in 1939. Billed as Robert Sterling as not to confuse anyone with the silent screen legend William S. Hart, he was groomed in two-reeled shorts and bit parts in minor features but nothing much happened. In 1941, MGM took him on as a possible replacement for another gorgeous Robert - Robert Taylor - who was about to join the Navy. Sterling married actress Ann Sothern in 1943 after meeting her on the set of Ringside Maisie (1941), one of several programmers in Sothern's "Maisie" series. They had a daughter, Patricia, who later became the actress Tisha Sterling. While at MGM he appeared in slick, "nice guy" second leads in such "A" films as Greta Garbo's swan song Two-Faced Woman (1941), Johnny Eager (1941) and Somewhere I'll Find You (1942), the last two starring Lana Turner, while starring in "B" rankers that included The Get-Away (1941) and This Time for Keeps (1942). Sterling himself would serve during WWII with the Army Air Force as a pilot instructor and was stationed at one point in London. His movie persona suggested more than a trace of the dapper playboy, and his carefree style and tone easily had Gig Young coming to mind. Robert's film career, however, lost major momentum in post-war years with rather pat, colorless parts in such action dramas as Bunco Squad (1950) and Column South (1953), and even in the splashy musical Show Boat (1951). Divorced from Ms. Sothern in 1949, he was introduced to actress Anne Jeffreys while making his Broadway debut in "Gramercy Ghost" down the block from where she was starring in the musical "Kiss Me Kate." The couple wed in 1951 and produced three sons. Robert and Anne (who was also having a down time in films by this point) decided to revive their faltering careers with a singing club act. Not only was their pairing a success, it led directly to their starring roles in the classic Topper (1953) comedy series on TV. As wry, debonair ghost George Kirby, he and Anne (playing his equally "spirited" wife Marion) expertly took over the jet-setting roles established on film by Cary Grant and Constance Bennett. The couple soon became household names engaging audiences week after week with their delightfully capricious antics and disappearing acts, much to the chagrin of bemused mortal Leo G. Carroll in the title role. Robert and Anne continued to perform together on stage ("Bells Are Ringing") and even top-lined another sitcom Love That Jill (1958) which lasted only a few months. After another failed series Ichabod and Me (1961), which was a solo effort, and a couple of pedestrian parts in the movies Return to Peyton Place (1961) (as Dr. Michael Rossi) (1961), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) and A Global Affair (1964), Robert slacked off considerably. He made only one return to Broadway with the 1961 light comedy "Roman Candle" co-starring Inger Stevens and Julia Meade. The show folded quickly. By the late 1960s, Sterling was pretty much out of the picture. He entered into what would become a lucrative computer business, and kept a decidedly low profile, prompting many fans to think that the ever-busy Anne Jeffreys was a widow! In truth, the couple made sporadic appearances together in the 70s and 80s in episodes of "Murder, She Wrote" and "Hotel," among others. During the last decade of his life, Sterling suffered greatly from shingles, which kept him confined to a bed for the most part. The man who was once deemed "the ghost with the most" died in his Brentwood home of natural causes at the age of 88.