Robert Vaughn

About 4 pages (1,066 words)

Know this topic well? Help others and get FREE products!

For the similarly named author, see Robert Vaughan (author).

Robert Vaughn

Birth name

Robert Francis Vaughn

Born

November 22 1932 (age 75)
New York City, New York

Spouse(s)

Linda Staab (1974-)

Awards
Academy Awards
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor 1959 The Young Philadelphians
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Supporting Actor - Drama Series 1978

Robert Francis Vaughn (born November 22, 1932) is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. He is perhaps best known as suave spy Napoleon Solo in the popular 1960s TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and his villainous performance as Ross Webster in Superman III, and more recently the hit British drama, Hustle, while continuing to be a popular television actor.

1 Biography
2 Credits
3 References
4 External links

Biography

Early life

Vaughn was born in New York City to showbiz parents, Gerald Walter Vaughn, a radio actor, and Marcella Frances (Gaudel), a stage actress.^[1] He was raised in an Irish Catholic family.^[2] His parents separated when he was very young, with Vaughn and his mother relocating to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he attended North High School and later enrolled in the University of Minnesota as a journalism major. He quit after a year and moved to Los Angeles, California. There he majored in theater at Los Angeles State College (now Cal. State Univ., Los Angeles), where he earned his Master's degree. Continuing his higher education even through his successful acting career, Vaughn earned a Ph.D. in communications from the University of Southern California, published his dissertation as the book Only Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting in 1972.

Professional career

Vaughn made his television debut on the "Black Friday" episode of the TV series Medic (airdate November 21, 1955), the first of more than 200 episodic roles by mid-2000. His first movie appearance was as an uncredited extra in The Ten Commandments (1956), playing a golden calf idolator and also visible in a scene in a chariot behind that of Yul Brynner. Vaughn's first credited movie role came the following year in the Western Hell's Crossroads (1957), in which he played the real-life Bob Ford, the killer of outlaw Jesse James. Vaughn's first notable appearance was in The Young Philadelphians (1959) for which he was nominated for a Supporting Actor Academy Award. Next he appeared as gunman Lee in The Magnificent Seven (1960), a role he essentially reprised 20 years later in Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), both films being adaptations of filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese samurai epic, Seven Samurai. Vaughn played a different role, Judge Oren Travis, on the 1998-2000 syndicated TV series The Magnificent Seven. Vaughn is the only surviving member of the title cast of the original 1960 film other than Eli Wallach. In the 1963-1964 season, Vaughn appeared in The Lieutenant as Captain Raymond Rambridge alongside Gary Lockwood. His dissatisfaction with that role led him to request a series program of his own. When that request was granted, it made television history.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and other programs

From 1964-1968, he starred as "Napoleon Solo", the eponymous man from U.N.C.L.E. ("United Network Command for Law and Enforcement"), along with British co-star David McCallum. Following the end of that hit series — which had spawned a spin-off show, large amounts of merchandising, and overseas theatrical movies of reedited episodes — Vaughn continued to act in television and in mostly B movies. He starred in two seasons of the popular Gerry Anderson detective series The Protectors in the early 1970s, and a decade later co-starred with George Peppard in the final season of The A-Team. In 2004, after a string of guest starring roles on series such as Law & Order, in which he had a recurring role during season eight, Vaughn experienced a career resurgence when he began co-starring in the BBC series Hustle, made for the UK's BBC One, also broadcast in the United States on the cable network AMC. In the series Vaughn plays elder-statesman con artist Albert Stroller, a father figure to a group of younger grifters. In September 2006 he guest starred in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. As of 2007, Vaughn remains a pitchman for personal injury attorneys in television commercials aired throughout the U.S.A.

Personal life

Vaughn married actress Linda Staab in 1974. They have adopted two children, Cassidy (b. 1975) and Caitlin (b. 1981). They also have a Labrador Retriever mix named Sam (named after the beer, Sam Adams), which was adopted after the death of their previous dog, a Bichon Frisé named Peaches.^[3]