Robert Lansing (actor)

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Robert Lansing (R) as Gary Seven with Teri Garr

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

Born Robert Howell Brown in San Diego, California, Lansing borrowed 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, 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" playing "Commander Douglas Stansfield", alongside Mariette Hartley. It is notable about the actors & actresses, such as Lansing, Hartley, William Shatner, and Leonard Nimoy, who had roles in both Star Trek and The Twilight Zone, and (possibly) on The Outer Limits. His final role was that of Paul Blaisdell on the TV series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.

Lansing died in 1994 of lung cancer in New York City at the age of 66. Robert Lansing is interred in Union Field Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens, New York.