"I never put my arms around John Gotti, Al Capone or Lucky Luciano." -- Robert Stack
Robert Langford Modini Stack (January 13, 1919 – May 14, 2003) was an American actor. In addition to acting in more than 40 films, he also appeared on the television series The Untouchables and later served as the host of Unsolved Mysteries.
"A great chef is an artist that I truly respect.""Also the pictures themselves give a visual to the audience tuning in, that makes them a very important part of law enforcement, or pulling families together.""I am very pro law enforcement.""I don't mind UFO's and ghost stories, it's just that I tend to give value to the storyteller rather than to the story itself.""I find these shows very touching sometimes.""I grew up in France, my first language was French, and I tend to gravitate towards French cooking.""I grew up years ago doing something that unfortunately doesn't hardly exist any more, a medium called Radio.""I learned early on, having known the most handsome, successful, Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, Robert Taylor, don't ever spend too much time looking in the mirror.""I play bad golf for good charities like the LA Police.""I think voiceover is an adjunct that actors have picked up that have given us some security.""I'm very proud this show has been accepted for this length of time.""I'm working 2 days a week right now, narration usually on Wed., and host on camera on Friday.""If you don't love it, you can't suffer thru all the despair that comes with it. Keep doing it because you love it.""In terms of segments, I think we've done 1,200.""In the Belgian air force a general supposedly saw a UFO, tracked it with his plane, photographed it with his wing cameras. And I believe it because I said to myself why would this person, not getting paid for this, do it unless it actually happened or he thought it happened.""It's a word called symbiotic, you send the messages and it comes back in return. Together, it's a wonderful thing, it's why television is so great and film can never reach.""Lucille was a darling lady. Probably the finest comedienne in the business.""Now on the other hand, if someone is selling a product, opening a dance studio, or has some other aim to help themselves, then I tend to look askance at some of these strange stories from outer space.""Our profession is very much like going to a cocktail party, you check out the guest list.""Someone once accused me of being like Eliot Ness. I sad no sir, I'm not E.N., but I can promise you that I'm not Al Capone!""That's why I never took this business too seriously, thinking I was something special, when I knew the truly great performers in motion pictures. pictures.""These are icons to be treasured.""They have a book of locations, and we would do a story about the Sahara Desert for instance, and in the California book you would find a comparable location, to match that location in California.""Thru the auspices of the viewers who become - I think this is an import - in a democracy, become a working unit with law enforcement against the criminals.""We did a show called The Orphan Train, during the depression, when families didn't have enough money to support their children, they'd put them on the train and hope someone would pick them up who had enough money to support their children.""Whether it s the country or city, I never liked the bad guy.""Yes, and many times it's frustrating, because I'm simply part of the show, and I'm not in the creative end of it, who goes out with detectives and tries to find these things out.""You have to love the doing of what you're doing and not wait for the phone to ring."
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 (née Wood), Stack's parents divorced when Stack was a year old, and his father, James Langford Stack, a wealthy advertising agency owner, died when Stack was nine. 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."
By the time he was twenty, Stack had achieved minor fame as a sportsman. He was an avid polo player and shooter. He and his brother won the International Outboard Motor Championships, in Venice, Italy; and, at age 16, he became a member of the All-American Skeet Team. He set two world records in skeet shooting and became National Champion. In 1971, he was inducted into the National Skeet Shooting Hall of Fame.
Stack was a regular columnist for Gun World magazine.
Stack took drama courses at the Bridgewater State College. His deep voice and good looks attracted producers in Hollywood. When Stack visited the lot 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, which teamed him with Deanna Durbin, was First Love, in 1939; this film was considered controversial at the time. He was the first actor to give Durbin an on-screen kiss.
Stack won acclaim for his next role, The Mortal Storm (1940). He played a young man who joins the Nazi party. This film was among the first to speak out against Adolf 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. Lombard was killed in a plane crash shortly before the film was released.
During World War II, Stack served as gunnery instructor in the United States Navy. He continued his film career and appeared in such films as Fighter Squadron (1948), A Date with Judy (1948) and Bwana Devil (1952). 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 which 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.
Stack depicted the crimefighting Eliot Ness in the television drama The Untouchables (1959—1963). The show portrayed the ongoing battle between gangsters and federal agents in a Prohibition-era Chicago. The show brought Stack a best actor Emmy Award in 1960.
Stack also starred in three other drama series, rotating the lead with Tony Franciosa and Gene Barry in the lavish The Name of the Game (1968—1971), Most Wanted, (1976) and Strike Force (1981). Interestingly, in The Name of the Game, he played a former federal agent turned true-crime journalist, evoking memories of his role as Ness. In both Most Wanted and Strike Force he played a tough, incorruptible police captain commanding an elite squad of special investigators, also evoking the Ness role. Eventually, he would reprise the role in a 1991 television movie, The Return of Eliot Ness.
Known for his steadfast, humorless demeanor, he made fun of his own persona in comedies such as 1941 (1979), Airplane! (1980), Caddyshack II (1988), Beavis and Butthead Do America (1996) and BASEketball (1998). He also provided the voice for the character Ultra Magnus in The Movie (1986).
Stack appeared in the television mini-series Hollywood Wives in 1985, and appeared in several episodes of the popular primetime soap opera Falcon Crest in 1986. Ironically, Stack's series "Strike Force" was scheduled opposite "Falcon Crest", where it quickly folded. He began hosting Unsolved Mysteries in 1987. He thought very highly of the interactive nature of the show, saying that it created a "symbiotic" relationship between viewer and program, and that the hotline was a great crime-solving tool. Unsolved Mysteries aired from 1987 to 2002, first as specials in 1987 (Stack did not host all the specials), then as a regular series on NBC (1988—1997), then on CBS (1997—1999) and finally on Lifetime (2001—2002). Stack served as the show's host during its entire original series run. Unsolved Mysteries is now hosted by Dennis Farina.
For a brief period between 2001—2002, Stack played the voice of Stoat Muldoon, a character featured on the computer-animated television series, Butt-Ugly Martians on Nickelodeon. The show was cancelled due to poor ratings.
