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Vale: Robert Vaughn

Robert Vaughn, best known for The Man From U.N.C.L.E and Hustle, has died aged 83.

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Robert Vaughn, best known for The Man From U.N.C.L.E and Hustle, has died aged 83.

He died after a brief battle with acute leukemia.

From 1964 to 1968 he played Solo, the dapper “enforcement agent” in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” alongside David McCallum as fellow secret agent, the Russian Illya Kuryakin.

At the peak of the show’s success, Vaughn and McCallum received some 70,000 fan letters a month and were regularly featured in teen fan magazines. Even The Beatles asked to meet Vaughn and McCallum on their 1965 visit to Los Angeles.

He went on to star as a high-level crime fighter in the 1972-73 British TV series The Protectors. Three decades later, he starred in Hustle, the UK series about a team of con men.

He won a supporting actor Emmy for 1977 TV mini-series Washington: Behind Closed Doors and a nomination playing President Woodrow Wilson in the 1979 mini-series Backstairs at the White House.

Other TV credits included The Magnificent Seven, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, 77 Sunset Strip, The Untouchables, The Virginian, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Laramie, Zorro, The Rifleman, Dragnet, Gunsmoke, The Sentinel, Murder She Wrote, The A Team, Hotel, The Love Boat, Trapper John MD, Law and Order, Diagnosis Murder, Walker Texas Ranger, Escape to Witch Mountain, Coronation Street, and the 1994 Australian miniseries Tracks of Glory.

Film credits included The Young Philadelphians, The Ten Commandments, Bullitt, The Towering Inferno, S.O.B. and Superman III.

Source: LA Times

8 Responses

  1. It seemed like the Man From UNCLE double act would live forever, but now David McCallum flies solo (and remains a busy actor with NCIS); an amazing run for both actors.

  2. I’ve recenty completed a watch through of the entire Protectors series, it’s a shame that one isn’t as well known as it’s great fun and Vaughn is excellent in it. The 1960s locations throughout Europe are fantastic too.

  3. (I know this is a TV blog, so I’m not complaining about the article here, but …) I find it odd that almost all the coverage of his passing has mentioned the TV series The Magnificent Seven, but failed to mention the movie.

    Arguably, it was the movie that was responsible for his breakthrough from jobbing actor to lead actor.

    1. He appeared in both series and film, so I allocated it to series rather than double up. LA Times article didn’t note a breakthrough role but his Oscar nod for Young Philadelphians a year earlier would probably suggest that one. Try comments there?

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