Cast & creator

Robert Lansing

1928-06-05 (died at 66) San Diego, California, USAIMDb

Best known for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Law & Order, Bonanza

Robert Lansing (June 5, 1928 - October 23, 1994) was an American stage, film and television actor. Born in San Diego, California as Robert Howell Brown, he reportedly took his acting surname 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. In the 1961–1962 television season, Lansing appeared as Detective Steve Carella on NBC's 87th Precinct series based on the Ed McBain detective novels. His costars were Gena Rowlands, Ron Harper, Gregory Walcott, and Norman Fell. In 1961, he played the outlaw Frank Dalton in a two-part episode of NBC's The Outlaws with Barton MacLane. On film, Lansing starred in the late-1950s sci-fi film 4D Man (which included a young Patty Duke). Other notable television roles include portrayals of an alcoholic college professor in ABC's drama Channing, as General George Custer on Chuck Connors's NBC series Branded, as Gil Green in the 1963 episode "Fear Begins at Forty" on the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour, in a 1965 episode of I Spy, 1965 Gunsmoke as a bounty hunter, as a parole officer in a 1968 episode (A Time To Love - A Time To Cry) of The Mod Squad and as intergalactic secret agent Gary Seven in a 1968 episode "Assignment: Earth" on Star Trek. He appeared as General Frank Savage on Twelve O'Clock High, as an international secret agent in The Man Who Never Was, as Lt. Jack Curtis on Automan and as Control on The Equalizer. He made a notable appearance on The Twilight Zone episode "The Long Morrow". His final role was that of "Paul Blaisdell" on Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.

Also known as: Robert Howell Brown

Movies

film credits

Series

television credits

Career

1953–1993 · acting roles

Credit score

6.6

average across scored titles

Signature credits

Known for

Ordered by popularity

★ 7.6

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Self · 1962

★ 7.3

Law & Order

COO Peter O'Farrell · 1990

★ 7.5

Bonanza

Jed Trask · 1959

★ 7.5

Bonanza

Gunny O'Riley · 1959

★ 7.5

Bonanza

John Dundee · 1959

Across film & television

Filmography (82)

Showing 82 of 82 credits

Robert Lansing

Known for

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Law & Order

Bonanza

Bonanza

Bonanza

Filmography (82)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Law & Order

Bonanza

Bonanza

Bonanza

Great Performances

Murder, She Wrote

Murder, She Wrote

Star Trek

American Experience

Mannix

Mannix

The Virginian

The Virginian

The Virginian

The Twilight Zone

The Donna Reed Show

Simon & Simon

Hotel

Daniel Boone

The Equalizer

The Name of the Game

The Doris Day Show

The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents

The Rookies

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke

The High Chaparral

Thriller

Kung Fu: The Legend Continues

Young Doctor Malone

One Step Beyond

The Mod Squad

Monsters

12 O'Clock High

Branded

Checkmate

Outlaws

The Tall Man

87th Precinct

Sam Benedict

You Are There

The Loner

Cimarron Strip

Automan

The Monroes

Journey to the Unknown

The Evil Touch

Saints and Sinners

The DuPont Show of the Week

General Electric Theater

The Dow Hour of Great Mysteries

Empire of the Ants

The Man Who Never Was

A Gathering of Eagles

Under the Yum Yum Tree

The Grissom Gang

The Nest

Namu, the Killer Whale

False Face

The Fatal Impulse

Wild in the Sky

Crime Club

It Takes All Kinds

The Equalizer - The Movie: Blood & Wine

An Eye for an Eye

S+H+E: Security Hazards Expert

Memories of Manon

Island Claws

The Astronaut

Killer by Night

Danger Has Two Faces