He worked as an aerial gunnery instructor and rose to the rank of lieutenant. World War II ĭuring World War II, Stack served as an officer in the United States Navy. He then made a Western, Men of Texas (1942). Stack played another pilot in Eagle Squadron (1942), a huge hit. Lombard was killed in a plane crash shortly before the film was released. Stack admitted he was terrified going into this role, but he credited Lombard, whom he had known personally for several years, with giving him many tips on acting and with being his mentor. United Artists borrowed him to play a Polish Air Force pilot in To Be or Not To Be (1942), alongside Jack Benny and Carole Lombard. Stack then starred in a Western, Badlands of Dakota (1942), co-starring Richard Dix and Frances Farmer. Stack was reunited with Durbin in Pasternak's Nice Girl? (1941). He played a young man who joins the Nazi party.īack at Universal, Stack was in Pasternak's A Little Bit of Heaven (1940), starring Gloria Jean, who was that studio's back-up for Deanna Durbin. Stack won critical acclaim for his next role, The Mortal Storm (1940) starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart, and directed by Frank Borzage at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This film was considered controversial at the time, as he was the first actor to give Durbin an on-screen kiss. Stack's first film, which teamed him with Deanna Durbin, was First Love (1939), produced by Pasternak. 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. When Stack visited the lot of Universal Studios at age 20, producer Joe Pasternak offered him an opportunity to enter the business. His deep voice and good looks attracted the attention of producers in Hollywood. Stack took drama courses at Bridgewater State University, a mid-sized liberal-arts school located 25 miles southeast of Boston. In 1962, Stack received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. The Piikani Nation of the Blackfoot Confederacy, which was known as the Peigan Nation before the 1990s, honored him by inducting him into their chieftainship in 1953 (July 2, 1953, Newspaper) as Chief Crow Flag. In 1971, he was inducted into the National Skeet Shooting Hall of Fame. He set two world records in skeet shooting and became national champion. His brother and he won the International Outboard Motor Championships, in Venice, Italy, and at age 16, he became a member of the All-American Skeet Team. ![]() īy the time he was 20, Stack had achieved minor fame as a sportsman. Stack took some drama courses at the University of Southern California, where he played on the polo team. His maternal grandfather, opera singer Charles Wood, studied voice in Italy and performed there under the name "Carlo Modini." Stack had another opera-singer relative: American baritone Richard Bonelli (born George Richard Bunn), who was his uncle. When he collaborated with Mark Evans on his autobiography, Straight Shooting, he included a picture of himself and his mother that he captioned "Me and my best girl". He always spoke of his mother with the greatest respect and love. His father, James Langford Stack, a wealthy advertising agency owner, later remarried his mother, but died when Stack was 10. His parents divorced when he was a year old, and he was raised by his mother, Mary Elizabeth (née Wood). He spent his early childhood in Adria and Rome, becoming fluent in French and Italian at an early age, and did not learn English until returning to Los Angeles when he was seven. He was born Charles Langford Modini Stack in Los Angeles, California, but his first name, selected by his mother, was changed to Robert by his father. Later in his career, Stack was known for his deadpan comedy roles that lampooned his dramatic on-screen persona, most notably as Capt. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film Written on the Wind (1956). He starred in the highly successful ABC television series The Untouchables (1959–1963), for which he won the 1960 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Series, and later hosted/narrated the true-crime series Unsolved Mysteries (1987–2002). Known for his deep voice and commanding presence, he appeared in over forty feature films. Robert Stack (born Charles Langford Modini Stack Janu– May 14, 2003) was an American actor.
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