He’s even better in The Tarnished Angels 2 years later–he did his best work for Doug Sirk, who directed both films, but rarely was given such meaty roles. Another film of his well worth catching: Budd Boetticher’s Bullfighter and the Lady.
Aw, dammit. He was one of my favorites.
Come on people… OPTIMUS PRIME!!!
Paraphrased Robert Stack quote, in response to being asked if he thinks he’s a straight arrow: “I’m no Elliot Ness but I’m definately not Al Capone either.”
He was also Dr. Ellison in Joe Versus the Volcano, a sentimental favorite movie of mine. I too had no idea he was that old.
Odd bit of theatre trivia: His daughter Elizabeth played Christine to Robert Guillaumne’s Phantom in the Los Angeles production of “Phantom of the Opera.” The theatre was expecting a barage of letters about the casting. They got two. Theatre people are classy.
I have a CD single of several mixes of the title song.
Elliot Ness is dead.
Stack was more Elliot Ness than the real man to my generation.
May he rest in peace.
Peter Cullen is alive and well, and still doing the voice of Eeyore for Disney, last I heard.
Unsolved Mysteries has, from time to time, covered not only crimes, but “strange phenomena” topics, and I’ve long felt them to be the most serious-minded/least exploitive and gullible commercial TV show on such topics. I’ve heard it rumored that (the sadly departed) Mr. Stack bore some of the credit for this – refusing to be associated with anything too goofy or sensational. Do you have any idea whether this was true, bobkitty?
Or perhaps you were the voice of sanity all along… 
This may sound sacriligeous, but my favorite Robert Stack role was his self-parody in Baseketball.
Stack: Joeseph R. Cooper, perhaps the most beloved sports figure in America: vanished. According to Mrs. Ellsie Milcher, a neighbor who asked not to be identified, Joe Cooper left his house two weeks ago. According to Angelique Beaumont, a nosy bitch who lives up the street, he took with him only a toothbrush, a wallet, a steamer trunk, and a plane ticket to Calcutta. Police theorize several possible scenarios of what could have happened to the man affectionately know to the world as “Coop.”
Remer: Well, I don’t know where he is. For all I care, he could be hanging by his neck in his fucking closet.
Stack: Scenario number one: He’s hanging by his neck in his fucking closet.
Jenna: If you’re looking for Joe Cooper, I suggest you look wherever you find the most heinous, blatant, and vile exploitation of children on the planet.
Stack: Scenario number two: Coop went to Disneyland.
I saw him interviewed a few years ago and he described how he made a very bad decision when he made AIRPLANE.
He talked about how “these kids” kept calling his agent and him begging him to be in the movie. He finally gave in because “these kids” were so persistent, but refused their offer to get a percentage of the profits instead of his usual fee. He said he was just in Spielberg’s 1941 and here were “these kids” who wanted to make some crazy movie that he thought would bomb and he thought he would never get paid.
He said it was one of the biggest mistakes of his life as 1941 bombed and AIRPLANE would have made him millions.
But he was very gracious in the interview and said something like “it’s a crazy business”
I too grew up watching “The Untouchables.” He was a great Elliot Ness. Great voice.
Stack played a supporting role as a surgeon in a movie titled “Good Morning, Miss Dove”
He was a former student of the title character, and just a tad intimidated about performing some risky back surgery on her. But what I liked best was when he was describing to her the whole procedure, and then he mentioned waking up after the operation. She was no fool, and she looked him right in the eye, asking “Where will I wake up?” And he looked right at her and said flatly, “I don’t know”