Robert Stack

American actor Robert Stack (1919-2003) became a star as Deanne Durbin's young lover in Henry Koster's First love (1939). After the war, he had massive success with Douglas Sirk's drama Written on the Wind (1956) for which he was nominated for the Oscar. Internationally, he became famous as Elliot Ness in the TV series The Untouchables (1959-1963).


Vintage card. Photo: Warner Bros.


Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z, no. 1040. Photo: Universal. Deanna Durbin and Robert Stack in First Love (Henry Koster, 1939).


French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 478. Photo: Robert Stack in The Untouchables (1959-1963).


Vintage postcard.

Giving Deanna Durbin her first on-screen kiss

Robert Stack was born Charles Langford Modini Stack in Los Angeles, in 1919. His first name, selected by his mother, was changed to Robert by his father, a professional soldier. Robert was the grandson of Marina Perrini, an opera singer at the Scala theatre in Milan.

When little Robert was five, his father was transferred to the US embassy in France. Robert went to school in Paris and learnt French rather than his mother tongue. At 11, he returned to America, and at 13, he became a top athlete. 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. He played polo, saxophone and clarinet at Southern California University.

A broken wrist ended his career as a sports athlete. He took drama classes and made his stage debut at 20. He joined Universal Studios in 1939. In his first film, he starred as Deanne Durbin's young lover in First love (Henry Koster, 1939). He gave the teenage film star her first on-screen kiss. Around this "event," Universal producer Joe Pasternak provided a lot of publicity.

Stack established himself as an actor and the following year he appeared as a young Nazi in The Mortal Storm (Frank Borzage, 1940) alongside Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart. Stack was reunited with Durbin in Pasternak's musical Nice Girl? (William A. Seiter, 1941).

In 1942 he appeared as a Polish Air Force pilot in Ernst Lubitsch's comedy To Be or Not to Be (1942) starring Carole Lombard and Jack Benny. The plot concerns a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their acting abilities to fool the occupying troops. The film has become recognised as a comedy classic. Stack played another pilot in Eagle Squadron (Arthur Lubin, 1942), a huge hit. Then Stack's career was interrupted by military service. He did duty as a gunnery instructor in the United States Navy during World War II.


American Arcade card.


Dutch postcard. Deanna Durbin and Robert Stack in Nice Girl? (William A. Seiter, 1941).


American postcard by Godfrey Herbert, The World Explorer, 1941. Photo: Universal Pictures.


British postcard in the Colourgraph Series, London, no. C 401. Photo: Universal.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1 1435. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

Clean-cut Chicago police officer Eliot Ness

After World War II, Robert Stack continued his career. He returned to the screen with roles in films such as Fighter Squadron (Raoul Walsh, 1948) with Edmond O'Brien and A Date with Judy (Richard Thorpe, 1948) with Elizabeth Taylor.

In 1952 Stack starred in Bwana Devil (Arch Oboler, 1952), the first major film production in 3D. He played the second leading role alongside John Wayne in William A. Wellman's aviation drama It's Always Day (1954). Sam Fuller cast him in the lead of House of Bamboo (1955), shot in Japan.

Stack enjoyed one of his greatest successes with Douglas Sirk's drama Written in the Wind (1956). He received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the alcoholic playboy Kyle Hadley. From the late 1950s Stack turned increasingly to television. Internationally, Robert became famous with his role in the television series The Untouchables in which he starred as the clean-cut Chicago police officer Eliot Ness during the Prohibition era. Around 120 episodes were made between 1959 and 1963.

Other leading roles followed for Stack in the television series The Name of the Game (1968-1971), Most Wanted (1976) and Strike Force (1981). The multilingual Stack also took the lead role in the German-language film Die Hölle von Macao/The Hell of Macau (James Hill, 1966) alongside Elke Sommer, and he also appeared in French- or Italian-language productions.

With advancing age, Stack also frequently took on deadpan comedy roles that lampooned his dramatic on-screen persona in films such as 1941 (Steven Spielberg, 1979), Airplane! (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, 1980) or Caddyshack II (Allan Arkush, 1988). Between 1987 and 2002 he was the host of the television series Unsolved Mysteries, which was dedicated to mysterious murder cases. He worked as an actor until his death. In 1956 he married actress Rosemarie Bowe (1932-2019), to whom he was married until the end of his life. The couple had two children. Robert Stack died of pneumonia in 2003 in Beverly Hills at the age of 84 and was buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.


Big programme card by Cineteca Bologna for Il Cinema Ritrovato, XXXVI edizione, Selezione Cinema Ritrovato Young, 25 June 2022. Dorothy Malone and Robert Stack in Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk, 1956)


Vintage postcard. Abel Fernandez (left) as William Youngfellow, Nicholas Georgiade as Enrico Rossi, Robert Stack as Elliot Ness and Paul Picerni as Lee Hobson in the TV series The Untouchables (1959-1963).


Spanish postcard by Raker, no. 1148, 1965.


French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 485. Photo: Atlantic-Press. Publicity still for The Untouchables (1959-1963).


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 366. Robert Stack and Jean Gabin in Le Soleil des Voyous/Action Man (Jean Delannoy, 1967).


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin. Margaret Lee and Robert Stack in Le soleil des voyous/Action Man (Jean Delannoy, 1967).

Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.