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(Robert H. Brown 1928–1994). American actor.
Given this obvious talent for playing criminals and monsters, one finds it
hard to understand why he was regarded in the 1960s as an ideal hero
for television series. Leading men in science fiction film are often
allowed (or asked) to appear cold and unemotional, but they must manage
to convey that there is a warm, caring person beneath their facades
(like Michael RENNIE or Leonard NIMOY); Lansing seemed cold on both
the inside and outside. Thus, when he appeared in The
Twilight Zone episode, "The Long Morrow," as an astronaut
about to undergo cryonic suspension during a long space voyage, he
was not quite convincing in his willingness to forego the process
for his one true love; Lansing came across as someone who would enjoy
being cold. So it was that after one season of starring in Twelve O'Clock High (1964-65), the intensely
unlikable Lansing suffered the unprecedented humiliation of being
removed from a popular series, replaced by the more accessible Paul
Burke; as a consolation prize, he was cast in another, short-lived
series, the lame spy drama The
Man Who Never Was (1966). Then, Gene RODDENBERRY,
oblivious as usual to the necessary qualities of leading men, for
some reason imagined he would be the perfect hero for his projected
second television series, Assignment:
Earth, whose pilot was an episode of Star Trek with that title. Like other Roddenberry pilots, it
is cleverly developed, has a good supporting cast (young Teri Garr),
and is doomed by its leaden and unsympathetic star.
After
he stoically soldiered on into the 1970s, enduring an episode of The Flying Nun and the soapy television
movie The Astronaut, a turning
point of sorts came when he appeared in Bert I. GORDON's laughably awful Empire of the Ants. Now apparently
reconciled to his inability to appeal to audiences, Lansing revelled in the
opportunity to portray a grouchy, uncooperative boat captain, grimacing at the
huge insects as if they were just another nuisance disrupting his orderly life.
In a film with no other noteworthy performances, his straightforward irascibility
was strangely affecting—only in a Gordon film could the frigid Lansing seem
like the only human being in the cast. This led the way to Lansing's second
career in television, playing cantankerous old cops and providing surly support
to the lightweight Desi Arnaz, Jr. (in Automan)
and the enigmatic David Carradine (in Kung
Fu: The Legend Continues). To hell with them, he now seemed to say,
and to hell with my acting career too for that matter. Oddly enough, this was
what finally made him endearing.
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