Robert Vaughn, the urbane actor who starred as the American spy Napoleon Solo on the slick 1960s NBC series “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” died Friday. He was 83.Vaughn, who received an Oscar nomination for playing Paul Newman’s hard-drinking buddy Chet in the 1959 drama “The Young Philadelphians,” and is also remembered as one of “The Magnificent Seven,” died of acute leukemia in a hospital on the East Coast, his manager Matthew Sullivan told The Hollywood Reporter.
MSTies remember him in the title role of the movie in episode 315- TEENAGE CAVEMAN and as Gordon Cain in the movie in episode K19- HANGAR 18. Vaughn also appeared in a 1994 Turkey Day bumper.
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Very sad. He never got the real breakthrough role that he deserved. Check out his role as the politician in Bullitt.
:cry:
He was in one of the gloriously BAD movies of the 50’s that somehow just seemed fated for MST3K, so when I think MST3K I often think Robert Vaughn. But I’ll miss him for much more than that.
RIP, good sir.
Dude was slick as **** in Magnificent Seven. RIP.
I guess we’ll have to close Channel D.(sigh)
Robert’s appeared in a lot of good films. Honestly one of my personal favorites is SUPERMAN III (1983). I know it gets a bad reputation, maybe not as bad as SUPERMAN IV, but I think it’s actually quite fun. Through subsequent viewings it’s really grown on me.
Enemies: None….Alive. :)
But as this is MST3K, we shall observe a sad bunny-hop in honor of the Symbol-Maker’s Son.
(dada-dada-da-da…dada-da-da…)
Talk about bizarre timing. I watched Teenage Caveman less than 24 hours before his passing. As I watched the episode (for the umpteenth time, of course), I was once again reminded of just how COOL Robert was. He really gave the role credibility, despite being post apocalyptic prehistory’s only 30-something teenager.
Less than a day later, he’s gone.
I’m honestly heartbroken right now. In recent years I’ve become a huge fan of Man from U.N.C.L.E, and he was super slick in that, too! I know the Brains are fans too, with Joel even nicknaming a prototype robot puppet built for possible use in the new season “Mr. Waverly”, after the head honcho at U.N.C.L.E. Thst, along with Vaughn’s appearance in Turkey Day 95 makes this is truly a huge loss for MSTdom.
Rest on peace, Mr. Solo. You were one of the greats, and you will be missed.
And had a similar role in Roger Corman’s Battle Beyond The Stars. (Which would be s suitable candidate for Season 11.)
“No enemies?”
(Little, dismissive spread of his black-gloved fingers) “Alive.”
No late-70’s John Sayles Roger-Corman B-movie should EVER be a candidate for MSTing, least of all BBTS.
And Vaughn’s intentional Magnificent shoutout contributed to it.
(Now, Vic Morrow in “Message From Space”, OTOH…)
When the laughter and the applause die down, and you’re left with nothing to drown out the howling hounds of your past, nothing to wrap around yourself but the lies you’ve told so many times that even you start to believe them, where do you go? What do you do?
Well, EricJ, I know we’ve had our disagreements in the past, but I have to say:
I totally disagree with you here.
Battle Beyond The Stars is an amazing candidate for riffing:
1. The movie is pure cheese, and all of the actors know it. They do a wonderful job of hamming up their roles.
2. It has Jon-Boy in it.
3. It has supreme nostalgia factor for anyone over 35.
4. It has George Peppard in it as well as Robert Vaughan.
5. It shows those younguns under 35 what real practical effects look like.
6. Jon-Boy!
7. The script is charmingly derivative sci-fi.
8. Sybil Danning’s in it, along with John Saxon.
9. There are connections with modern “auteurs”. Check the credits.
10. JON-BOY!
Back to the topic at hand, Robert Vaughan was best known while I was growing up for lawyer commercials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHI6Nf2EJpU
Replace “Sam Bernstein” with “Joe Bornstein” and you have exactly the commercials I watched every day in the early nineties.
In all of the appearances mentioned, he had a definite presence. He will be missed.
You could also look for the DVD of the one-man show he did as FDR. Excellent work.
RIP Robert. I’ll open a tube of Helsinki Formula in your honor.
I loved he and McCallim in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and I enjoyed his performances in Superman 3, and in The A-Team. I also appreciate the fact that he was honest about Teenage Caveman and didn’t try to pass it off as a great work of art.
R.I.P. Mr. Vaughn
Always thought it was interesting that he played the same character 3 times in 3 different remakes of The Seven Samurai. As Lee in The Magnificent Seven, as Gelt in Battle Beyond the Stars and as Rykker in the Kung Fu: The Legend Continues episode Dragonswing.
When folks say “he was in the Turkey Day bumper” do they mean Robert Vaughn himself showed up? If so, would LOVE to see a video of it somewhere.
I grew up on “U.N.C.L.E.” — I couldn’t ever be as cool as Sean Connery, but Solo was approachable. Folks might want to seek out “Hustle” which was another terrific TV show he did. Great, great actor.
Also check out “The Protectors”, early ’70s British show with RV as the leader of a trio of unofficial (?) secret agents. Kind of a cross between The Avengers & Mission Impossible. Very fun with just classic TV Drama opening & closing credits/theme music (see ’em on youtube).
Here ya go, all cued up:
https://youtu.be/p70o0QAVKjU?t=8m3s
The word is the law and the law is the word!
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, THE MAN FROM UNCLE & BULLIT were absolute touchstones of my youth.
This is a hard one.
RIP Napoleon.
Thanks, appreciated seeing that.
He was SO classy and will be missed so much (it’s hell to get old, as all of your childhood heroes disappear – when Sean goes I will feel it in my gut).
it will be “hangar 18” for me to remember him by (although he’s so memborable in anything he’s in)… i saw that one in the theater way back when it was first-run! believe it or not, it ran in theaters like a feature… just a bit before the first true space-shuttle launch to space, so it’s hypey-tv-commercials (“HAVE!! AMERICAN ASTRONAUTS?! ENCOUNTERED!! ALIEN SPACECRAFT?! IN ORBIT… AROUND!! OUR PLANET?!?! -SEE!!- HANGAR 18!!”) featuring SPFX shuttle footage -before- the space shuttle was ever launched into space?!? ;0 was just early “sucker!!”-style bait… lol fortunately, i was sucked in! was fun for the time, and still evokes a weird, late-seventies cornfields-and-UFOs vibe that still seems eeeearrrieee to contemplate n’ ruminate about.
so… hats off to robert vaughn… :) “DID!! ROBERT VAUGHN?! ORDER THE DESTRUCTION?! OF AN ALIEN SPACECRAFT?! -SEE!!- HANGAR 18!!” (well, only robert vaughn COULD!! ORDER THE DESTRUCTION… OF AN ALIEN SPACECRAFT!! … IN… HANGAR 18!!)
The Hollywood Reporter write up was nice. I never knew Robert Vaughn was another University of Minnesota alum.
… chhhomppss at the bit… yyarrggghhh i can’t resist… !! … “HI, i’m robert vaughn… and i’d like to enroll in the university… of minnesota!” (maybe he was buddies with peter graves!)
;) heh, hope that’s not his epitaph… wonder which of his movie-lines should be? i doubt H18 would provide an appropriate one, but i’ll hafta watch it again bare of the mst, just to see if something could be…