Actor, TV Show Host. Born in Los Angeles, California to James Langford Stack Sr. and Elizabeth Modini Wood Stack, he was the youngest of two sons. His parents divorced when he was one year old, and his mother took him to Europe when he was 3, he couldn't speak English until he was 6. Robert spoke fluent Italian and French, but had to learn English when they returned to Los Angeles. His parents remarried in 1928. He was a national skeet shooting champion at age 16 and a member of the All-American team. He took drama courses at the University of Southern California (USC). When he visited the set of Universal Studios in Universal City, California at age 20, producer Joe Pasternak offered him an opportunity to enter the film business. Stack's first film teamed him with popular starlet Deanna Durbin. He was the first actor to give Durbin an on screen kiss. During World War II (WWII), Stack served as gunnery instructor in the United States Navy. He continued his movie career and appeared in such films as "Fighter Squadron" (1948), "A Date With Judy" (1948) and "The Bullfighter And The Lady"(1951). In 1954, Stack was given his most important movie role. He appeared opposite John Wayne in "The High and the Mighty". In 1957, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Douglas Sirk's "Written on the Wind" (1956). He starred in more than 40 films; his early television career included appearances on live programs like, "Lux Video Theatre", "Ford Theatre", and "Producers Showcase" during the early 1950s. Robert married actress-model Rosemarie Bowe on January 23, 1956, and they had 2 children, Elizabeth and Charlie. In 1959, he co-produced and starred as Eliot Ness in the ABC-TV crime drama "The Untouchables" and won the Best Actor Emmy in 1960. He surprised everyone with his flair for comedies in movies like "1941" (1979) and "Airplane!"(1980). Later TV audiences would come to know him from his hosting duties on TV's "Unsolved Mysteries" which debuted in 1987. Stack had undergone radiation therapy for prostate cancer in October 2002. He died of heart failure at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles at age 84.