Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 26, 1995 TAG: 9505260022
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB THOMAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
That might surprise today's youngsters, who know him only as the man with the scary voice on television's ``Unsolved Mysteries'' (tonight at 8 p.m. on WSLS-Channel 10), or their parents, for whom he will always be the valiant crime-buster Eliot Ness in the 1960s series ``The Untouchables.''
But grandparents will recognize Stack as the handsome actor who gave Deanna Durbin her first movie kiss in 1939's ``First Love,'' and who later piloted the doomed plane in 1954's ``The High and the Mighty'' with John Wayne.
At 75, Bob Stack is living proof that a life in Hollywood isn't so bad after all.
A fifth-generation Californian, Stack grew up among the movie crowd, playing polo as a teen-ager with his mentor, Spencer Tracy. Any scars from his 55 years in the studios (with time out for the Navy in World War II) are not visible. He retains the physique of a juvenile, and his face is astonishingly youthful.
Stack readily admits he was not the first choice for the prize roles in his career.
John Wayne had decided on Robert Cummings for ``The High and the Mighty'' until the director, William Wellman, declared for Stack. On the first day of filming, Wayne greeted Stack by cracking, ``Mr. Cummings, I presume.''
Van Heflin and Van Johnson were the first choices for ``The Untouchables,'' but both declined. Stack recalled that when he won the Emmy as best dramatic actor, Johnson wired him: ``Have you turned down any good parts lately?''
The same kind of history followed with ``Unsolved Mysteries,'' which started with a 1987 NBC special with Raymond Burr as host.
The response was so positive that the network scheduled six more specials. Karl Malden hosted the first two, Stack the next four. (Typecasting note: all played crime-fighters - Burr was Perry Mason, Malden was Mike Stone of ``The Streets of San Francisco'' and Stack was Eliot Ness.)
``That was it - four shows a year. Sounded good,'' Stack recalls. ``I got back from Europe, and my agent said, `Congratulations.' I said, `Did I get the Chevy Chase movie?' He said, `No. Congratulations on your new series.' I said, `What series?' He said, ` ``Unsolved Mysteries'' is a series.'
``So that's how it happened. No one thought `Unsolved Mysteries' would work, just as no one thought `The Untouchables' would work. ABC expected to have two big smashing successes that year - Gardner McKay in `Adventures in Paradise' and Pat Boone. They never even pushed `The Untouchables.'''
Nor did NBC seem to give ``Unsolved Mysteries'' a big boost. But now, the show will be entering its eighth season next fall. Stack thinks he knows why.
``This is a strange, symbiotic kind of a show, because the audience is the determinant, not just in viewing but in terms of interaction with catching the crooks,'' he says. ``That's where it gets interesting. Nobody counted on that, including me.''
``Unsolved Mysteries'' proved the forerunner of the so-called reality shows that crowd the channels nowadays. The series offers all kinds of mysteries - not only unsolved crimes, lost heirs and missing persons, but UFOs and occult phenomena. The producers claim to have solved 199 cases and spurred the capture of 40 percent of the depicted fugitives.
``The credulity aspect came up early on,'' Stack says of his role in the series. ``I said, `Look, this guy that I'm doing is not a used-car salesman. If I had my choice, he is going to be the stage manager in `Our Town.' He's going to appear, and he's going to prepare the audience for what is going to happen.'''
Whereas an earlier generation of girls viewed him as a pinup boy, Stack now has a different kind of young fan. He was amused when a girl enthused about seeing him on TV each week, commenting, ``You've got that scary voice! You're better than Freddy Krueger!''
Stack seems prepared to pursue unsolved mysteries into the next century. It's not an onerous job - two days of shooting, half-day of narration, nine months a year.
One of the town's great survivors, he appreciates his good fortune.
``When I was 20-21, I was almost killed,'' he explains. ``Once, when I was trying to break the world record in a racing hydro. Once, when I raced a stunt man on the way to Tahoe. That time, the truck driver wouldn't pick me up off the street, saying, `This guy's dying. I don't want to go to court.' Now I say, `Man, I've been getting 50 years or more. It's a gift!' ''
by CNB