Robert Sterling

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Robert Sterling (born November 13, 1917 in New Castle , Pennsylvania as William Sterling Hart , † May 30, 2006 in Brentwood , California ) was an American actor and entrepreneur.

Life

The son of a baseball player first attended the University of Pittsburgh and earned his money as a salesman. Because of his good looks, he was finally discovered for the film in 1939. To avoid confusion with the western star William S. Hart , he changed his name from William Sterling Hart to Robert Sterling.

He made his first film appearance in the comic book adaptation Blondie Meets the Boss with Penny Singleton in the leading role. Medium and small film roles followed, including a. alongside Cary Grant in the aviator drama SOS Fire on Board and in the Buster Keaton comedy Nothing but Pleasure , as well as leading roles in B-Movies . His best-known productions include the comedy The Woman with Two Faces (with Greta Garbo in the title role), the comedy Staatsaffären (with Bob Hope and Lilo Pulver ), the crime thriller The Dead Lives with Robert Taylor and Lana Turner , and science fiction -Film company fire belt as well as George Sidney's theatrical version of the Hammerstein / Ferber - musical Show Boat .

However, Sterling only became known to a wide audience through his television work. In 1953 he and his second wife, Anne Jeffreys , took on the leading roles in the comedy series Topper , based on the novel by Thorne Smith . Sterling and Jeffreys embodied the recently deceased couple "George & Marion Kerby", who can only be noticed by the bourgeois banker "Cosmo Topper" and who make the most absurd attempts to raise Topper to be an extroverted bon vivant. In a first film adaptation of the material, the film of the same name by Norman Z. McLeod (1937), Cary Grant and Constance Bennett played the ghost couple.

After a few professional failures (e.g. with the short-lived television series Love that Jill and Ichabod & Me ), Sterling largely withdrew from the film business and only made sporadic guest appearances on television series such as Hotel , Simon & Simon and Mord ist Her Hobby . Instead, he became a successful businessman and took over running a computer company.

Robert Sterling was married twice. The daughter Tisha Sterling , who is also active as an actress, emerged from the marriage with actress Ann Sothern , which lasted from 1943 to 1949 . In 1951, Sterling and Anne Jeffreys married , with whom he had three children. Sterling, who was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to television , died on May 30, 2006 at the age of 88 in his adopted California home.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Sterling, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hart, William Sterling (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH New Castle , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 2006
Place of death Brentwood , California