Robert Sterling

Robert Sterling, born William Sterling Hart on November 13, 1917, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, was an American actor whose career spanned film, television, and Broadway. The son of Chicago Cubs baseball player William Frank Hart, he grew up approximately 50 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, attended the University of Pittsburgh, and worked as a clothing salesman before turning to acting. He died on May 30, 2006, at his home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, at the age of 88, from natural causes, having also suffered from debilitating shingles during the final decade of his life.

After signing with Columbia Pictures in 1939, he adopted the stage name Robert Sterling to avoid confusion with silent western star William S. Hart, a name change he made legally while serving as a second lieutenant during flight training in Marfa, Texas, in 1943. His early Columbia work consisted largely of small and uncredited parts across a wide range of productions that year, including Blondie Meets the Boss, Romance of the Redwoods, Only Angels Have Wings, Golden Boy, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and the serial Mandrake the Magician, among many others. He also appeared in two Buster Keaton shorts, Pest from the West in 1939 and Nothing But Pleasure in 1940.

Sterling moved to 20th Century Fox, where he took the lead in Manhattan Heartbeat and Yesterday's Heroes, both released in 1940. That November he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where his profile rose considerably. He led I'll Wait for You, The Getaway, and Ringside Maisie, the last of which paired him with Ann Sothern, whom he would marry in 1943. He appeared in a supporting capacity alongside Greta Garbo in Two-Faced Woman and Robert Taylor in Johnny Eager, and was billed third behind Clark Gable and Lana Turner in Somewhere I'll Find You, one of MGM's largest productions of 1942. His momentum at the studio was interrupted when he entered military service as a United States Army Air Corps flight instructor during World War II. He was discharged in October 1945 and returned to MGM for The Secret Heart in 1946.

His post-war film work included the lead in RKO's Roughshod in 1949, the independent western The Sundowners in 1950 alongside Robert Preston and John Drew Barrymore, and Bunco Squad at RKO in 1951. That same year he appeared in MGM's film adaptation of Show Boat, playing Steve Baker opposite Ava Gardner. He supported Audie Murphy in Column South in 1953.

Sterling's Broadway career ran from 1951 to 1960 and included appearances in Gramercy Ghost and the comedy Roman Candle. It was during his run in Gramercy Ghost that he met actress and singer Anne Jeffreys, whom he married in 1951. They remained married for 55 years until his death and had three sons together. Sterling's first marriage, to Ann Sothern, had produced a daughter, Patricia, who also became an actress; that marriage ended in divorce in 1949.

Television became the medium most closely associated with Sterling. He appeared in a May 1950 episode of Studio One and went on to guest on numerous early television programs, including The Ford Theatre Hour, Lights Out, Robert Montgomery Presents, Suspense, and Climax!, as well as a 1955 television production of Dearest Enemy adapted by Neil Simon. His most prominent television role came in Topper, which aired on CBS from 1953 to 1955. Sterling played George Kerby, the role originated on film by Cary Grant, opposite Jeffreys as Marion Kerby and Leo G. Carroll in the title role. Sterling and Jeffreys also developed a nightclub act together and in 1958 co-starred in the ABC comedy series Love That Jill, in which they portrayed the heads of rival modeling agencies in New York City. In December 1957, the pair appeared together in an episode of NBC's Wagon Train. Sterling co-starred in the CBS series Ichabod and Me during the 1961–1962 television season alongside George Chandler and Reta Shaw.

His film work continued into the early 1960s with Return to Peyton Place and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, both in 1961, the latter produced by Irwin Allen. In 1963 he starred in the Twilight Zone episode "Printer's Devil" alongside Burgess Meredith, and also appeared in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Naked City. He was in A Global Affair with Bob Hope in 1964. Later television appearances included The Bold Ones, Nanny and the Professor, Love, American Style, the 1973 television film Letters from Three Lovers, and the 1979 miniseries Beggarman, Thief. In the 1980s he guest starred on Fantasy Island, Simon & Simon, Murder, She Wrote, and Hotel.

Outside of entertainment, Sterling served during the 1970s as a vice president and spokesman for a company that developed software for one of the first supermarket barcoding and computer inventory systems. He later founded Sterling & Sons, a Santa Monica business that manufactured custom golf clubs. In 1960, Sterling received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to television, located at 1709 Vine Street.