Robert Lansing (; born Robert Howell Brown, June 5, 1928 – October 23, 1994) was an American stage, film, and television actor. Lansing is probably best remembered as the authoritarian Brigadier General Frank Savage in 12 O'Clock High (1964), the television drama series about American bomber pilots during World War II. During his long career, which spanned five decades, Lansing appeared in 245 episodes of 73 television series, 11 TV movies, and 19 motion pictures. Other notable television roles included 87th Precinct (1961-62), Automan (1983-84) and The Equalizer (1985-89). Early life While living in Los Angeles, California, he attended University High School. As a young actor in New York City, he was hired to join a stock company in Michigan but was told he would first have to join the Actors' Equity Association. Equity would not allow him to join as "Robert Brown" because another actor was using that name. Because the stock company was based in Lansing, this became the actor's new surname. Lansing served two years in the United States Army and was stationed in Osaka, Japan, where he worked at Armed Forces Radio. Career Early roles During the late 1940s and early 1950s, he worked under his real name Bob Brown as a radio announcer at WANE in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He also was active as an actor in a Fort Wayne theater group. Lansing first appeared on Broadway in the play Stalag 17 (1951) directed by José Ferrer, replacing Mark Roberts in the role of Dunbar at the 48th Street Theater. He gained early acting experience at the Actors Studio. Stage His rugged good looks, commanding stage presence and stentorian voice earned him continuing stage work and throughout his film career he periodically returned to the New York stage, making his last such appearance in 1991. He played the lead in the 1973 Roundabout Theater production of August Strindberg's The Father, staged by Gene Feist. New York Times critic Clive Barnes praised Lansing's "mannered, tortured and racked portrait of the Captain" as "superlative," comparing it favorably with a Michael Redgrave performance years earlier. Also that year he starred with Barbara Bel Geddes in the Broadway production of Jean Kerr's comedy Finishing Touches. In 1977, Lansing appeared in a one-man show as coal miner union leader John L. Lewis. José Ferrer asked Lansing to perform in a series of plays at the New York City Center, including