Robert Lansing (June 5, 1928 - October 23, 1994) was an American stage, film and television actor. Born in San Diego, California as Robert Howell Brown, he reportedly took his acting surname from the state capital of Michigan. 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 Actors Equity Association. Equity would not allow him to join as "Robert Brown" since there was already another actor using that name. Since the stock company was based in Lansing, this became the actor's new surname. In the 1961–1962 television season, Lansing appeared as Detective Steve Carella on NBC's 87th Precinct series based on the Ed McBain detective novels. His costars were Gena Rowlands, Ron Harper, Gregory Walcott, and Norman Fell. In 1961, he played the outlaw Frank Dalton in a ...