Robert Vaughn

Born: 22nd November 1932
Where: New York, USA

An American actor with a trunk full of character roles throughout his lengthy career, Robert Vaughn has established himself in both film and television work.

His career highlight so far, is his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for the 1959 film The Young Philadelphians, in which he played a murder suspect defended by Paul Newman's aspiring lawyer.

The Magnificent Seven (1960) sees Vaughn playing a young American gunman, alongside Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Charles Bronson, hired in to protect a Mexican village being terrorised by a group of banditos.

But the TV series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in the sixties really cemented Vaughn's star in the Hollywood pavement - which incidentally happened in 1998.

The four year run, which led to a series of films, saw him as Napoleon Solo, one half of a spy duo out to catch evil types, which they did mostly with charm and some nifty gadgets.

Then in 1970, he won another Best Supporting Actor nomination, this time for the BAFTAs for his performance as the ambitious politician, Chalmers, opposite Steve McQueen in Bullitt.

British audiences had the chance to see him as Harry Rule, the main man in The Protectors, a TV series in the early seventies and those of a slightly younger generation will remember him for his portrayal of General Hunt Stockwell in the last season of everyone's favourite, The A-Team.