Robert Vaughn | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Vaughn inThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964) | |
| Born | Robert Francis Vaughn (1932-11-22)November 22, 1932 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | November 11, 2016(2016-11-11) (aged 83) Danbury, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1940s–2016 |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | See article |
| Academic background | |
| Education | |
| Thesis | The Influence of theHouse Committee on Un-American Activities on the American Theater 1938–58 (1970) |
Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 – November 11, 2016) was an American actor and political activist, whose career in film, television and theater spanned nearly six decades and who was best known for his role as secret agentNapoleon Solo onThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–68).[1][2] He was aPrimetime Emmy Award winner, and was nominated for theAcademy Award, theBAFTA Award, twoLaurel Awards, and four times for theGolden Globe Award. Vaughn also has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.
Vaughn had his breakthrough role as disabled, drunken war veteran Chester A. Gwynn inThe Young Philadelphians, earning him a 1960 Oscar nomination forBest Supporting Actor. He subsequently appeared in scores of films, notably as gunman Lee inThe Magnificent Seven (1960), Walter Chalmers inBullitt, Major Paul Krueger inThe Bridge at Remagen (1969), the voice of Proteus IV inDemon Seed (1977) andRoss Webster inSuperman III (1983).
To television audiences, in addition to his role as Solo, Vaughn was known for his roles as private detective Harry Rule onThe Protectors (1972–74), Morgan Wendell in the miniseriesCentennial (1978–79), andAlbert Stroller on theBBC Television dramaHustle (2004–12). He won an Emmy Award forOutstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of theWhite House Chief of Staff in the miniseriesWashington: Behind Closed Doors.[3] He also appeared in the British soap operaCoronation Street asMilton Fanshaw from January until February 2012.[4]
Aside from his acting career, Vaughn was active inDemocratic Party politics. He was chair of theCalifornia Democratic State Central Committeespeakers bureau during the 1960s, and publicly campaigned against theVietnam War as a member of the peace groupAnother Mother for Peace.[5] A PhD in communications, his 1970 doctoral thesis "The Influence of theHouse Committee on Un-American Activities on the American Theater 1938–58" is considered "the most complete and intelligent treatment of the virulent practice of blacklisting now available."[6]
Robert Vaughn was born on November 22, 1932, to Gerald Walter and Marcella Frances (née Gaudel) Vaughn atCharity Hospital in New York City.[7][8] Vaughn's father was a radio actor and his mother was a stage actress.[9] His parents divorced, and Vaughn lived with his grandparents Frank and Mary Gaudel inMinneapolis while his mother traveled and performed.[10][9][11][12]
Discussing his childhood in a 1965New York Sunday News interview, Vaughn said “I was a complete wreck as a child, emotionally unstable, excessively prideful”[13] and that he often felt miserable. “I cried all the time and I was always getting beat up”.[14]
Vaughn attended Lowell Elementary, Jordan Junior High School and North High School in Minneapolis, graduating in 1950.[15] Nicknamed "Nobby", Vaughn's activity in high school included thePolaris Weekly school newspaper, the student council and various sports, including being named captain of the cross-country team.[16]
After high school, he enrolled in theUniversity of Minnesota as a journalism major. However, he dropped out after a year and moved to Los Angeles with his mother.[9][17]
He studied theater arts atLos Angeles City College in 1956 and transferred toLos Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences earning a master's degree in theater in 1960.[9][18]
Vaughn earned a PhD in communication from theUniversity of Southern California in 1970. His doctoral dissertation "The Influence of theHouse Committee on Un-American Activities on the American Theater 1938–58" was an appraisal of the effect the committee's activities had on American theater.[19][18] Vaughn's original research included data from questionnaires and interviews he conducted with witnesses who had been labeled "uncooperative" by the House Un-American Activities Committee.[6]
In 1972, he published hisdissertation as a book titledOnly Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting.[20]Kirkus Reviews lists the book as "the most complete and intelligent treatment of the virulent practice of blacklisting now available". Still in print, the book is regularly assigned to law students.[6]
Vaughn was inducted into theU.S. Army Reserve on November 29, 1955, and entered active duty on December 18, 1956, atFort Ord, California. During his first leave, he discovered his mother had been diagnosed withBerger's disease, an often fatal kidney disorder. Vaughn applied for an Honorable Hardship discharge. While waiting for a decision, Vaughn was held over at Fort Ord and served as a drill instructor. Discharged from active duty on May 26, 1957, he again served in the U.S. Army Reserve until November 1962.[21][15]
Vaughn's mother encouraged his becoming an actor early in his life. She taught Vaughn to recite Shakespeare's “To be or not to be” soliloquy fromHamlet when he was five.
Vaughn's mother assisted him in being cast on radio shows in the Chicago area. He debuted on radio playing the part of Billy onJack Armstrong, the All-American Boy broadcast onWBBM (AM) radio.[13]
In 1950 Vaughn worked as a page at Minneapolis'WCCO (AM). "My job was a kind of glorified page boy position, but I was allowed to wear civvies rather than the silly uniforms often sported by studio guides and messengers in those days".[22]
His first film appearance was as an extra inThe Ten Commandments (1956),[8] playing a golden calf idolator. Vaughn is also visible during a chariot scene behindYul Brynner.
Vaughn's first credited movie role was theWesternHell's Crossroads (1957), in which he playedBob Ford, the murderer of outlawJesse James. Seen byBurt Lancaster inCalder Willingham's playEnd as a Man, Vaughn was signed with Lancaster's film company and was to have played the Steve Dallas role inSweet Smell of Success. Vaughn appeared as Stan Gray in the episode "The Twisted Road" of thewesternsyndicated seriesFrontier Doctor.Vaughn played in at least one episode of The Rifleman. He played Dan, aWest Point dropout who was appointed temporary Marshall of North Fork.
Vaughn's first notable appearance was inThe Young Philadelphians (1959).[17] Vaughn creditedPaul Newman with helping him earn his first major film role. "The person who launched my career into A-list movies was Paul Newman. When my agent called and said Warner Bros. had a role for me inThe Young Philadelphians, I mentioned it to Paul, who belonged to the same health club I did. He told me it was the perfect role for me and offered to do the screen test with me. That was unheard of. In a screen test, you run your lines with a script girl who is off camera. I had never done one before, but Paul did it with me and the result was wonderful".[23]
In the film, Vaughn portrayed alcoholic veteran Chet Gwynn who lost his arm in the Korean War and was falsely accused of murder. His acting in the film earned Vaughn nominations for both theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor and theGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture.[1]
Vaughn's next role was the gun for hire Lee in directorJohn Sturges' 1960 filmThe Magnificent Seven.[24] The film was an adaptation ofAkira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanesesamurai epicSeven Samurai set in theAmerican frontier.
Vaughn recalled the morning in January when he arrived in Sturges’ office for his audition, "...an ax was hanging over every movie project in Hollywood. Unless the casting for a picture was completed by noon on a particular Friday, production couldn’t begin". Telling Vaughn he wanted to cast him based on his performance inThe Young Philadelphians, Sturges said, "We don’t have a script, just Kurosawa’s picture to work from. You’ll have to go on faith. But we’ll be filming inCuernavaca. Never been there? You’ll love it — it’s the 'Palm Springs of Mexico' ". Vaughn told Sturges, “I'm in”. Saying, "Good decision, young man", Sturges asked, "And do you know any other good young actors? I’ve got four other slots to fill". Vaughn suggestedJames Coburn, a friend and former classmate. Sturges hired Coburn.
Vaughn's portrayal of hiredgunslinger Lee included wearing black gloves throughout the film, signifying his reluctance to "get his hands dirty" even while continuing to kill for hire.[25]
Vaughn's acting showed Lee's internal struggle with cowardice. Having lost his nerve, he could not fight until he finally summoned the internal courage to face certain death while freeing hostages.[26][27] When offered the chance to run, Vaughn's Lee is told, "Go ahead, Lee, you don’t owe anything to anybody". His answer? "Except to myself".[26]
Vaughn died in 2016, the last ofThe Magnificent Seven actors.
AfterThe Man From U.N.C.L.E. series ended, Vaughn landed a major film role playing Walter Chalmers, a U.S. Senator in the filmBullitt starringSteve McQueen;[24] he was nominated for aBAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role.
In 1983, he starred as villainous multi-millionaire Ross Webster inSuperman III.[24]
Vaughn made his television debut on the November 21, 1955, "Black Friday" episode of the American television seriesMedic, the first of Vaughn's over two hundred episodic television roles through the mid-2000s.
In 1956, Vaughn made his first guest appearance onGunsmoke in the episode entitled “Cooter.”[28] The following year, he made his second guest appearance onGunsmoke oppositeBarbara Eden in a Romeo-Juliet role, in the episode "Romeo", which turned out okay for the bride and groom.[29][30]
In 1962, Vaughn starred as Boston based private detective A. Dunster Lowell inThe Boston Terrier episode of the NBC network's anthology seriesThe Dick Powell Show. The episode was a pilot episode of a proposedBlake Edwards TV series. Edwards had created the popularPeter Gunn television show.[31]
In 1963, Vaughn appeared in an episode ofThe Dick Van Dyke Show as Jim Darling, a successful businessman and an old flame of Laura Petrie in the episode "It's a Shame She Married Me".
During the 1963–64 season ofThe Lieutenant, Vaughn appeared as Captain Raymond Rambridge alongsideGary Lockwood, who played aMarine second lieutenant atCamp Pendleton. Vaughn had guest-starred on Lockwood's 1961–62 seriesFollow the Sun.
His dissatisfaction with the somewhat diminished aspect of the Rambridge character led Vaughn to request an expanded role. During the conference, his name came up in a telephone call and he ended up being offered a series of his own—asNapoleon Solo, title character in a series originally to be calledSolo, but which becameThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.[17] after the pilot was reshot withLeo G. Carroll in the role of Solo's boss. This was the role which would make Vaughn a household name even behind theIron Curtain.[17][32]
From 1964 to 1968, Vaughn played Solo with Scottish co-starDavid McCallum playing his fellow agent,Illya Kuryakin. This production spawned a spinoff show, large amounts of merchandising, overseas theatrical movies of re-edited episodes, and a sequel,Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E..
Explaining the twoThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. characters' appeal, Vaughn said, “Girls age 9 to 12 liked David McCallum because he was so sweet, but the old ladies and the 13- to 16-year-olds liked me because I was so detached”.[14]
At the height ofThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. show's popularity, Vaughn reported receiving 70,000 fan letters a month.[33] "I was bombarded with house and apartment keys labeled with the addresses of the adoring girls who lived behind those doors," he wrote in his 2008 memoir,A Fortunate Life. "At the end of our first season, I had to put up an electric fence around my house to keep out the girls. I even tried using recorded animal noises to fend off my visitors, but I could never operate the sound system."[34]
Vaughn said the success of the show boosted his career. "Not only was it a great deal of fun, it changed me from being a working actor to a negotiating actor. AfterU.N.C.L.E., I never accepted the first offer: if I wanted more money, I asked for it. A better dressing room? Four first-class tickets instead of two? I’d ask for them, and I’d often get them."[35]
In 1966, during the initialThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. broadcast run, Vaughn appeared as a bachelor on the premiere episode of the nighttime version ofThe Dating Game which aired on October 6, 1966.Karen Carlson, the 1964Miss America pageant first runner-up, chose Vaughn as her date, which included a trip to London, England.[36]
AfterThe Man from U.N.C.L.E was canceled in 1968, Vaughn continued to appear on television and in films.
Vaughn starred in two seasons of the British detective seriesThe Protectors from 1972 through 1974.[37]
Vaughn first appeared on daytime television in 1995 as a guest-star playing Rick Hamlin on theCBS soap operaAs the World Turns. Vaughn later appeared in 1996 onABC'sOne Life to Live playing the role of Bishop Corrington.[3]
In 2012 Vaughn appeared for three weeks in the British soap operaCoronation Street[24] as wealthy AmericanMilton Fanshaw.[38]
Vaughn played Judge Oren Travis on the 1998–2000 syndicated television seriesThe Magnificent Seven.[1]
Vaughn experienced a resurgence in 2004. He began co-starring in the British TV drama seriesHustle,[24] made for BBC One. The series was also broadcast in the United States on theAMCcable network.[17] In the series, Vaughn played elder-statesman American con artist Albert Stroller, a father figure to a group of younger grifters.[17] He ultimately appeared in all eight series aired from 2004 to 2012.
When show producer Simon Crawford Collins met Vaughn, he recognized "straight away that he could bring a whole new dimension to the part of Albert". He later called Vaughn, offering him the role. Vaughn said during the call he was "told to get on a plane an hour after I got the phone call and start shooting the following day."
In 2006, Vaughn said "I imagined that Napoleon Solo had retired from U.N.C.L.E., whatever U.N.C.L.E. was. What could he do now to use his talents and to supplement his government pension? I imagined Stroller asNapoleon Solo, The Later Years".[14]
He also appeared in two episodes ofColumbo during the mid-1970s, "Troubled Waters" (1975) and "Last Salute to the Commodore" (1976). The latter episode is one of the few in the series where the identity of the murderer is not known until the end. Vaughn won an Emmy for his portrayal of Frank Flaherty inWashington: Behind Closed Doors (ABC, 1977)[39] and during the 1980s starred with friendGeorge Peppard in the final season ofThe A-Team. Vaughn played Morgan Wendell, opponent to Paul Garrett played by David Janssen in the 1978–79 miniseriesCentennial.
Vaughn portrayed PresidentsFranklin D. Roosevelt andHarry S. Truman,[40] in addition toWoodrow Wilson (in the 1979 televisionmini-seriesBackstairs at the White House). He additionally played Roosevelt in the 1982 HBOtelefilmFDR: That Man in the White House.[41] In 1983–1984, he appeared as industrialist Harlan Adams in the short-lived seriesEmerald Point N.A.S., replacingPatrick O'Neal. In the mid-1990s, he made several cameo appearances onLate Night with Conan O'Brien as an audience member who berates the host and his guests beginning with "you people make me sick."[42]
After a string of guest roles on series such asLaw & Order (in which he had a recurring role during season eight as Carl Anderton, a wealthy businessman who vows revenge on the NYC DA's office and longtime friendAdam Schiff for sending his grandson to juvenile correction for murdering his stepsister). In September 2006, he guest-starred on an episode ofLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Vaughn also appeared as himself narrating and being a character in a radio play broadcast byBBC Radio 4 in 2007 about making the filmThe Bridge at Remagen inPrague, during the Russian invasion of 1968.[43]
In 1966, Vaughn founded a film production company, Ferdporqui Productions with his lifelong best friend actorSherwood Price. The company was headquartered at the M.G.M. Studios in Culver City, California.[15]They purchased production options on books and scripts in the 1960s. In 1966 they acquired the production rights toJoseph Sargent's "story idea"Bridge on the River Hudson[44] and hiredPeter Allan Fields to produce a script treatment. Vaughn was reportedly to star in their first independent film venture.[45] They also acquired the rights toRobert Laxalt's novelThe Man in the Wheatfield in 1966 and sought investors in the proposed film's production.
In 1968, the company opened a branch office in Great Britain.[46] In the 1970s Ferdporqui Productions provided production management onThe Protectors which starred Vaughn.[37]
Vaughn's investments included profitable livestock herds and west Texas gas wells which made him a millionaire.[47] In 1967, one of his wells saw an increase in production output from $13 per week to $270 per day, a $98,550 annual output (equivalent to $929,340 in 2024). The reportedly frugal Vaughn said, "If it went tomorrow, it wouldn't visibly change my life." Vaughn said he had lived on one-quarter of his salary for the past ten years and that his business manager allowed him $25 spending money per week.[48]
In later years, Vaughn appeared in syndicated advertisements marketed by Commercial Pro, Inc. for various personal injury and workers compensation law firms, using the catchphrase, "Tell them you mean business".[49]
Vaughn was also aninfomercialpitchman from 1985 through 1990 for the Helsinki Formula, a claimed baldness cure. In 1994 theFederal Trade Commission sued, blocking the product's bogus claims, but $100 million of the product had already been sold.
In 1993, Vaughn toldThe Los Angeles Times he had no problem promoting the Helsinki Formula "cure". He said, “That was about the most profitable thing I’ve ever done in my life. Every call that came in on the 800 number, I got a piece of that”.[13]
TheSeinfeld TV show mentioned Vaughn's Helsinki Formula ad during the show's second season May 2, 1991, episode:[50]
Jerry (as Elaine flips through channels):
What are you doing? All right, all right. What's the matter with that? What about that one?
Elaine:Robert Vaughn, The Helsinki Formula?
Jerry:He was good inMan from U.N.C.L.E.
During the late 1960sJoyce Jameson was a girlfriend of Vaughn's. She acted opposite Vaughn as a guest star on a 1966U.N.C.L.E. episode "The Dippy Blond Affair".
Vaughn married actress Linda Staab in 1974. They had appeared together in a 1973 episode ofThe Protectors, called "It Could Be Practically Anywhere on the Island". They adopted two children, Cassidy (born 1976) and Caitlin (born 1981).[39] They resided inRidgefield, Connecticut.[51]
For many years, it was believed Vaughn was the biological father of English film director and producerMatthew Vaughn, born when the actor was in a relationship with early 1970s socialite Kathy Ceaton. However, a paternity investigation[52] identified the father as George de Vere Drummond, an English aristocrat and godson of KingGeorge VI. Early in Matthew's life, when all believed Vaughn was the father, he asked for "his" child's surname to be Vaughn, which Matthew continues to use professionally, still seeing Vaughn as his social father, even if not biologically.[53]
In 1967 Vaughn released theMGM Recordsspoken word albumReadings From Hamlet, which featured him performing seven excerpts from Shakespeare'sHamlet accompanied with incidental music. The MGM Records E/SE-4488 lp was released in both mono and stereo formats.
Vaughn publishedOnly Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting in 1972.[20]
His second book,A Fortunate Life, was an autobiography published in 2008 in which Vaughn said of his life, "With a modest amount of looks and talent and more than a modicum of serendipity, I've managed to stretch my 15 minutes of fame into more than half a century of good fortune".[15] "The breaks all fell my way".[14]
Vaughn was a longtime member of theDemocratic Party.[8] His family was also Democratic and was involved in politics inMinneapolis.[54] Early in his career, he was described as a "liberal Democrat".[55][56][57][58][59] He was opposed to theHollywood Blacklist of suspected Communists on freedom of speech principles, but Vaughn also was opposed to Communism as a totalitarian system.[60] Vaughn campaigned forJohn F. Kennedy in the1960 United States presidential election.[39] He was the chair of theCalifornia Democratic State Central Committeespeakers bureau and actively campaigned for candidates in the 1960s.[39][54]
Vaughn was the first popular American actor to take a public stand against theVietnam War and was active in the peace groupAnother Mother for Peace.[5] Vaughn debated withWilliam F. Buckley Jr. on his programFiring Line on theVietnam War.[61] WithDick Van Dyke andCarl Reiner, he was a founder of Dissenting Democrats.[62] Early in the1968 presidential election, they supported the candidacy of Minnesota SenatorEugene McCarthy, who was running for president as an alternative to Vice PresidentHubert Humphrey, who had supported PresidentLyndon Johnson's escalation of the war in Vietnam.[62]
Vaughn was reported to have political ambitions of his own,[63] but in a 1973 interview, he denied having had any political aspirations.[64] In a conversation with historian Jack Sanders, he stated that after theassassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, "I lost heart for the battle".[39]
Vaughn died in a hospice inDanbury, Connecticut,[65][2] on November 11, 2016 (11days short of his 84th birthday),[39][34] after undergoing a year-long treatment forleukemia.[66][67]
| Year | Title | Role | Theatre | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | The Pilgrimage[69] | Judas Iscariot[15] | Pilgrimage Theater,Hollywood[70] | Unknown | Pilgrimage Theater is now known as theJohn Anson Ford Amphitheatre.[70] |
| 1979 | The Real Inspector Hound[71] | Moon[72] | United States | Unknown | |
| 1985 | Inherit The Wind | Henry Drummond | Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn, NJ | March 1985 | |
| 1989 | Love Letters | Andrew Makepiece Ladd III[73] | Edison Theatre[73] | October 31, 1989 – January 21, 1990[73] |
|
| 2013 | Twelve Angry Men | Juror 9 |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | The Ten Commandments | Spearman / Hebrew at Golden Calf |
|
| 1957 | Hell's Crossroads | Bob Ford[78][79] | Western film directed byFranklin Adreon.[80][81] |
| No Time to Be Young | Buddy Root | Film noirdrama film directed byDavid Lowell Rich.[82] | |
| 1958 | Teenage Cave Man | The Symbol Maker's Teenage Son | Independentblack-and-whiteadventure–science fiction film produced and directed byRoger Corman.[83] |
| Unwed Mother | Don Bigelow | Drama film directed byWalter A. Doniger.[84] | |
| 1959 | Good Day for a Hanging | Eddie Campbell | Western film directed byNathan H. Juran.[85] |
| The Young Philadelphians | Chester A. Gwynn |
| |
| 1960 | The Magnificent Seven | Lee | Western film directed byJohn Sturges.[89] |
| 1961 | The Big Show[90] | Klaus Everard |
|
| 1963 | The Caretakers | Jim Melford |
|
| 1964 | To Trap a Spy | Napoleon Solo | Feature length film of the Pilot episode ofThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. directed byDon Medford.[96] |
| 1965 | The Spy with My Face | Spy-fispy film based onThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. and directed byJohn Newland.[97] | |
| 1966 | One Spy Too Many | Feature-length film ofThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.'s two–part season two premiere episode "Alexander the Greater Affair"written byDean Hargrove and directed byJoseph Sargent.[98] | |
| The Glass Bottom Boat |
| ||
| One of Our Spies is Missing |
| ||
| 1967 | The Spy in the Green Hat | Feature-length film ofThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.'s third season two–part episode "The Concrete Overcoat Affair" directed by Joseph Sargent and written byPeter Allan Fields with thestory by David Victor.[105] | |
| The Venetian Affair | Bill Fenner |
| |
| The Karate Killers | Napoleon Solo | Feature-length film ofThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.'s third season two–part episode "The Five Daughters Affair" directed byBarry Shear and written byNorman Hudis with the story by Boris Ingster.[110] | |
| 1968 | The Helicopter Spies | Feature-length film ofThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.'s fourth season two–part episode "The Prince of Darkness Affair" directed byBoris Sagal and written byDean Hargrove.[111] | |
| How to Steal the World | Feature-length film ofThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.'s two–partseries finale episodes "The Seven Wonders of the World Affair" directed by Sutton Roley and written by Norman Hudis.[112] | ||
| Bullitt | Walter Chalmers | Drama–thriller film directed byPeter Yates and produced byPhilip D'Antoni.[113] | |
| 1969 | If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium | Antonio, Photographer | DeLuxe Color romantic comedy film directed byMel Stuart.[114] |
| The Bridge at Remagen | Major Paul Kreuger |
| |
| 1970 | Julius Caesar | Servilius Casca | British independentadaptation ofWilliam Shakespeare'splay of the same name, directed byStuart Burge and written by Robert Furnival.[117] |
| The Mind of Mr. Soames | Dr. Michael Bergen |
| |
| 1971 | The Statue | Ray Whiteley |
|
| Clay Pigeon | Neilson | Action film directed by Lane Slate and Tom Stern.[123] | |
| 1974 | The Man from Independence | Harry S Truman | Biographical–drama film directed byJack Smight[124][125] and written by Edward DeBlasio.[126] |
| The Towering Inferno | Senator Parker | Action–dramadisaster film directed byJohn Guillermin.[127] | |
| 1975 | Wanted: Babysitter | Stuart Chase |
|
| 1976 | Atraco en la jungla[129] | Tony |
|
| 1977 | Demon Seed | Proteus IV[131] |
|
| Starship Invasions | Professor Allan Duncan | ||
| 1978 | The Lucifer Complex | Glen Manning | Science fiction film directed by Kenneth Hartford &David L. Hewitt[136] and written by Hewitt & Dale Skillicorn.[137] |
| Brass Target | Colonel Donald Rogers |
| |
| Hawaii Five-O | Rolande | Episode: "The Spirit is Willie" | |
| 1979 | Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff | Dr. Neal[140] | Drama film directed byMarvin J. Chomsky.[141] |
| 1980 | Cuba Crossing | Hud |
|
| Virus | Senator Barkley[145][146] |
| |
| Hangar 18 | Gordon Cain | Action science fiction film directed byJames L. Conway and written by Ken Pettus with the story by Thomas C. Chapman and Conway.[149] | |
| Battle Beyond the Stars | Gelt[150] | Science fiction–adventure film directed byJimmy T. Murakami.[151] | |
| 1981 | S.O.B. | David Blackman[152][153] | Comedy film written and directed byBlake Edwards.[154] |
| 1983 | Superman III | Ross Webster | Britishsuperhero film directed byRichard Lester[155] and based on theDC Comics characterSuperman. |
| Great Transport | Dr. Emil Kovac |
| |
| 1986 | Black Moon Rising | Ed Ryland | Action film directed byHarley Cokliss and written byJohn Carpenter.[157] |
| The Delta Force | General Woodbridge | ||
| 1987 | Hour of the Assassin | Sam Merrick | |
| They Call Me Renegade | Lawson | ||
| Killing Birds | Dr. Fred Brown | ||
| 1988 | Skeleton Coast | Major Schneider | |
| Captive Rage | Eduard Delacorte | ||
| Another Way: D-Kikan Joho | Mr. D | Japanese film | |
| 1989 | The Emissary | Ambassador Ed MacKay | |
| That's Adequate | Adolf Hitler | ||
| C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. | Colonel Masters | ||
| River of Death | Dr. Wolfgang Manteuffel | ||
| Transylvania Twist | Lord Byron Orlock | ||
| 1990 | Buried Alive | Gary Julian | |
| Nobody's Perfect | Dr. Duncan | ||
| 1991 | Going Under | Wedgewood | Also known asDive![158] |
| 1992 | Blind Vision | Mr. X | |
| 1994 | Dust to Dust | Mayor Sampson Moses | |
| 1995 | Witch Academy | The Devil | |
| 1996 | Joe's Apartment | Senator Dougherty | |
| Milk & Money | Uncle Andre | ||
| 1997 | Menno's Mind | Senator Zachary Powell | |
| Motel Blue | Chief MacIntyre | ||
| Vulcan | Vince Baxter | ||
| An American Affair | Professor Michaels | ||
| 1998 | Visions | Agent Silvestri | |
| McCinsey's Island | Walter Denkins | ||
| The Sender | Ron Fairfax | ||
| BASEketball | Baxter Cain | Vaughn's 100th feature film | |
| 2001 | Pootie Tang | Dick Lecter | |
| 2002 | Cottonmouth | Judge Mancini | |
| 2003 | Happy Hour | Tulley Sr. | |
| Doug McPlug: The Life and Times | |||
| Hoodlum & Son | Benny 'The Bomb' Palladino | ||
| 2004 | Scene Stealers | Dr. Gadsden Braden | |
| 2BPerfectlyHonest | Nick | ||
| Gang Warz | Chief Hannigan | ||
| 2012 | Excuse Me for Living | Jacob | |
| The Magnificent Eleven | American Bob | ||
| 2014 | A Cry from Within | Doc Williams | |
| 2016 | The American Side | Silver-Haired Man | |
| Gold Star | Carmine | (final film role) |
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