Robert Fuller (actor)

Robert Fuller (born Leonard Leroy Lee; July 29, 1933) is an American horse rancher and retired actor. He began his career on television, guest-starring primarily on Western programs, while appearing in several movies, including: The Brain from Planet Arous, Teenage Thunder (both in 1957), Return of the Seven (1966), Incident at Phantom Hill (1969), and The Hard Ride (1971). In his five decades of television, Fuller was known for his deep, raspy voice and was familiar to television viewers throughout the 1960s from his co-star roles on the popular 1960s Western series Laramie as Jess Harper and Wagon Train as Cooper Smith. He was also well known for his starring role as Dr. Kelly Brackett in the 1970s medical/action drama Emergency! Fuller was born as Leonard Leroy Lee on July 29, 1933, in Troy, New York, the only child of Elizabeth Lee, a dance instructor. Before his birth, Betty married Robert Simpson Sr., a Naval Academy officer. In 1939, at the age of 6, his family and he moved to Key West, Florida, where, already known by the nickname of "Buddy", he took the name Robert Simpson Jr. The early highlights of his life were acting and dancing. His parents owned a dancing school in Florida. His family also moved to Chicago, where they lived for a year, before moving back to Florida. Simpson, Jr., as he was then still formally known, attended the Miami Military School for fifth and sixth grades, and Key West High School for ninth grade. He dropped out in 1948, at the age of 14, because he disliked school and was doing poorly there. In 1950, at the age of 16, he traveled with his family to Hollywood, California, where his first job was as a stunt man. He also worked at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, beginning as a doorman and working his way up to assistant manager by age 18. At the urging of friends, Simpson, Jr., joined the Screen Actors Guild, embarked on a career in acting, and changed his name to Robert Fuller, the name by which he was known at his most prominent. Fuller's first small role was as an extra in the 1952 film Above and Beyond.