The Nest (1987)

My rating: 6/10

TV Guide - May 15 - 21, 1965

Robert Lansing (/ˈlænsɪŋ/; born Robert Howell Brown, June 5, 1928 – October 23, 1994)  Stage, film, and television actor. 

Lansing is probably best remembered as the authoritarian Brig. Gen. 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.

Lansing first appeared on TV on Kraft Television Theatre in 1956. In the 1961–1962 television season, Lansing was cast 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. Also in 1961, he played Jed Trask, a troubled shooter, in the Bonanza episode, “Cutthroat Junction”. He guest starred in two other episodes of the NBC’s western series: “Danger Road” (1970) as Gunny O'Riley and “Heritage of Anger” (1972) as John Dundee. He played Doc Holliday in an episode of NBC’s The Tall Man, with Barry Sullivan and Clu Gulager. Lansing would star alongside Clu Gulager again in a 1965 episode of NBC’s The Virginian TV series titled “The Brothers”. Again on NBC, in 1966, Lansing guest-starred as General Custer in a three episode segment of Branded called “Call to Glory”.

Other television roles include portrayals of an alcoholic college professor in ABC’s drama Channing, as Gil Green in the 1963 episode “Fear Begins at Forty” on the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour, as a bounty hunter on Gunsmoke, and as a parole officer in a 1968 episode (“A Time to Love — A Time to Cry”) of The Mod Squad.

He was the interstellar secret agent Gary Seven in a Star Trek episode (“Assignment: Earth”, 1968), which also featured Teri Garr, and was originally intended as a backdoor pilot for an unsold new series.

Lansing played an international secret agent in The Man Who Never Was, and Lt. Jack Curtis on Automan. He also played a recurring role, known only as “Control”, on 29 episodes of The Equalizer between 1985 and 1989, which then was spun-off into the made-for-TV movie Memories of Manon which aired on 13 February 1989. He guest-starred in The Twilight Zone episode “The Long Morrow” and in the Thriller episode “Fatal Impulse.” He also guest-starred on other television productions such as NBC’s Law & Order.