Robert Sterling

About Robert Sterling

Who is it?: Actor, Soundtrack
Birth Day: November 13, 1917
Birth Place:  New Castle, Pennsylvania, United States
Died On: May 30, 2006(2006-05-30) (aged 88)\nBrentwood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Birth Sign: Sagittarius
Alma mater: University of Pittsburgh
Occupation: Actor
Years active: 1937–1986
Spouse(s): Ann Sothern (1943–1949, divorced, 1 daughter) Anne Jeffreys (1951–2006, his death, 3 sons)
Children: 4, including Tisha Sterling

Robert Sterling Net Worth

Robert Sterling was born on November 13, 1917 in  New Castle, Pennsylvania, United States, is Actor, Soundtrack. Born William Sterling Hart in 1917, the Pennsylvania-born actor was the son of a professional ballplayer. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, then worked as a clothing salesman before deciding to give acting a try. He certainly had the requisite dreamboat looks as Columbia signed this blue-eyed, black-haired, extraordinary-looking specimen in 1939. Billed as Robert Sterling as not to confuse anyone with the silent screen legend William S. Hart, he was groomed in two-reeled shorts and bit parts in minor features but nothing much happened.In 1941, MGM took him on as a possible replacement for another gorgeous Robert - Robert Taylor - who was about to join the Navy. Sterling married actress Ann Sothern in 1943 after meeting her on the set of Ringside Maisie (1941), one of several programmers in Sothern's "Maisie" series. They had a daughter, Patricia, who later became the actress Tisha Sterling. While at MGM he appeared in slick, "nice guy" second leads in such "A" films as Greta Garbo's swan song Two-Faced Woman (1941), Johnny Eager (1941) and Somewhere I'll Find You (1942), the last two starring Lana Turner, while starring in "B" rankers that included The Get-Away (1941) and This Time for Keeps (1942). Sterling himself would serve during WWII with the Army Air Force as a pilot instructor and was stationed at one point in London.His movie persona suggested more than a trace of the dapper playboy, and his carefree style and tone easily had Gig Young coming to mind. Robert's film career, however, lost major momentum in post-war years with rather pat, colorless parts in such action dramas as Bunco Squad (1950) and Column South (1953), and even in the splashy musical Show Boat (1951). Divorced from Ms. Sothern in 1949, he was introduced to actress Anne Jeffreys while making his Broadway debut in "Gramercy Ghost" down the block from where she was starring in the musical "Kiss Me Kate." The couple wed in 1951 and produced three sons. Robert and Anne (who was also having a down time in films by this point) decided to revive their faltering careers with a singing club act. Not only was their pairing a success, it led directly to their starring roles in the classic Topper (1953) comedy series on TV. As wry, debonair ghost George Kirby, he and Anne (playing his equally "spirited" wife Marion) expertly took over the jet-setting roles established on film by Cary Grant and Constance Bennett. The couple soon became household names engaging audiences week after week with their delightfully capricious antics and disappearing acts, much to the chagrin of bemused mortal Leo G. Carroll in the title role. Robert and Anne continued to perform together on stage ("Bells Are Ringing") and even top-lined another sitcom Love That Jill (1958) which lasted only a few months. After another failed series Ichabod and Me (1961), which was a solo effort, and a couple of pedestrian parts in the movies Return to Peyton Place (1961) (as Dr. Michael Rossi) (1961), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) and A Global Affair (1964), Robert slacked off considerably. He made only one return to Broadway with the 1961 light comedy "Roman Candle" co-starring Inger Stevens and Julia Meade. The show folded quickly. By the late 1960s, Sterling was pretty much out of the picture.He entered into what would become a lucrative computer business, and kept a decidedly low profile, prompting many fans to think that the ever-busy Anne Jeffreys was a widow! In truth, the couple made sporadic appearances together in the 70s and 80s in episodes of "Murder, She Wrote" and "Hotel," among others. During the last decade of his life, Sterling suffered greatly from shingles, which kept him confined to a bed for the most part. The man who was once deemed "the ghost with the most" died in his Brentwood home of natural causes at the age of 88.
Robert Sterling is a member of Actor

💰 Net worth: Under Review

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Biography/Timeline

1709

Sterling's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 1709 Vine Street.

1937

Sterling is perhaps most well known for starring with Jeffreys as the spirited George Kerby, to Jefferys' Marion Kerby in the television program Topper, based on the original 1937 film of the same name. It aired on the CBS network from 1953 to 1955. Leo G. Carroll starred in the title role. Wife Marion Kerby was referred to as "the ghostess with the mostest", while Sterling's character was known as "that most sporty spirit".

1939

He was in Only Angels Have Wings (1939), Missing Daughters (1939), and a short with Buster Keaton, Pest from the West (1939). Sterling was in Good Girls Go to Paris (1939), The Man They Could Not Hang (1939), Golden Boy (1939), The Gates of Alcatraz (1939), A Woman is the Judge (1939), The Story of Charles Goodyear (1939), Scandal Sheet (1939), Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Beware Spooks! (1939), Blondie Brings Up Baby (1939), The Amazing Mr Williams (1939), Glove Slingers (1939), The Awful Goof (1939) (a short), and Crime's End (1939).

1940

In November 1940 , Sterling went to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He appeared in The Penalty (1941) and had the lead in I'll Wait for You (1941), The Getaway (1941), and Ringside Maisie (1941) with Ann Sothern, who he would later marry.

1941

He had a good support role in Two-Faced Woman (1941) with Greta Garbo and Johnny Eager (1941) with Robert Taylor. Sterling could also be see in Dr. Kildare's Victory (1942) and This Time for Keeps (1942). He was billed third in Somewhere I'll Find You (1942), after Clark Gable and Lana Turner - one of MGM's biggest films of the year. But just as it seemed Sterling was about to breakthrough as a star he joined the services.

1943

Sterling was married twice. His first marriage, in 1943, was to noted actress-singer Ann Sothern. They had a daughter, Patricia, who became an Actress. Sothern and Sterling divorced in 1949.

1945

Sterling served in World War II as a United States Army Air Corps FLIGHT instructor. He got out of the army in October 1945 and MGM announced him for The Last Time I Saw Paris but the film would not be made for several years, without Sterling. He appeared in The Secret Heart (1946) at MGM.

1949

At RKO he had the lead in Roughshod (1949). He made an independent Western, The Sundowners (1950) and did Bunco Squad (1951) at RKO.

1951

Sterling met actress-singer Anne Jeffreys soon after his Broadway debut, and they wed in 1951 and remained married for 55 years until his death. They had three sons.

1955

In 1955 he and Jeffreys appeared in a TV production of Dearest Enemy, adapted by Neil Simon. He continued to guest star on shows like The Loretta Young Show, Lux Video Theatre, Star Stage, The 20th Century-Fox Hour, The Ford Television Theatre, Cavalcade of America, and Telephone Time.

1957

On December 18, 1957, Sterling and Jeffreys played a couple with an unusual courtship arrangement in "The Julie Gage Story" on the first season of NBC's Wagon Train.

1958

In 1958, the couple co-starred in another comedy series, Love That Jill on ABC. Sterling and Jeffries portrayed heads of rival modeling agencies in New York City.

1960

After some additional television work in the early 1960s, Sterling made only sporadic appearances in later shows such as the hospital drama The Bold Ones, the sitcoms Nanny and the Professor, Love, American Style, Diana and The Brian Keith Show, the TV movie Letters from Three Lovers (1973), and the miniseries Beggarman, Thief in 1979.

1961

In the 1961–1962 television season, Sterling co-starred with George Chandler and Reta Shaw in CBS's Ichabod and Me, a sitcom set in New England. He portrayed 44-year-old Bob Major, a newspaper reporter from New York City, who purchased and ran the paper in a small town called Phippsboro.

1963

In 1963, Sterling starred in The Twilight Zone episode "Printer's Devil" alongside Burgess Meredith. He was also in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Naked City, plus A Global Affair (1964) with Bob Hope.

1970

In the 1970s Sterling ling was a vice President and the spokesman for a company that implemented the software for one of the first supermarket barcoding and computer inventory systems. He later launched Sterling & Sons, a Santa Monica company that manufactured custom golf clubs.

1980

In the 1980s he guest starred on shows like Fantasy Island, Simon & Simon, Masquerade, Murder, She Wrote, and Hotel.

2006

Sterling died Tuesday, May 30, 2006, aged 88, at his home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. According to the Associated Press, his son, Jeffrey, indicated that Sterling died of natural causes and also suffered from debilitating shingles for the last decade of his life.