Robert Fuller

Veteran actor Robert Fuller appeared as an extra in films such as "Julius Caesar" and "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" before a draft to the Korean War put his acting career on hold in the mid-1950s. Shortly after his return home, Fuller landed his first major film role in the cautionary youth drama "Teenage Thunder" by staging a fight in front of the director. With his deep, gravelly voice, the actor soon became a mainstay of TV Westerns, appearing on such series as "Lawman," "Wagon Train," and "The Restless Gun." His memorable guest performance on the gunslinging drama "Cimarron City" led to a starring role as the rugged stagecoach handler Jess Harper on the ranching drama "Laramie" (1959-1963). Fuller subsequently appeared in such Wild-West-flavored feature films as "Return of the Seven" and "Incident at Phantom Hill."

After the actor-producer Jack Webb saw Fuller's depiction of an on-the-run Vietnam veteran in the 1971 action drama "The Hard Ride," Webb tapped Fuller for a role on the influential medical series "Emergency!" Although the cowboy portrayer initially balked at the idea of playing a doctor, Fuller thrived on the series for seven seasons. Throughout the '80s and '90s, the actor appeared on such shows as "Diagnosis Murder" and "Murder, She Wrote." He closed his career with multiple appearances on the appropriately Western-themed series "Walker, Texas Ranger."