‘Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ star Robert Vaughn dies

Robert Vaughn, best known for playing the suave Napoleon Solo in 1960s television spy series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and the last surviving actor from the original Magnificent Seven movie, died on Friday from leukemia, his manager, Matthew Sullivan, said.

Sullivan said Vaughn, 83, died in a hospital surrounded by his wife, Linda Staab, and two children, Cassidy and Caitlin. The actor had been receiving treatment for acute leukemia, he said.

New York-born Vaughn starred with David McCallum in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., a tonguein-cheek drama about battling world evil that was inspired by the James Bond books and movies.

“Robert and I worked together for many years and losing him is like losing a part of me,” McCallum said to TVLine.com on Friday.

The 1964 to 1968 series gave way to a number of spin-off movies, including One Spy Too Many and One of Our Spies is Missing, which also starred the two actors. Vaughn appeared in more than 200 movies and TV shows over his 60-year career, including the 1960 movie The Magnificent Seven, alongside Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. He was the last survivor of the movie’s original seven lead actors.

Other movies included Bullitt in 1968, again with McQueen, and The Young Philadelphians in 1959, for which he received a supporting actor Oscar nomination.

On television, Vaughn appeared in numerous shows, including The A-Team, a 1998 TV version of The Magnificent Seven, and, in 2012, as a character in the long-running British soap opera, Coronation Street.

Former British James Bond actor Sir Roger Moore was among those mourning his passing, tweeting “Sorry to hear the news about Robert Vaughn.”

British actor Stephen Fry said on Twitter that Vaughn was “such a fine actor, one of the best Columbo villains [no higher praise than that] and utterly charming man.”