Robert Wolders died a few days ago. Some know him for “LAREDO” and others know that he romanced a lot of famous older women.
He married Merle Oberon. Yes, the actress from another era. How…much…older…was she? 25 years older. In a bit of a steamy scandal, she dropped husband Bruno Pagliai and married Robert in 1975. She died in 1979.
The following year, smoldering Wolders burned in his heart for Audrey Hepburn. Audrey was a mere 7 years older. They never married, but they were a couple from 1980 to her death in 1979. A few years later, and he was carrying on with Leslie Caron, a mere 4 years older. He apparently dropped her in favor of Henry Fonda’s widow Shirlee. They were together until his death on July 12th. “And the odd thing,” Wolders once remarked, “is that Shirley was a great friend of Audrey, and a great friend of Merle.”
As for the exotic Netherland Lothario’s screen credits…they weren’t much. “I wasn’t much of an actor,” he admitted, but he had good looks and got a break with roles in two movies, a re-make of “Beau Geste” and “Tobruk.” Then he went into television.
He turned up as a charming mannequin in a few shows per year between 1968 and 1975, including “Name of the Game,” “The FBI,” “Dan August,” “Bewitched,” “Banacek,” “Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “MacMillan and Wife.” His resume is rather thin. His appearance on “Man from UNCLE” was kind of a fluke; David McCallum was holding out for more money, so they brought in the similarly odd-accented Wolders and slightly re-wrote the script.
Wolder played Erik (the name was his idea), a foppish cowboy on “Laredo.” It would be his most famous TV role. In 26 episodes, he played a kind of Western Ilya Kuryakin…sporting a peculiar accent and a very cool and condescending personality. “Laredo” was apparently failing in the ratings, and with the British invasion still simmering, he was called in to wear excessive and ridiculous paisley “Carnaby” outfits…the kind of thing Judy Carne might expect her boyfriend to wear on a dude ranch.
The other Texas Rangers (played by Wiliam Smith, Peter Brown and Neville Brand) were surprisingly tolerant of this unlikely European. The scripts suggested that being suave and intelligent was an option over brawn and gunplay in the Old West. The cast embraced newcomer Wolders, especially Neville Brand:
“He was a good man. He actually became my neighbor – or I became his neighbor, I should say, because he had been living in Malibu for many years. Then I moved two doors away from him, after the show…I came in the second year, and I expected that they might be resentful, but they were extremely helpful. I’d never done a Western, in fact I was a novice altogether to acting. They were extremely cordial.”
How cordial? For one scene in which Wolders couldn’t manage a fast draw, Wiliam Smith put on Wolders’ pants and shirt and in close-up, did the stunt for him.
Wolders admitted he was a “terrible actor,” and was content to leave show business after his Universal contract lapsed. In his 70’s, he sometimes turned up at memorabilia shows, more to visit old co-workers like William Smith and Peter Brown (pictured). The $20 to sign a photo for some obese and giddy fan was secondary to him. He was surprised and delighted by the way fans remembered him and the show, and how much the series meant to them.
“Laredo” remains a cult classic. Many point out that it was a kind of Western version of “Gunga Din,” which had two young swashbucklers playing jokes on an older soldier, but all sticking up for each other. That sense of fun was present on “Laredo.” The younger Texas Rangers all had a lot of attitude, and a funny sense of detachment about disposing of bad guys. A fistfight would often begin with a quip. Neville Brand, playing the older Reese Bennett, was usually the butt of practical jokes and playful schemes, but always seemed to forget the abuse and end up with a low growl of “ooooh, you guys,” and then a big horse-teethed smile.
Despite its short run of only two seasons (it was buried on Friday night at 10pm and NBC wouldn’t give it another year and a better time slot) there are enough episodes for re-run on cable, and the entire show is available on DVD. By Wolders’ own account, it contains his best acting.
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