Ross Martin (March 22, 1920 – July 3, 1981) was an American actor known for playing Artemus Gordon in the western TV series The Wild Wild West.
Martin was born into a Jewish family as Martin Rosenblatt on March 22, 1920, in Grodek, Poland, but grew up on New York City's Lower East Side. He spoke Yiddish, Polish and Russian before learning English and later added French, Spanish and Italian to his repertoire.
Despite academic training (and honors) in business, instruction, and law, Martin chose a career in acting. He made his Broadway debut in Hazel Flagg in 1953. His first film was the George Pal production Conquest of Space, followed by a brief, but memorable appearance in The Colossus of New York (1958), as the scientist father of Charles Herbert. Soon after, he caught the eye of Blake Edwards who cast him in a number of widely varied roles (Mr. Lucky and Experiment in Terror), culminating with a role in The Great Race, as the smoothly villainous Baron Rolfe Von Stuppe.
After his performance in The Great Race, CBS cast him in what was to become his most famous part, Secret Service agent Artemus Gordon in The Wild Wild West, opposite Robert Conrad. His character, a master gadgeteer and disguise artist, fitted Martin perfectly. Unknown to most, Martin created most of his disguises for the show and most of the cast had no idea what he'd look like until seeing him during the shooting of the episode. The recent DVD release of the first season of the series includes a recently-discovered pre-production sketch Martin had made of his very first make-up design for the pilot episode. Another episode revealed another of Martin's talents, that he was a concert-trained violinist.
In 1967, he married Olavee Grindrod and adopted her two children. He'd had a daughter with his first wife. Martin suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 1968, forcing The Wild Wild West to temporarily replace him with other actors, including Charles Aidman, William Schallert and Alan Hale, Jr. (the series was cancelled the following year).
He appeared as a guest star in several programs during the 1960s and 1970s, including Wonder Woman, Sanford and Son, Columbo, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Mork and Mindy, Hawaii Five-O and Charlie's Angels.
Martin starred in a 1973 made-for-TV movie, The Return of Charlie Chan, portraying famed Asian detective Charlie Chan as a retiree forced to return to detective work. Although the movie received ratings more than sufficient enough for a regular series to be ordered, intense pressure from Asian actors' groups who protested an Occidental playing an Asian character caused plans for such a series to be discarded.
He reprised the role of Artemus Gordon in a pair of Wild, Wild West television movies in 1979 and 1980, reuniting with his co-star Conrad. The films were highly rated and there were plans to revive Wild Wild West as a series, but Martin collapsed while playing tennis on July 3, 1981, and died from a heart attack, aged 61.
Martin is interred in Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
Born in Grodek, Poland, Ross Martin grew up on New York City's Lower East Side. He spoke Yiddish, Polish, and Russian before even learning English and later added French, Spanish, and Italian to his amazing repertoire. Despite academic training (and receiving honors in) business, instruction, and law, M. Martin chose a career of acting. His first film was the George Pal production Conquest of Space (1955). Soon after, he caught the eye of Blake Edwards who cast him in a number of widely varied roles, culminating with a fantastic part in Great Race, The (1965). Ross somehow managed a series in between, the short-lived "Mr. Lucky" (1959). With the release of Great Race, The (1965), CBS cast him in what was to become his most famous part, Secret Service agent Artemus Gordon in "Wild Wild West, The" (1965), opposite Robert Conrad (I). Perhaps the show's cancellation in 1969 was for the best - he suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 1968. Afraid to take the risk of having a lead actor with a heart condition, the networks snubbed him with regards to a lead role, yet he appeared as a guest star in an amazing number of programs, not all dramatic masterpieces. Yet Ross loved to act, and took every role which came his way. Ross Martin (I) collapsed while playing tennis, the heart condition finally taking its toll on July 3rd, 1981.
