Robert Harland

Robert "Bob" Harland
Harland as Jack Flood (left) with Stephen McNally as Paul Marino in Target: The Corruptors!.
Born	Robert Yurgatis c. 1934 Pennsylvania, USA
Occupation	Actor: Law of the Plainsman Target: The Corruptors!
Spouse(s)	Jane Muriel Yurgatis née Earle (married c. 1956)
Children	Daughter (born 1957) Robert John Yurgatis

Robert "Bob" Harland (born Robert Yurgatis c. 1934^[1] in Pennsylvania) is a retired American actor whose principal work was performed on television in the late 1950s and 1960s. He appeared as a regular in the role of the young investigator Jack Flood on ABC's Target: The Corruptors! (1961–1962), co-starring with Stephen McNally as the newspaper reporter Paul Marino.^[2]

Background

In the 1940 United States Census, Harland was five years old and resided in Chester in Delaware County in far southeastern Pennsylvania. His parents, of Lithuanian descent, were Frank Yurgatis (1914-1960), a longshoreman,^[3] and Gabler Yurgatis (born c. 1916).^[4] Harland and his wife, the former Jane Earle (born 1938), have two children born in Chester, a daughter in 1957, and a son, Robert "Bob" Yurgatis.^[5]

Prior to Target: The Corruptors! Harland had previously appeared in a recurring role as Deputy Billy Lordan on NBC's Law of the Plainsman with Michael Ansara and Gina Gillespie. Among the episodes in which Harland appeared were "Trojan Horse", "Amnesty", "Rabbit's Fang", "A Question of Courage", "The Comet", "The Rawhiders", and "Common Ground".^[2]

Harland's first acting appearance occurred 1958 in the role of Hank Moore in the film, As Young As We Are. Pippa Scott plays a new high school teacher who falls in love with Harland, who turns out to be a student though Harland was about a year older than Scott at the time.^[6] Harland starred in one of the final episodes of CBS's The Millionaire fantasy drama series with Marvin Miller.^[2]

Other acting roles

His other early work was mostly on westerns, including appearances as Andy Forrest in the episode "A Case of Slow" on ABC's Black Saddle with Peter Breck.

On October 11, 1960, Harland and Gigi Perreau, cast as Lin and Sara Lou Proctor, play a young couple from the East who has eloped and is headed west in the second episode, "The Land Beyond", of ABC's Stagecoach West, with Wayne Rogers and Robert Bray. A mysterious stranger named Dawson, portrayed by Richard Anderson, is following the Proctors.^[7]

Harland appeared on November 3, 1960 as Mike Duane in the episode "Shorty" of NBC's The Outlaws with Barton MacLane and Don Collier. He starred in three episodes, all in 1960, on CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater as Jack Hoyt in "Knife of Hate", Lee Phelps in "Killer Instinct", and Les in "The Reckoning". He appeared in 1961 as Corporal Clay Taylor in an episode of NBC's Wagon Train, and as Phil Davies in "The Convict's Revenge" episode of ABC's The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp with Hugh O'Brian.^[2]

After 1962, Harland's work was mostly in dramas, such as ABC's Ben Casey with Vince Edwards and three times on CBS's Perry Mason (1963–1964) with Raymond Burr. Those episodes included the role of Kenneth L. "Ken" Judson in "The Case of the Greek Goddess" (1963),^[2] as Todd in "The Case of the Badgered Brother" (also 1963), and as title character and defendant Bill Jarvis in "The Case of the Bullied Bowler" (1964).^[8]

In 1961, Harland guest starred with Gloria Talbott in the episode "Terror in the Afternoon" of the syndicated crime drama The Brothers Brannagan. In 1964, he played the character Hal Jackson in the episode "Have Library, Will Travel" on the CBS sitcom, Petticoat Junction. In 1967, he guest-starred as agent MacGregor in the episode "The Gray Passenger" of the ABC crime series, The F.B.I., starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.^[2]

After a seven-year absence from the screen, Harland in 1973-1974 appeared four times as Sergeant Older in ABC's The Rookies in episodes entitled "Walk a Tightrope", "Rolling Thunder", "Eyewitness", and "A Matter of Justice". He also wrote two 1973 The Rookies episodes, "Margin for Error" and "Easy Money".^[2]

In 1988, after a 14-year absence from the screen, Harland made his last four television appearances, three times as James Rayford in the ABC night-time soap opera Dynasty. In 1997, Harland's last film role was as Bob Potter in The Rest of My Life.^[2]

While not acting, Harland was employed for many years at the Budweiser plant in Van Nuys, California. His son, Robert, worked at the plant too for thirty-one years before he retired in 2009.^[5]

References