Ross Martin

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, formerly the principal star of the ABC detective series, Hawaiian Eye. Martin's 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. Martin was nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series for the fourth and final season of Wild Wild West (1968–69). Read Less

He appeared as a guest star in several programs from the 1950s to the 1970s, including 87th Precinct, McCloud, Bonanza, Marshall Dillon episode "Bottleman", Honestly, Celeste! Sheriff of Cochise, Wonder Woman, Sanford and Son, Columbo, The Twilight Zone, One Step Beyond, The Law and Mr. Jones, Night Gallery, Mork & Mindy, Hawaii Five-O, and Charlie's Angels. He also appeared on the game shows Your First Impression and Password Plus, and voiced Agent 000 in The Robonic Stooges.

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 Oriental character caused plans for such a series to be discarded. Read Less