Paul Mantee

Paul Mantee was an actor who worked in both film and television for more than 40 years. He is perhaps best known for the 1964 feature Robinson Crusoe on Mars and for the TV drama Cagney & Lacey. 

Born in San Francisco, Paul Mantee started "pretending" when he was very young, playing at being people like Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney. He toiled anonymously in the Hollywood vineyards for several years; it was this initial lack of success that worked in his favor when "an unfamiliar face" was sought for Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964). Most famous for his role in this 1964 sci-fi adventure, Mantee has in more recent years begun writing magazine articles and novels.

A native of San Francisco, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting after serving in the Navy. He got his start with roles on such television series as Steve Canyon, Dragnet and Hawaiian Eye, often as tough-guy characters.

Robinson Crusoe on Mars, a sci-fi drama inspired by the famed Daniel Defoe novel about a lone castaway, led to additional film work over the years. His other big-screen credits included Blood on the Arrow, An American Dream, A Man Called Dagger, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, That Man Bolt, Breakout, Framed, Day of the Animals, The Greatest, The Manitou, The Great Santini, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and Apollo 13.

He also compiled dozens of other TV credits, including episodes of Batman, The Fugitive, The FBI, Ironside, Mannix, The Six Million Dollar Man, Vega$, Quincy, M.E., Hunter and Seinfeld.

In later years, Mantee also became a prolific writer. The longtime resident of Malibu, California, resident penned a number of novels and wrote a regular column for the Malibu Times newspaper.

He died November 7, 2013, in Malibu.