Stack Pierce

Robert Stack Pierce (June 15, 1933 – March 1, 2016) was an American actor, boxer and professional baseball player. His acting career began in the early 1970s with television roles in the series Arnie, Room 222, Mannix, Mission Impossible and later as Jake, the alien commander in the 1980s science fiction series V. His film roles include Night Call Nurses, Hammer, Cool Breeze, Low Blow and Weekend at Bernie's II.

Background Pierce was a state boxing champion. Later he played professional baseball, beginning with the Cleveland Indians organization and later the Milwaukee Braves organization.

He has had prominent and recurring roles in a number of Leo Fong exploitation films as well as a few Fred Williamson films. Among the films in which he appeared with Williamson are Hammer (1972), No way Back (1976, in the part of Bernie). Others included, The Big Score (1983), The Messenger (1986) and Transformed (2005).

He has appeared on Michael Dante's radio show, On Deck.

Acting career 1960s to 1970s Pierce's entry into acting came about as a result of his wife's encouragement. She pushed him to audition for his first play, Ebonites. He was diligent in studying acting and did a lot of work with a repertory company. played the role of Jon Sampson in the Jonathan Kaplan directed Night Call Nurses; and appeared in Hammer, his first of five films, over his career, that starred Fred Williamson.

1980s In 1980, Pierce played Frank Washington in The Last Reunion, his first of seven films, over his career, that starred Leo Fong. In 1980, Pierce was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for his role in the "Sweet Land of Liberty" episode of the television series Quincy, M.E..

He also appeared with Wings Hauser and Beverly Todd in the 1982 cult classic grindhouse film Vice Squad, playing a garage owner who Hauser heads for after escaping from the police. In 1983, he appeared as Captain Jake, the alien commander in the science fiction television series V. In 1984, he was in another Leo Fong film, Killpoint, appearing as Nighthawk, the stone faced henchman for a weapons dealer. In 1986, he was in another Fong film, Low Blow as Duke, in a story about the daughter of a wealthy businessman who was kidnapped by a religious cult and a detective who was hired to get her back.

1990s to 2000s In 1997, Pierce appeared as Will in Paolo Mazzucato's Moonbase, a film about a crew running a garbage dump on the moon and having to ward off deranged escaped inmates from an orbiting prison satellite who are after nuclear weapons buried in the rubbish.

Pierce then stepped away from acting, caring for his wife, Marion, until she died of cancer in June, 1998. In the years after her death, he became a stage director, including productions of A Raisin in the Sun, My Brothers' Blood, In My Father's House and One Last Look. In December 2011, Pierce was one of the celebrity golfers in the Dennis James Golf Classic's 16th annual tournament.

Pierce had to step back from coaching baseball after he suffered a stroke in 2012.

Death Pierce died on March 1, 2016, in the US.

Filmography

Cool Breeze (1972) .... Tinker Night Call Nurses (1972) .... Jon Sampson Hammer (1972) .... Roughhouse Trouble Man (1972) .... Collie Jarrett (1973, TV Movie) .... Prison guard Trader Horn (1973) .... Malugi Cleopatra Jones (1973) .... Minor Role (uncredited) The Healers (1974, TV Movie) Newman's Law (1974) .... Baines The Law (1974, TV Movie) .... Bright's Guard, County Jail A Cry for Help (1975, TV Movie) .... Sgt. Mike Reese The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) .... Detective Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975) .... Sam Hamilton Killer Force (1975) .... Emilio The Six Million Dollar Man (1976, TV Series) .... Officer Randolph Kiss Me, Kill Me (1976, TV Movie) .... Sergent No Way Back (1976) .... Bernie The Greatest (1977) .... Johnson Lucy Calls the President (1977, TV Movie) .... Secret Service Agent Stockley Good Guys Wear Black (1978) .... Holly Washington – The Black Tigers Flesh & Blood (1979, TV Movie) .... Big Moony The Last Reunion (1980) .... Frank Washington The Incredible Hulk (1977-1982) .... Cop / Sgt. Nicholson Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story (1980, TV Movie) .... Presser Charlie and the Great Balloon Chase (1981, TV Movie) .... Lucas Vice Squad (1982) .... Roscoe V (1983, TV Mini-Series) .... Visitor Captain Jake WarGames (1983) .... Airman The Big Score (1983) .... New Sawyer and Finn (1983, TV Movie) .... Jim The Fall Guy (1983, TV Series) (To the Finish S03E11) .... Policeman Killpoint (1984) .... Nighthawk V: The Final Battle (1984, TV Mini-Series) .... Visitor Captain Jake 24 Hours to Midnight (1985) .... White Powder Chan Born American (1986) .... The Admiral (voice, uncredited) Low Blow (1986) .... Corky The Patriot (1986) .... Atkins The Messenger (1986) .... Leroy I Saw What You Did (1988, TV Movie) .... Policeman It's Murphy's Fault (1988) .... Spider Jackson Blood Street (1988) .... Solomon Enemy Unseen (1989) .... Josh No witnesses (1990) A Rage in Harlem (1991) .... Coffin Ed Weekend at Bernie's II (1993) .... Claudia's Dad Out of Darkness (1994, TV Movie) .... Dr Brook Human Desires (1997) .... Smokey Moonbase (1997) .... Will Transformed (2005) .... The mayor (final film role)