That doesn’t mean Culp or the others were always in fifth gear. In fact, it was their range that was most impressive and you could argue that each was at their best when they intentionally tamped down the titan qualities of their personalities and turned them inward. This effectively gave the quiet characters they portrayed a fascinating hair-triggered explosive dimension that always kept you wondering what they were capable of. As Elmer Gantry, Burt Lancaster created an unforgettable icon. But as Labiche, the stoic railway official forced to physical action in John Frankenheimer’s “The Train,” he carried that film with the kind of quiet authority only a Burt Lancaster could possess. Or a Robert Culp.

Though the series lasted only 44 episodes and three seasons, Culp’s work as Agent Bill Maxwell on “The Greatest American Hero” ranks, in my opinion, as one of the all-time great television characters ever created. Right up there with Jim Rockford, Ralph Kramden, Al Bundy, Carl Kolchak, and Fred Sanford.

Culp poured so much gusto, bravado (much of it wonderfully false), pathos and humanity into creator Stephen J. Cannell’s character that there were times you thought he might burst. And burst Maxwell did, right off the screen. His jargon alone — scenario, jammies – was hilarious, and his affection for guns and dog biscuits never came off as quirks created by writers in search of a gimmick. Culp made it all seem honest and easy.  What a pleasure it must have been to write for an actor capable of pulling such things off, capable of grounding them in real life.

Bill Maxwell was deliciously complicated and the actor infused every exquisite line reading with enough neurosis mixed with confidence to make us acutely aware that our by-the-book patriot who hated Commies as much as he loved America was something much bigger than the one-dimensional cartoon character he seemed to want to be. And as the series rolled into its second season and we learned more about the F.B.I. Agent’s insecurities and lonely personal life, nothing seemed contrived because Culp had delivered all those layers right from the beginning. With the unspoken he had made Maxwell a mystery we couldn’t wait to unravel.

A couple of years ago I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Culp at an autograph show. It was early, I was one of the first ones there and before the crowd made it impossible for such things, I headed straight over to the actor and spent a few minutes trying not to gush. He looked great, was unfailingly gracious and it was obvious from our conservation that he was as proud of the many teleplays he had written as anything else. Well, he had every right to be.  

At the end of the second season, in an episode titled “Lilacs, Mr. Maxwell,” all the rich character track that had been laid finally came together when our true-blue F.B.I. Agent fell in love with a foreign enemy agent. By any standard, this is an absolutely superb episode of dramatic television. For fans, it’s certainly one of the most satisfying and memorable.

Robert Culp not only wrote this episode, he directed it.

Bill Maxwell was the last truly heroic God, Guns and Guts, open and proud conservative to grace our television sets and thanks to excellent writing and perfect casting, he was portrayed as a real and sympathetic human being. This was a part no one else could’ve played and the chemistry Culp shared with his equally invaluable co-stars, William Katt and Connie Selleca, turned a silly concept into an under-appreciated television series (at least the first two seasons) that explored the human condition with more intelligence and grace than any episode of “Thirtysomething.”

To truly appreciate the actor’s talent, juxtapose Culp’s Bill Maxwell with his turn as a bespectacled bounty hunter and mentor to Raquel Welch in “Hannie Caulder.” The film itself is flawed, but Culp is a revelation taking on the kind of part we’ve seen a hundred times – the world-weary killer – and spinning gold from it. Had this satisfying but wildly uneven Western revenger been half as good as the actor who effortlessly stole it right out from under his co-stars, he might have been nominated for an Oscar.

Robert Culp could be Elmer Gantry and he could be Labiche.

Great actor, great star, great writer, and a great loss.

This is one of my favorite genres, especially when it comes to the smaller, lesser known – or better yet – less respected members of this family. Sure, there’s “Star Trek II,” “Once Upon a Time in the West,” “The Sting,” “Man on Fire,” and both “Kill Bill” films – love ‘em all, and so do you, but here are five you may have missed that are even more satisfying than their better known cousins.

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1. Death Wish II (1982) – Michael Winner’s first “Death Wish” (1974) is often mistaken as a revenge film when it’s really a vigilante film. For we purists that distinction matters. The original may show up on all kinds of Top 10 Revenge Film lists but at no time does Bronson’s Paul Kersey look for the thugs who murdered his wife and raped his daughter. What he does do is take it to the streets as an avenging angel to overcome his own sense of helplessness. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great because punks get blown away and liberal critics howl, but a revenger it is not.

Winner’s follow-up, however, is an epic of revenge, one of the most exploitive, manipulative and satisfying movies ever made. Bronson was 60 at the time and at the height of human achievement in pure badassery. Watching The Mighty One, dressed in black from top to bottom, stalk the seedy streets of Los Angeles hunting the punks who raped and murdered his daughter as Jimmy Page’s howling score skews the tone into something surreal is as good as it gets.

The cherry on top? Well, that would be the subtextual viewing pleasure of knowing how much critics hate it.

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2. Act of Violence (1948) – In “The Searchers,” John Wayne’s Ethan Edwards describes his own determination with this famous quote:

Seems like he never learns there’s such a thing as a critter that’ll just keep comin’ on. So we’ll find ‘em in the end, I promise you. We’ll find ‘em. Just as sure as the turnin’ of the earth.

Post-war Los Angeles — when California was still known as “Sunny California,” — and war hero Van Heflin’s done quite well for himself: Nice home, thriving business, cute little son, and best of all, his wife looks exactly like Janet Leigh. Unfortunately, there’s this…

Scrape … scrape … scrape … scrape…

That sound has relentlessly haunted Heflin over an ocean and across America, and now it’s knocking on the front door in the form of Robert Ryan who will have his revenge on Heflin … just as sure as the turnin’ of the earth.

Fred Zinneman directs this splendidly shot, tightly plotted piece of noir that’s deserving of a revival and finally available on DVD. I won’t spoil a drop of story, but the performances are as good as it gets, especially Oscar-winner Mary Astor in a late-career supporting role, and the wrap-up is hugely satisfying on every level. Well worth a Netflix, to say the least.

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3. Coffy (1973) – A masterpiece of blaxploitation thanks to Pam Grier’s ridiculously sexy and determined presence as a nurse out to get The Man who fed her sister contaminated heroin. Every scene reaches for “cool” and delivers. Sure, the acting’s stiff and the action’s over-rehearsed, but with dialogue like this…

Vitroni: Crawl, ni**er!
Coffy: [pulls gun] You want me to crawl, white motherf**ker?
Vitroni: What’re you doing? Put that down.
Coffy: You want to spit on me and make me crawl? I’m gonna piss on your grave tomorrow.

… if you catch me on the right day I’ll tell you “Coffy” is the greatest movie ever made. There’s just something distinctive and sublime about a genre film that aims for a target and hits the bullseye.

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4. Chato’s Land (1972) – Two years before kicking off the “Death Wish” franchise, director Michael Winner and Charles Bronson teamed up for the first time to give the revenge genre a test-drive with this  satisfying and violent Western about a half-breed Apache (Bronson) hunted by a posse after he kills a sheriff in self-defense.

You don’t need me to tell you that some tables find themselves turned and thanks to a splendid supporting cast consisting of Jack Palance, James Whitmore, Ralph Waite, Richard Jordan and  Victor French, there is all kinds of pleasure to be had in that table turn as the posse degenerates into lawlessness and in-fighting.

Imposing over every frame is the stoic and fearsome Bronson whose transformation from a quiet, peaceable man wanting to get home to his family, into a relentless revenging angel with a righteous cause is something few actors could pull off believably.

Acting’s in the eyes, not the affectations … and Bronson made you believe.

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5. Hannie Caulder (1971) – Raquel Welch starred in three outstanding Westerns between 1968 and 1971 — this, “Bandolero!” (1968) and “100 Rifles” (1969). Beyond her stunning physical appearance, Welch is progressively better in each of them and with “Hannie Caulder” impressively carries the film mostly on her own. There to help her is Robert Culp (one of my favorite unheralded actors in one of his best film roles) as a slightly offbeat bounty hunter, but Raquel adds some real brawn to her beauty as a woman determined to learn the way of the gun in order to have her revenge on the three men who raped her and killed her husband.

Burt Kennedy directs and adapted the screenplay, so it’s sure to be a lean, satisfying 85 minutes. Ernest Borgnine, Strother Martin, Jack Elam and Christopher Lee fill out an excellent supporting cast and a surprisingly (for director Kennedy, anyway) odd sense of humor pervades everything.

An unconventional  film, but more than worthy.