`UNSOLVED MYSTERIES' CELEBRATES ITS 100TH

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 19, 1992                   TAG: 9202180244
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
`UNSOLVED MYSTERIES' CELEBRATES ITS 100TH
Hollywood is full of unsolved mysteries. One is the secretary Robert Stack met in a producer's office. She didn't know he played Eliot Ness years ago in "The Untouchables." He loves to tell the story.
"She says, `What's your name?' I say Stack. She says `Stick?' I say no, Stack. Guy in the office says, `Don't you know who that is? That's Eliot Ness.' She says, `That ain't Ness. I seen the movie last night.' "
That's the Now Generation. But Stack is not in the Then category, even though he is 73 and made his acting debut with Deanna Durbin in a 1939 film musical, "First Love."
He currently headlines NBC's high-rated "Unsolved Mysteries," a solemn, stentorian-toned host who outlines true stories of crime most foul, people who disappear without explanation, and occasional medical miracles.
He may seem the Voice of Doom, the Great Stone Face. But off-screen, he is a funny, witty guy who, should the whim strike, probably could give the young hopefuls of cable comedy shows a good run for their funny.
Indeed, Stack, an Oscar-winner in 1956 for a raging melodrama called "Written on the Wind," did a well-received bit of silly a few years ago in the loony movie, "Airplane." He may do another movie comedy soon.
But as a certified Hollywood veteran, he doesn't want to talk about new projects because "if something falls through, someone always says, `Hey, I saw that picture. You weren't in it.' '
Tonight at 8, Stack will don his formal face again for a two-hour, 100th edition of "Unsolved Mysteries" on WSLS Channel 10. The special definitely is for the current ratings period; it even includes tales of UFOs sighted in Wytheville, Va., 1987-90.
"Mysteries" began in 1987 as a series of seven specials, the first with Raymond Burr as host. Karl Malden did the next two, and Stack the rest.
NBC bought it as a regular series for the fall of 1988, and it is Stack's fifth network series since "The Untouchables" on ABC from 1959 to 1963.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB