For four seasons, Robert Conrad and Ross Martin played out what it would’ve been like if James Bond had actually been a government spy in the wild and woolly old West in the classic TV show The Wild Wild West. While one would never, ever want to take anything away from Conrad’s wonderful portrayal of government agent Jim West, it must be said: Artemus Gordon was just as cool, if not more so. Sure, he didn’t get the ladies the way that West did, but Gordon truly was the better spy due to being a master of disguise.
Watching those two very talented actors, one could easily assume that they had probably been famous, or mostly famous, all of their lives. That is, however, not correct. In the case of Ross Martin, his parents were Polish immigrants. Martin came to the U.S. when he was very young and did not, upon arrival, even know how to speak English. He was, however, incredibly bright and picked up the language without any difficulty. Over the years, Martin would end up speaking multiple languages. He would also become a classically trained concert musician, as well as a law school graduate.