Robert F. Kennedy and Robert Vaughn in 1968.

Imagine if George Clooney suddenly moved down the block from you, in your middle class, suburban town…

And — In some parallel universe, Robert Vaughn may well be in his EIGTH term, as the Senator from California (or a veteran of an even higher office)?

Just imagine, with help from James H. Burns’ profile of Robert Vaughn — “The Man From U.N.C.L.E. – The Long Island Affair”.

Vaughn had actually been on the South Shore only nine months earlier, in Valley Stream, when his U.N.C.L.E. co-star, McCallum, got married to model and actress Katherine Carpenter from Cedarhurst. The couple had met in 1965, when the U.N.C.L.E. stars participated in a photo shoot for Glamour magazine.

News of the nuptials was attempted to be kept quiet but by the afternoon of September 16, 1967, at the Lutheran Church of Our Saviour, an estimated 2000 kids (and some of their parents!) filled the sidewalks at at the corner of Rockaway and Dubious Avenues in Valley Stream.

“The number of people there was tremendous,” says Vaughn. :”It was like one of the Beatles was getting married. In fact, they used to call David, “The Blonde Beatle!”

 

Katherine Carpenter and David McCallum.