Robert Bray was a movie and TV actor who is best known for playing forest ranger Corey Stuart on the family show "Lassie." He was born in Kalispell, Montana, in 1917, to parents who had homesteaded in the state, and later moved with his family to Seattle, where he went to Lincoln High School. After high school he worked tough outdoor jobs, including as a lumberjack and a cowboy, and in the 1930s he spent time in the Civilian Conservation Corps helping with conservation projects.

In 1942, during World War II, Bray joined the United States Marine Corps and served in the South Pacific, finishing his service with the rank of master sergeant. After the war he returned to Hollywood and, in 1946, began acting in movies for the RKO studio, often in Westerns and action films. During the 1950s he took many different roles, including Carl the bus driver in the movie "Bus Stop" with Marilyn Monroe in 1956 and private detective Mike Hammer in the film "My Gun Is Quick" in 1957.

Bray also acted in many TV shows. In 1960-1961 he played Simon Kane, one of the owners of a stage line, in the Western series "Stagecoach West." He appeared several times on popular shows such as "Laramie," "Perry Mason," and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," usually as tough lawmen, cowboys, or detectives. In 1964 he won the role that made him famous with children: forest ranger Corey Stuart on "Lassie," where he worked with the smart collie in stories about rescues and adventures in the national forest until his character was written out of the show in the late 1960s after being badly hurt in a forest fire story.

Away from the camera, Robert Bray loved the outdoors. He and his wife, Joan, retired to Bishop, California, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, near places where he had once filmed Westerns. He enjoyed fly fishing, hunting, and carving model ducks, and was often seen around town in his motorhome with his dog, Lady. Bray died of a heart attack in 1983 at age 65, after appearing in well over 100 movies and TV episodes during his career.