Robert Mauch, a teenage actor in the 1930s who with his brother, William, was known as one of the Mauch Twins, died October 15 at a Santa Rosa, Calif., hospital. He was 86.

Mauch, who left acting for a career as a film editor, was best known for his role as the prince in “The Prince and the Pauper,” a 1937 film that also featured his twin, who played the pauper. Two boys secretly change places in the movie that is based on a novel by Mark Twain.

The identical Mauch twins “give credibility on the screen to a Mark Twain story that hinges entirely on the physical resemblance of the two young boys,” according to a 1937 review in the Los Angeles Times.

Mauch and his brother appeared together in several more films, including “Penrod and His Twin Brother” and “Penrod’s Double Trouble,” before Robert gave up acting in the late 1930s.

“The Mauch Twins had a flurry of popularity,” film historian Leonard Maltin said Tuesday. “Their star shone bright for a short time, but they were well known.”

As a film editor, Mauch worked for some years on “Dragnet,” the popular police TV drama of the 1950s that starred Jack Webb.

The Mauch brothers were born July 6, 1921, in Peoria, Ill. They worked in radio before moving to Los Angeles with their mother in the 1930s to pursue movie careers.

During their senior year at the Mar-Ken School for professional children in Hollywood, Mauch and his brother ran for class president as a team. Their winning slogan was “Two Heads Are Better Than One.”

The brothers later appeared together in “Winged Victory,” a Broadway show that opened in 1943 that was intended as a morale booster during the war.