Jay Robinson

Jay Robinson (April 14, 1930 – September 27, 2013) was an American actor born in New York City who built a career spanning stage, film, and television across more than five decades. His mother was a dancer and his father served as a director of the Van Heusen Shirt Company. Robinson's interest in acting was sparked by the discovery of a scrapbook documenting his mother's dance career.

Robinson began his professional training in summer stock theatre and repertory companies before reaching Broadway, where he performed between 1949 and 1952. His stage credits included Gayden, Much Ado About Everything, Buy Me Blue Ribbons, As You Like It, and The Shop at Sly Corner. Among those productions were adaptations of Shakespeare, and Robinson had accumulated several Broadway appearances by the age of 19.

His transition to film brought immediate and significant attention. In 1953 he made his screen debut as Emperor Caligula in The Robe, a role he reprised the following year in the sequel Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954). The visibility of those two films elevated Robinson's profile considerably, though the celebrity that followed contributed to personal difficulties. By his mid-twenties he had developed a reputation for being difficult on set and had begun experimenting with drugs. In 1958 he was arrested for possession of narcotics, specifically methadone. He was sentenced to a year in jail, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. The resulting publicity nonetheless severely damaged his career for nearly a decade. A subsequent warrant for an unknowingly missed court date during his earlier retrial led to Robinson serving 15 months in jail. During the period when his acting work dried up, he supported himself working as a cook and landlord. He credited letters from his friend Bette Davis with helping him persevere, and Davis later helped him secure his first film role in 13 years in Bunny O'Hare (1971).

Robinson's film work outside of the Caligula roles covered a wide range of genres. He appeared alongside Bette Davis in The Virgin Queen (1955) and with David Niven and June Allyson in My Man Godfrey (1957). He had a role in Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972) and played Monroe Feather in the blaxploitation film Three the Hard Way (1974), starring Jim Brown, Jim Kelly, and Fred Williamson, a character later recreated in Undercover Brother. In 1975 he played Norman in Shampoo, the character who serves as the boss of Warren Beatty's role, and also appeared in the pop musical Train Ride to Hollywood. Born Again (1978), the film adaptation of the book about Watergate figure Charles W. Colson, featured Robinson as Colson's attorney, with Dean Jones in the title role. He appeared in Partners (1982) with Ryan O'Neal and John Hurt, and in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).

Robinson also recorded two Folkways albums of Shakespeare in 1964: Othello: William Shakespeare and William Shakespeare: King Richard III. His television career was extensive. Guest appearances included Star Trek: The Original Series in the episode "Elaan of Troyius," The Wild Wild West, and Planet of the Apes. He appeared in two episodes of Bewitched, portraying Julius Caesar in 1969 and Professor Poindexter Phipps in 1970, and in one episode of Room 222 in 1971. Robinson appeared as different characters across five episodes of Mannix between 1968 and 1974, in three episodes of The Waltons between 1975 and 1976, and in two episodes of Barney Miller, "The Sniper" in 1976 and "The Tontine" in 1982. During 1974 he played a museum director in the Kolchak: The Night Stalker episode "Chopper" and took a dual role in the Banacek mystery "Now You See Him, Now You Don't." He guest-starred as Cassius Thorne in the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode "Planet of the Amazon Women" in 1979 and appeared as a governor in the Tales of the Gold Monkey episode "Last Chance Louie" in 1983. Two episodes of Murder, She Wrote featured Robinson in 1987 and 1991, and he appeared on Cheers in 1989. He starred in the title role of Dr. Shrinker, part of Sid and Marty Krofft's The Krofft Supershow, and was a regular on the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives from 1988 to 1989, playing Monty Dolan. Before retiring from performing, he served as host and narrator of the Discovery Channel program Beyond Bizarre from 1997 to 2000.

Robinson was married twice. His first marriage, to Pauline Flowers in 1960, lasted until her death in 2002, and the couple had one son together. He subsequently married Gloria Casas in 2004, a union that continued until his death on September 27, 2013.