Rex Robbins

Rex McNicol Robbins (March 30, 1935 – September 23, 2003) was an American character actor whose career spanned stage, film, and television across four decades. Born in Pierre, South Dakota, to Lucy Geraldine (McNicol), a journalist, and Clarence Edward Robbins, a physician, he went on to become a graduate of Yale University. He was married and had three children.

Robbins made his Broadway debut in 1963 playing the doctor in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, launching a stage career that would encompass more than thirty plays. Among his notable Broadway credits were Players, Play Memory, King Richard II, An Almost Perfect Person, and Into the Woods. He appeared opposite Angela Lansbury in the 1974 Broadway revival of Gypsy, in which he portrayed Herbie. He also replaced David Ogden Stiers in The Magic Show, the long-running Doug Henning musical. His final Broadway appearance came in 2000, when he played Mr. Brown in the musical adaptation of James Joyce's The Dead.

Beyond Broadway, Robbins performed alongside John Lithgow in several British productions, including The Changing Room in 1973 and Comedians in 1976. Lithgow directed him that same year in Boy Meets Girl, based on the 1938 film. He also took on the role of the Narrator and Mysterious Man in the first national tour of Into the Woods. His off-Broadway work included Urban Blight at Manhattan Theatre Club, A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room at Playwrights Horizons, and Henry IV, Part I at the Public Theater.

Robbins maintained a parallel film career throughout his stage work. In 1971 he appeared in Shaft as Rollie, and the following year he played Roger Sherman in the film version of the musical 1776. His subsequent film appearances included Simon (1980), Reuben, Reuben (1983), The Secret of My Success (1987), Vampire's Kiss (1988), and I.Q. (1994), among others. His final film role was a brief appearance as Mr. Levinson in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).

Robbins died of a stroke on September 23, 2003, at the age of 68.