Actor. He was an American character actor, who began his acting career in summer stock theater and made his way to the Broadway stage by the age of 19 where he appeared in Shakespeare's "As You Like It" and "Much Ado About Nothing", as well as several other plays. He had privileged childhood being educated with tutors at home and in Europe. His first film role was as Emperor Caligula in the Biblical epic, "The Robe" in 1953 and would reprise the role in "Demetrius and the Gladiators" 1954. He would go on to appear in "The Virgin Queen" and "The Wild Party" both in 1955 and "My Man Godfrey " in 1957 before his arrest on a narcotics violation in 1958. Although his conviction was overturned, he would go on to serve 15 months in prison after unknowingly missing a date for retrial. The incident and resulting notoriety ruined his career. After scraping up work outside the entertainment industry as a cook and landlord, he recovered from his drug addiction and married. His good friend, Bette Davis, helped him get his first film role in 13 years, in 1971's "Bunny O'Hare" and would go on to appear in several more films including "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex - But Were Afraid to Ask" in 1972, "Three the Hard Way" in 1974, "Shampoo" in 1975, "Born Again" in 1978 and Bram Stoker's "Dracula" in 1992. On television he had roles in the soap opera "Days of Our Lives", "Star Trek," "Bewitched", "Room 222", "Hawaii Five-O", "The Waltons", "Barney Miller" and "Murder She Wrote," Robinson, who would later host and narrate the Discovery Channel's "Beyond Bizarre," died of natural causes.
Actor. He was an American character actor, who began his acting career in summer stock theater and made his way to the Broadway stage by the age of 19 where he appeared in Shakespeare's "As You Like It" and "Much Ado About Nothing", as well as several other plays. He had privileged childhood being educated with tutors at home and in Europe. His first film role was as Emperor Caligula in the Biblical epic, "The Robe" in 1953 and would reprise the role in "Demetrius and the Gladiators" 1954. He would go on to appear in "The Virgin Queen" and "The Wild Party" both in 1955 and "My Man Godfrey " in 1957 before his arrest on a narcotics violation in 1958. Although his conviction was overturned, he would go on to serve 15 months in prison after unknowingly missing a date for retrial. The incident and resulting notoriety ruined his career. After scraping up work outside the entertainment industry as a cook and landlord, he recovered from his drug addiction and married. His good friend, Bette Davis, helped him get his first film role in 13 years, in 1971's "Bunny O'Hare" and would go on to appear in several more films including "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex - But Were Afraid to Ask" in 1972, "Three the Hard Way" in 1974, "Shampoo" in 1975, "Born Again" in 1978 and Bram Stoker's "Dracula" in 1992. On television he had roles in the soap opera "Days of Our Lives", "Star Trek," "Bewitched", "Room 222", "Hawaii Five-O", "The Waltons", "Barney Miller" and "Murder She Wrote," Robinson, who would later host and narrate the Discovery Channel's "Beyond Bizarre," died of natural causes.
Bio by: Louis du Mort
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Jay Robinson
"The Robe"
And We Call Ourselves Christians!
April 14, 1930 - Sept. 27, 2013
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