I just learned of the death of actor Jay Robinson, who played Caligula in The Robe and Demetrius and the Gladiators and the 70s Saturday morning kids adventure show, Dr. Shrinker. Even worse was finding a good mainstream news story about his death. It is a shame because not only would many Generation X people remember him, but the story of his career is really interesting. Here is the best article I found, it is this excellent post from The Scott Rollins Film and TV Trivia Blog.
He was busted for drugs at the height of his career, followed by years of not being able to work and legal problems. Bette Davis helped him get back to work. Here is a portion of the Better Davis episode of This Is Your Life, where Jay Robinson thanks Bette for being his friend (Robinson is after Victor Bueno and comedienne who does an impression of Davis).
Dr. Shrinker is one of the pop culture villains that I used as a model for my writing voice on the original blog. Here is a bit of Dr. Shinker.
2 comments:
I posted about his passing on my tumblr blog, but it seems like no one noticed or cared. Sad. I remember him so well, he was so over-the-top, but as a kid, super creepy and scary. He shall be missed.
Wow, what a bummer. I used to love this show when I was a kid.
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