Robert Nichols (July 20, 1924 – March 21, 2013) was an American

character actor A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting character (arts), characters in supporting roles, rather than leading ones.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrie ...

, singer, and dancer. His television, theater and film career spanned more than seventy years.

Life and career

Robert Nichols was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, the son of Edna (née Beemer) and Ray D. Nichols, a real estate broker. He began his career in entertainment as a student at Oakland High School. Nichols enlisted with the U.S. Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, performing with the Special Services to entertain U.S. troops during the war. He performed on domestic U.S. military bases and managed a jazz band in Japan during the post-war period. Nichols was awarded a scholarship for the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central London ...

, a drama school in London, following World War II. He began performing on in theater while living in London. In 1949, Nichols made his film debut in ''

I Was a Male War Bride ''I Was a Male War Bride'' is a 1949 screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan. The film was based on "Male War Bride Trial to Army", a biography of Henri Rochard (pen name of Roger Charlier), a ...

'', which was shot in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. He was deported from the United Kingdom soon after because he did not have a British

work permit A work permit or work visa is the permission to take a job within a foreign country. The foreign country where someone seeks to obtain a work permit for is also known as the "country of work", as opposed to the "country of origin" where someone ho ...

. In 1950, soon after his deportation, Nichols met his future wife, Jennifer, at her 19th birthday beach party near

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

. They became engaged after two dates and were married just two months later. Jennifer Nichols later worked as a film wardrobe supervisor. Nichols worked in American film and television throughout the 1950s. In the episode "Doc Holliday Rewrites History" of ''

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'' is the first Western television series written for adults.Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

, notably the Broadway productions of ''

The Man Who Came to Dinner ''The Man Who Came to Dinner'' is a comedy play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It debuted on October 16, 1939, at the Music Box Theatre in New York City, where it ran until 1941, closing after 739 performances. It then enjoyed a number of ...

'', ''

Man and Superman ''Man and Superman'' is a four-act drama written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903, in response to a call for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. ''Man and Superman'' opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 21 May 1905 as a fou ...

'' and ''

Take Me Along ''Take Me Along'' is a 1959 musical based on the 1933 Eugene O'Neill play '' Ah, Wilderness!'', with music and lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Joseph Stein and Robert Russell.Mandelbaum, Ke"Ken Mandelbaum's Musicals On Disc: Remembering Bob Me ...

''. Nichols and his wife purchased property to build a home in Occidental, Sonoma County, California, in 1991. He continued to act and perform until the early 2000s. His last theater role was in the musical ''

Ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

'', appearing in Los Angeles, Chicago and

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. Nichols died from heart failure at his Occidental home on March 21, 2013, at the age of 88.

Filmography

Discography

* Jerome Kern: ''Show Boat'', conducted by John McGlinn, EMI, 1988

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Robert 1924 births 2013 deaths American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art People from Occidental, California Male actors from Oakland, California Military personnel from California People deported from the United Kingdom United States Army personnel of World War II Oakland High School (Oakland, California) alumni