Michael Robbins

Michael Robbins
File:Michael Robbins, British actor, from On the Buses TV series.gif
Born	Michael Anthony Robbins (1930-11-14)14 November 1930 London, England
Died	Caterham, Surrey, England
Cause of death	Cancer
Resting place	Cremation
Nationality	English
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1957–1991
Spouse(s)	Hal Dyer (?–1992; his death)
Children	2

Michael Anthony Robbins (14 November 1930 – 11 December 1992) was an English actor and comedian best known for his on-going role as Arthur Rudge in the TV sitcom and film versions of On the Buses (1969–72).

Career

Born in London, Robbins was a bank clerk who became an actor after appearing in amateur dramatic performances in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, where he and his family lived at the time. Robbins made his television debut as the cockney soldier in Roll-on Bloomin' Death. Primarily a comedy actor, he is best remembered for the role of Arthur Rudge, the persistently sarcastic husband of Olive (Anna Karen), in the popular sitcom On the Buses (1969–73). Robbins and Karen provided the secondary comic storyline to Reg Varney's comedy capers at the bus depot. Robbins also appeared in the series film spin-offs, On the Buses, Mutiny on the Buses, and Holiday on the Buses. His other comedy credits include non-recurring roles in Man About the House, The Good Life, One Foot in the Grave, The New Statesman, George and Mildred, Hi-de-Hi! and You Rang, M'Lord?. He appeared as a rather humorously portrayed police sergeant in the TV adaptation of Brendon Chase.

As well as these comic roles, he assumed various straight roles in some of the major British television shows of the 1960s and 1970s: including Minder, The Sweeney, Z-Cars, Return of the Saint, Murder Most English, The Avengers, Dixon of Dock Green and the 1982 Doctor Who story The Visitation.

Robbins's film credits included The Whisperers, Up The Junction, The Looking Glass War, Zeppelin and Blake Edwards' films The Pink Panther Strikes Again and Victor/Victoria'.

Robbins was an indefatigable worker for charity. He was active in the Grand Order of Water Rats (being elected 'Rat of the Year' in 1978) and the Catholic Stage Guild; and received a Papal Award for his services in 1987. In one of his last television appearances, in A Little Bit of Heaven Robbins recalled his childhood visits to Norfolk and spoke of his faith and love of the Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham.

In the mid-1970s he also directed a film: How Are You?.

Personal

Robbins was married to actress Hal Dyer until he died from cancer in Caterham, Surrey, aged 62. Hal Dyer died in 2011 from a brain haemorrhage. Robbins is survived by his two children and four grandchildren.

Selected filmography

• Lunch Hour (1961)
• A Prize of Arms (1962)
• What a Crazy World (1963)
• Act of Murder (1964)
• The Bargee (1964)
• Rattle of a Simple Man (1964)
• Dead Man's Chest (1965)
• Up the Junction (1968)
• The Looking Glass War (1969)
• On the Buses (1971)
• Mutiny on the Buses (1972)
• That's Your Funeral (1972)
• No Sex Please, We're British (1973)
• Holiday on the Buses (1973)
• Man About the House (1974)
• How's Your Father? (1974-1975)
• The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
• The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
• Doctor Who: The Visitation (1982)
• Victor/Victoria (1982)

References

• The Daily Telegraph Third Book of Obituaries (Entertainers) – Edited by Hugh Massingberd

External links

• Michael Robbins at Find a Grave
• Michael Robbins at the Internet Movie Database