Actors - Andrew Robinson

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	Actors - Andrew Robinson

Andrew Jordt Robinson (born February 14, 1942) is an American film, stage, and television actor. Robinson is a character actor known specialize in playing devious and psychotic roles. Originally a stage actor, he works predominantly in supporting roles on television and in low-budget films. He is best known for his role as the serial-killer Scorpio in the crime film Dirty Harry
(1971), the role of Larry Cotton in the horror film Hellraiser
(1987), and the recurring role as Elim Garak on the television show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999).

Education and early roles

Robinson was born in New York City. His father was a soldier in World War II, and was killed when Robinson was three years old. After his father's death, he and his mother moved to Hartford, Connecticut to be raised with her family. In his later childhood, Robinson had become a juvenile delinquent, and was eventually sent to St. Andrew's School in Rhode Island, a boarding school for troubled children.

After graduating from high school, Robinson attended the University of New Hampshire. After picketing the school's ROTC program his degree was withheld by the unversity, so he transferred to the New School for Social Research in New York City, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He originally intended to become a journalist, but went into acting after gaining a Fulbright Scholarship on the suggestion of an art history professor. After graduating, he went to the London Academy for Music and Dramatic Arts on the scholarship.

Robinson began acting in high school and college theatre. While attending the London Academy for Music and Dramatic Arts, Robinson studied Shakespeare and voice training. His first professional roles were as a stage actor and playwright in New York. His first role in New York was in the play Macbird-Macbeth. He would go on to act in productions throughout North America and Europe, including Woyzeck, Futz, and The Cannibals. Robinson was cast as the Scorpio killer, the antagonist of the film. The Scorpio killer was heavily based on the real life serial killer known as the Zodiac killer, and Robinson integrated many known aspects of the killer's personality into his acting, such as a disturbed sense of humor and a tendency to taunt his pursuers. In the film, his character murdered several young women and took hostage a school bus full of young children. His portrayal of the serial killer was so convincing that he began getting serious death threats after the film's release. Director Don Siegel noted that he cast Robinson because he had the face of "a choir boy." Despite the widespread exposure the role gave him, Robinson also found himself typecast as "psycho" characters. He has also claimed that the role severely limited his casting options, as film producers were reluctant to cast him as any "good guy" roles. Some of Robinson's notable "psycho" roles include a demented military barber in Child's Play 3
(1991), and the character Larry Cotton in the horror film Hellraiser
(1987), in which Robinson had his first lead role in a feature film.

Film and television, 1971–1992

Robinson starred in Charley Varrick
, a 1973 film with Walter Matthau. He played the role of Frank Ryan on the soap opera Ryan's Hope from 1976 until 1978, for which he received a daytime Emmy nomination. His part was later recast with Daniel Hugh Kelly, reportedly because the producers of the show were concerned that having the actor who played the Scorpio killer as a lead on a soap opera was detracting their audience.

Robinson has had many one-time and recurring roles on a wide variety of television shows. His lengthy television filmography includes guest roles on Bonanza, Kung Fu, S.W.A.T., The Streets of San Francisco, Kojak, The Incredible Hulk, CHiPs, Mrs. Columbo, The Dukes of Hazzard, The A-Team, Moonlighting, L.A. Law, Matlock, Law and Order, Walker, Texas Ranger, Murder, She Wrote, The X-Files, Without a Trace, and The Practice.

He met his wife Irene after wrapping a production of Springvoices, and the two married in 1970. He has two stepsons from his wife's previous marriage and one daughter named Rachel, who became an actor herself. In 1978 Robinson left acting professionally for five years, and concentrated on raising his family in the Los Angeles suburb of Idyllwild, California. During that time he taught community theatre for middle and high school students, and also worked as a carpenter to bring in a regular salary. He returned to acting professionally in the mid-1980s. The New York Times review wrote that, "Robinson does rather well in the leading role." Robinson also returned to the stage in 1993 with a Broadway production of Frank Gilroy's Any Given Day, but the play closed after only six weeks.

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