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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
October 15, 1920
Died
January 25, 2003
Place of Birth
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Also Known As
- Bob Rockwell
Robert Rockwell
0.3 Popularity
Biography
Robert Rockwell was an American stage, film, radio and television actor. He is best known for playing the handsome, but awkward biology teacher Philip Boynton in the radio and television sitcom Our Miss Brooks opposite Eve Arden. A native of Lake Bluff, Illinois, Rockwell studied at the Pasadena Playhouse, from which he obtained a master's degree. During World War II he enlisted in the US Navy for four years serving in Washington D.C. Dramatic roles often eluded him, however, after beginning his career as a contract player for Republic Studios he appeared, over his almost 50-year acting career, in more than 350 television episodes and, on stage, opposite José Ferrer in the 1946 Broadway production of Cyrano de Bergerac, and with Ginger Rogers during the 1960s in a San Diego production of Whitfield Cook's play A More Perfect Union. He appeared in the first Superman television show episode as Clark Kent's father, Jor-El in 1952. He appeared in a 1959 Perry Mason episode "The case of the Deadly Toy" as love interest to the defendant Claire Allison as Dick Benedict. He starred in the 1961 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Misguided Missile" as an Air Force officer court-martialled on a murder charge. He later starred in the 1962 Perry Mason episodes "The Case of the Lurid Letter" as Everett Rixby, a high school principal, and the murderer Cole B. Troy in "The Case of the Shapely Shadow". He also appeared as Ed Purvis in the 1965 episode Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Candy Queen". Rockwell starred in his own ABC western-themed television series, The Man from Blackhawk in the 1959-1960 season. Rockwell was cast as the Blackhawk Insurance Company's key investigator, Sam Logan, who is assigned to weed out fraud in the payment of claims. He also played Sam Thompson in Thompson's Ghost, Tom Bennett in The Bill Cosby Show[4]:106 and Officer Russo in Adam-12. In 1967 he played a littering tourist in the Lassie episode "Lassie's Litter Bit", an iconic episode which earned a trip for Lassie to the White House to shake hands with then First Lady "Ladybird" Johnson who had used the famous collie in her Keep America Beautiful Campaign. Rockwell was a founding member of the California Artists Radio Theatre. He played standard leads in a couple of anti-Communist-era features, including Republic's The Red Menace, in which he is cast as a returning veteran of World War II, who is duped by communists. Later in his career, he appeared on episodes of Petticoat Junction, Growing Pains, and Beverly Hills, 90210. His appearances in commercials and voiceovers totaled more than 200, most notably as the armchair grandfather treating his grandson to a piece of candy in the 1995 version of the Werthers Original candy spot.
Known For
Credits
Perfect Alibi
1995
2.7
The Golden Palace
as Mr. Cochran
1992
6.2
Hell Hath No Fury
as Mr. Stewart
1991
7.5
Beverly Hills, 90210
as Bill Beevis
1990
7.3
Destination: America
1987
0.0
Growing Pains
as Wally Overmier
1985
6.5
Hunter
as Ralph Flagg
1984
7.1
E/R
as John Harrison
1984
4.6
The Kid with the 200 I.Q.
as Speaker
1983
5.0
Newhart
1982
7.1
Falcon Crest
as Giles Taylor
1981
5.5
Golden Gate
1981
0.0
Dynasty
1981
6.4
Knots Landing
as Doctor
1979
6.7
Benson
1979
7.1
Diff'rent Strokes
1978
7.1
Dallas
as Mitchell
1978
6.8
Eight Is Enough
1977
6.1
Charlie's Angels
as Harrison
1976
6.7
The Waltons
1972
7.2
Lassie: The miracle
as Will Thorne
1970
0.0
The Bill Cosby Show
as Tom Bennett
1969
5.4
Lassie: The Adventures of Neeka
as Dean Chalmers (archive footage)
1969
6.0
Lassies Abenteuer in Alaska
as Dean Chalmers
1968
0.0
Here's Lucy
as Jack Scott
1968
6.7
Sol Madrid
as Chief Danvers
1968
6.4
🎬
Summer Fun
1966
0.0
Green Acres
1965
7.3
A Letter to Nancy
as Pastor
1965
0.0
Espionage Target: You
as Agent (uncredited)
1964
0.0
Petticoat Junction
1963
5.7
The Lucy Show
as Tom Bennett
1962
7.0
Bus Stop
1961
0.0
The Roaring 20's
1960
0.0
Surfside 6
1960
5.0
🎬
The Man from Blackhawk
1959
5.0
🎬
The Man from Blackhawk
as Sam Logan
1959
5.0
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1958
5.8
Yancy Derringer
as Phillip Hampton
1958
6.0
Bronco
1958
5.9
Turn the Other Cheek
as Ben Hanson
1958
0.0
Maverick
1957
6.9
Perry Mason
as Dick Benedict
1957
7.7
Perry Mason
as Maj. Jerry Reynolds
1957
7.7
Perry Mason
as Cole B. Troy
1957
7.7
Perry Mason
as Everett Rixby
1957
7.7
Perry Mason
as Ed Purvis
1957
7.7
Our Miss Brooks
as Phillip 'Phil' Boynton
1956
6.2
🎬
Navy Log
1955
4.5
Gunsmoke
as Mr. Philips
1955
6.6
The Millionaire
as Prof. Amberson Adams
1955
5.0
The Millionaire
as Dolph Randolph
1955
5.0
Lassie
1954
6.1
Letter to Loretta
as Jeb Stewart
1953
6.5
The War of the Worlds
as Forest Ranger at Crash Site (uncredited)
1953
6.8
Our Miss Brooks
as Philip Boynton
1952
7.3
Cavalcade of America
1952
3.5
Just for You
as John Ransome
1952
4.8
Adventures of Superman
as Jor-El (uncredited)
1952
6.6
Racket Squad
1951
6.0
The Prince Who Was a Thief
as (uncredited)
1951
5.1
The Frogmen
as Lt. Bill Doyle
1951
6.1
Prisoners in Petticoats
as Mark Hampton
1950
6.0
Lonely Heart Bandits
as Police Lt. Carroll
1950
6.5
Trial Without Jury
as Police Lt. Bill Peters
1950
0.0
Destination Big House
as Dr. Walter Phillips
1950
0.0
Women from Headquarters
as Gates
1950
4.0
Federal Agent at Large
as Dr. Ross Carrington
1950
4.8
Belle of Old Mexico
as Kip Armitage III
1950
0.0
Unmasked
as Detective Lt. James 'Jim' Webster
1950
4.8
The Blonde Bandit
as Dist. Atty. Devron
1949
5.8
Alias the Champ
as Ron Peterson
1949
6.0
The Red Menace
as Bill Jones
1949
4.1
You Gotta Stay Happy
as Eddie
1948
6.4
The Ed Sullivan Show
as Self
1948
6.8