Remembering Robert Douglas
By Jim Coston(Jim Coston)
Robert & Sue lived in Leucadia, California and we corresponded back & forth for
many years. Sue, who was many years younger than Robert passed away quite suddenly
and I could sense from Robert’s letters that he was “ready to go” too. …

OK, unless you are Leonard Maltin, you’ve probably never heard of Robert Douglas. I didn’t really know of him until we met on the Carnival Cruise Ship Jubilee in 1986.

He and his wife Sue were passengers on board. I had done my show the night before and they saw me on deck and asked me to join them for a drink.

For the first twenty minutes or so, I assumed they were just regular tourists on holiday as they only introduced themselves by their first names. Robert excused himself to use the bathroom and his wife leaned in towards me and said “my husband is in the business too”.

I asked what he did and she said he was an actor & director. Upon his return, I asked Robert about it and he told me about his career. Here goes…

Robert Douglas was a Shakespearian stage actor in London in 1947 when Jack Warner saw him and signed him to a 7 year contract and brought him to the USA.

One of his first major roles was the nefarious Duke de Lorca in Errol Flynn’s “The Adventures of Don Juan” (1948). He followed this with “The Fountainhead”, “The Flame & The Arrow”, “The Prisoner of Zenda”, “The Desert Rats”,“Fair Wind To Java”, “Ivanhoe”, “Saskatchewan”, “Tarzan The Apeman” and “The Young Philadelphians” just to name a few.

After a solid film career, Robert became a TV Director for Quinn Martin Productions. While working for QM, Robert directed such series as “The Fugitive”, “12 O’clock High” and the “The Invaders”. He later went on to direct “Trapper John MD”, “Quincey”, Barnaby Jones” and the TV series version of the movie “Fame”

Robert told me that while directing “12 O’clock High”, he wanted to cast a young actor against the studio’s wishes. Robert prevailed, the actor was hired -It was Hollywood bad boy Robert Blake who revitalized his career and went on to do the series Baretta.

Robert & Sue lived in Leucadia, California and we corresponded back & forth for many years. Sue, who was many years younger than Robert passed away quite suddenly and I could sense from Robert’s letters that he was “ready to go” too. His health deteriorated and then in January 1999, I received a funeral announcement from his family.

Robert Douglas, a big man with a lusty laugh and a love of life. Thank you for your friendship through the years and for sharing your talent with the world.