Michael Robbins
Date of birth: 1930-11-14
Place of birth: London, England, UK
Known for: Acting
Also known as:
Biography
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, Oh Brother!, 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, The Bill 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'. He also had an extensive career as a radio actor, including a role in the soap opera Waggoner's Walk and the satirical 1970s show Life is What Yer Make It. 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. Michael Robbins had a brother Jack who was a head teacher at Saint Gregory's Catholic middle school in Bedford in the 1970s and early 1980s. Michael made some guest appearances at this school throughout the years and sometimes entertained the pupils with various sketches with his brother Jack Robbins In the mid-1970s he also directed a film: How Are You?
Movie Credits
You in Your Small Corner
1962-06-05
Barry Reckord adapted his stage play for TV and his brother Lloyd plays the central character – a Ja
Mutiny on the Buses
1972-06-02
Bus driver Stan Butler agrees to marry Suzy, much to the anguish of Mum, her son-in-law, Arthur, and
The Bone Yard
1964-09-30
Extraordinary things happen at an ordinary police station.
Till Death Us Do Part
1969-01-01
Based on the hit sitcom of the same name; racist, anti-Socialist Tory Alf Garnett and his long-suffe
The Hunting of Lionel Crane
1970-01-21
An army deserter hides out on a country estate but falls foul of the gamekeeper.
The Drummer and the Bloke
1968-01-31
Alf and Jack, two labourers hired to work in a quarry,have decided to go on strike because of the de
On the Buses
1971-07-09
Stan gets a little annoyed when his Mum and Sister keep buying expensive items on hire purchase, but
Holiday on the Buses
1973-05-19
Due to a female passenger falling out of her top whilst running for the bus Stan is distracted and c
Victor/Victoria
1982-04-25
A struggling female soprano finds work playing a male female impersonator, but it complicates her pe
The Bargee
1964-04-23
After a lock-keeper entrusts his daughter to a canal Casanova, he is shocked to learn that she is pr
Dead Man's Chest
1965-10-27
Two young journalists simulate a murder, but the scheme backfires when the mock victim disappears.
The Count of Monte Cristo
1964-10-04
A TV adaptation of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel. Edmond Dantes is falsely accused by those jeal
Crossplot
1969-11-25
A successful London ad-exec hires a beautiful Hungarian girl to pose for some modeling shots, little
Children of the Damned
1964-01-10
Six children are found spread through out the world that not only have enormous intelligence, but id
Adam Bede
1992-03-01
Rich and languorous, this adaptation of George Eliot's classic tale perfectly evokes rural England i
The Saint and the Brave Goose
1979-01-07
A two-part episode of the 1978 TV series "The Return of the Saint," edited together and released as
A Prize of Arms
1962-12-11
A criminal gang sets out to pull off the heist of a large army payroll.
Horizontal Hold
1968-05-27
A woman writes a book about sex and marriage and it becomes a best seller.
Danger! Men Working
1961-05-07
In Ulster, Major Trumbull is put in charge of overseeing the completion of a hospital on time. As th
Lunch Hour
1962-01-01
A young female designer is on the brink of an affair with a married male executive at the company wh
Soap Opera in Stockwell
1973-09-11
A baby is snatched from outside a launderette. The manageress and customers try to work out who was
No Sex Please - We're British
1973-07-25
A porn-store owner orders some new stuff from his supplier, but the delivery address gets mixed with
Villain
1971-05-26
In 1970s London, Scotland Yard orchestrates the downfall of mob boss Vic Dakin after he crosses the
The Looking Glass War
1970-01-02
When a Polish sailor jumps ship in Britain, a couple of local intelligence operatives keep him under
Man About the House
1974-12-22
An unscrupulous property developer wants to flatten the street to make way for new buildings. Househ
Just Ask for Diamond
1988-09-01
Thirteen-year-old Nick and his slightly dense older brother Herbert run the Diamond Private Detectiv
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
1976-09-16
Charles Dreyfus, who has finally cracked over inspector Clouseau's antics, escapes from a mental ins
The Great Muppet Caper
1981-06-26
Kermit and Fozzie are newspaper reporters sent to London to interview Lady Holiday, a wealthy fashio
The Whisperers
1967-07-18
Margaret Ross is an impoverished old woman who lives alone in a seedy apartment and enjoys a rich fa
The Merry Wives of Windsor
1982-12-28
When Sir John Falstaff decides that he wants to have a little fun he writes two letters to a pair of
Lost In London
1985-11-20
Facing his parent's impending divorce and emotional upheaval, a young boy runs away and joins a gang
Rattle of a Simple Man
1964-12-20
Percy Winthram is a naive young man who still lives at home with his mum. In London for the Cup Fina
All the Way Up
1970-06-01
Fred Midway may be a bit short on brains, but he's got plenty of ambition. However, before he can ga
What a Crazy World
1963-07-02
Unemployed East End lad Alf Hitchens has an on-off relationship with his girlfriend Marilyn and a dr
Up the Junction
1968-01-25
A young woman trades her upper-class existence for a new life in an economically depressed suburb of
Doctor Who: The Visitation
1982-02-23
In 17th century England, the Doctor and itinerant thespian Richard Mace uncover a plot by a crew of
Murder Rap
1980-01-31
Wally, a caretaker in a block of flats, loses his job when the flats are used to rehouse Bhengali fa
That's Your Funeral
1972-12-01
Two funeral parlours fight one another for business, one of whom is more shady than the other.
Zeppelin
1971-04-08
The outbreak of World War I places Scots officer Geoffrey Richter-Douglas in an uncomfortable positi
The Ties That Bind Us
2008-03-03
A look at the subtle (and not so subtle!) links to the show's past and future contained within the s
The Man In The Long Black Coat
1991-12-30
Relations between Patrick and Victor reach a new low via an unending stream of post-it notes; during
Blinker's Spy-Spotter
1972-01-01
Blinker, so named because he blinks whenever he has a bright idea for a new invention, is the son of
Act of Murder
1964-09-01
A dangerous psychological game plays out between a man and the husband of the lover who spurned him.