Men Of Character Character Actors
Roy Roberts
He Walked By Night/ Captain Breen
The Big Trees/ Judge Crenshaw
Tumbleweed/ Nick Buckley
Santa Fe/ Cole Sanders
Per Quinlan's Character Stars:
Staunch, solid, serious looking American character actor with thick wavy hair.
Roy Roberts was born at Tampa, FL in 1906.
Roberts had a successful career on Broadway before moving into films. He claims to have done over 900 performances encompassing the mediums of stage, films and television.
He could be on either side of the law, but for the most part he was a good guy. He assayed the villain Charles De Haven in Wyoming Renegades and the police captain in He Walked By Night.
Roberts is especially remembered as Vincent Price's vengeful ex partner in House Of Wax where he meets his end hanging in an elevator shaft.
He played police captains detectives, sheriffs, military men, ranchers, judges and upright citizens as well as a few villains for good measure. He even did a couple of priests.
His official motion picture debut came in 1943 in the film Guadacanal Diary.
Some of the film roles of Roy Roberts were:
Guadacanal Diary (1943) as Capt. James Cross
The Sullivans (1944) as Father Francis
Tampico (1944) as Crawford
Roger Touhy, Gangster (1944) as FBI Chief Frank Williams
Wilson (1944) as Ike Hoover, Chief White House Butler
Circumstantial Evidence (1945) as Marty Hannon
The Caribbean Mystery (1945) as Captain Van den Bark
A Bell For Adano (1945) as Colonel Middleton
Within These Walls (1945) as Marty Deutsch
Colonel Effingham's Raid (1946) as Army Captain Rampey
Behind Green Lights (1946) as Max Calvert
Johnny Comes Flying Home (1946) as J. P. Hartley
Strange Triangle (1946) as Harry Matthews
Smoky (1946) as Jeff Nix
It Shouldn't Happen To A Dog (1946) as Mitch Mitchell
My Darling Clementine (1946) as Mayor
The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947) as Mr. Foster
The Brasher Doubloon (1947) as Police Lt. Breeze
The Foxes Of Harrow (1947) as Tom Warren
Nightmare Alley (1947) as McGraw
Gentlemen's Agreement (1947) as Mr. Calkins
Daisy Kenyon (1947) as Attorney Quint
Captain From Castile (1947) as Capt. Alvarado
Fury At Furnace Creek (1948) as Al Shanks
The Gay Intruders (1948) as Charles McNulty
Joan Of Arc (1948) as Captain Wandamme Of Burgundy
No Minor Vices (1948) as Mr. Felton
He Walked By Night (1948) as Police Captain Breen
Force Of Evil (1948) as Ben Tucker
Chicken Every Sunday (1949) as Harry Bowers
Calamity Jane Meets Sam Bass (1949) as Marshal Peak
Flaming Fury (1949) as Captain Taplinger
Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949) as Construction Foreman Roberts
The Reckless Moment (1949) as Nagel
Chicago Deadline (1949) as Jerry Cavanaugh
A Kiss For Corliss (1949) as Uncle George
Bodyhold (1949) as Charles Webster
Chain Lightning (1949) as Major General Hewitt
Borderline (1950) as Harvey Gumbin
The Palomino (1950) as Ben Lane
Sierra (1950) as Sheriff Knudson
Wyoming Mail (1950) as Charles De Haven
The Second Face (1950) as Allan Wesson
The Killer That Stalked New York (1950) as Mayor Of New York
Stage To Tucson (1950) as Jim Maroon
The Enforcer (1951) as Captain Frank Nelson
Santa Fe (1951) as Cole Sanders
I Was A Communist For The FBI (1951) as Father Novak
Fighting Coast Guard (1951) as Captain Gibbs
The Tanks Are Coming (1951) as Major General
The Man With A Cloak (1951) as Policeman
My Favorite Spy (1951) as Johnson Of The FBI
The Cimarron Kid (1952) as Pat Roberts
The Big Trees (1952) as Judge Crenshaw
Hoodlum Empire (1952) as Police Chief Tavis
Skirts Ahoy! (1952) as Captain Greymont
Cripple Creek (1952) as Marshal John Tetheroe
One Minute To Zero (1952) as Lt. Gen. George Thomas
Battles Of Chief Pontiac (1952) as Major Gladwin
Stars And Stripes Forever (1952) as Major George Porter Houston
The Man Behind The Gun (1953) as Senator Mark Sheldon
San Antone (1953) as John Chisum
House Of Wax (1953) as Matthew Burke
The Lone Hand (1953) as Mr. Skaggs
The Glory Brigade (1953) as Sgt. Chuck Anderson
Second Chance (1953) as Charley Malloy
Sea Of Lost Ships (1953) as Captain of the 'Eagle"
Tumbleweed (1953) as Nick Buckley
Wyoming Renegades (1954) as Sheriff McVey
They Rode West (1954) as Sgt. Creever
The Outlaw Stallion (1954) as Hagen
Dawn At Socorro (1954) as Doc Jameson
Big House, USA (1955) as Chief Ranger Will Erickson
Stranger On Horseback (1955) as Sam Kettering
The Eternal Sea (1955) as Review Board Captain
I Cover The Underworld (1955) as District Attorney
The Last Command (1955) as Dr. Summerfield
Backlash (1956) as Major Carson
The First Texan (1956) as Colonel Sam Sherman
The Boss (1956) as Tim Brady
Yaqui Drums (1956) as Matt Quigg
The White Squaw (1956) as Edward Purvis
The King And Four Queens (1956) as Sheriff Tom Larrabee
The Underwater City (1962) as Tim Graham
Kid Galahad (1962) as Jerry Bathgate
The Chapman Report (1962) as Alan Roby
Maggie Brown (1963-TV) as John Farragut
It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) as Policeman
Those Calloways ( 1965) as E. J Fletcher
I'll Take Sweden (1965) as Ship's Captain
Hotel (1967) as Bailey
Tammy And The Millionaire (1967) as Governor Alden
Now You See It, Now You Don't (1968-TV) as Mr. Stockman
Cry For Poor Wally (1969) as Doctor
This Savage Land (1969-TV) as Dr. Reynolds
Some Kind Of A Nut (1969) as 1st Vice President
The Million Dollar Duck (1971) as The Judge
The Outfit (1973) as Sheriff Bob Caswell
Chinatown (1974) as Mayor Bagby
The Strongest Man In The World (1975) as Mr. Roberts
Roy Roberts was very active on television appearing in such programs as Suspense, Mr. & Mrs. North, Racket Squad, Waterfront, Studio One In Hollywood, The Pepsi Cola Playhouse, The Adventures Of Rin Tin Tin, Adventures Of The Falcon, Topper, The Lone Wolf, The Loretta Young Show, The Lone Ranger, My Little Margie, December Bride, My Friend Flicka, You Are There, Celebrity Playhouse, Big Town, Schlitz Playhouse Of Stars, Screen Directors Playhouse, Playhouse 90, Studio 57, The Sheriff Of Cochise, The 20th Century Fox Hour, Crossroads, The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp, Zane Grey Theater, The Restless Gun, Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theater, Oh Susanna!, The Deputy, Laramie, Surfside 6, Lawman, Hawaiian Eye, The Andy Griffith Show, Have Gun Will Travel, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Cheyenne, Dennis The Menace, Make Room For Daddy, The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis, Vacation Playhouse, The Twilight Zone, Channing, 77 Sunset Strip, Death Valley Days, Grindl, The Munsters, The Bill Dana Show, The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet, Lassie, The Jack Benny Program, McHale's Navy, Rawhide, Perry Mason, The Addams Family, Mona McCluskey, The Farmers daughter, Laredo, Bonanza, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Lucy Show, Peyton Place, Green Acres, Bewitched, My Three Sons, The Doris Day Show, Petticoat Junction, That Girl, Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color, Here's Lucy and Gunsmoke among others.
Roberts was married to actress Lillian Moore from 1947 until his death.
Roy Roberts passed away in 1975 of a heart attack at age 69 and is buried next to his wife in Fort Worth , TX at Greenwood Memorial Park.
I enjoyed Roy Roberts in the films House Of Wax, The Man Behind The Gun, The Big Trees, Wyoming Mail, He Walked By Night, Dawn At Socorro, Tumbleweed, The Enforcer, The White Squaw, Santa Fe, Cripple Creek and Borderline.
Louie The Movie Buff