Jay Robinson

As film debuts go, character actor Jay Robinson's in 1953 was about as spectacular as they come. Opposite stars Richard Burton and Victor Mature in the historical epic "The Robe," he jumped off the screen as Caligula, often stealing from them and other co-stars the scenes that he was in. Robinson's turn as the Roman Emperor was so successful that he in fact repeated the same role in the 1954 sequel, "Demetrius and the Gladiators." A decade later, Robinson took on the part of another Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar, but this time the intended effect was comedic rather than dramatic, as it was for a 1969 episode of "Bewitched," entitled "Samantha's Caesar Salad." Robinson carved out a nice supporting career in TV during the 1960's, 70's and 80's, scoring a wide variety of single-episode guest-star work. For example, between 1968 and 1974, he played five different roles on the action series "Mannix." He was Professor Thaxton in the mid-70's for three episodes of "The Waltons" and worked in 1988-89 on the venerable soap opera "Days of Our Lives" as Monty Dolan. Bette Davis at one point recruited Robinson to play opposite her in the 1971 comedy "Bunny O'Hare," but the film was a resounding box office flop.