Andrew Robinson will go down in film history as the recipient of the classic Dirty Harry line, "Do you feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?" as he's staring down the barrel of a .44 Magnum, wondering if there is one bullet or none left in the chamber.
No one will argue his brilliant performance in Dirty Harry as the Scorpio Killer, but what will create conversation, is why Andrew Robinson didn't become more well known after that break out role in a huge Hollywood film.
What's even more puzzling is that he is equally good in everything he's done since then, from the movie Hellraiser, to his role as Garak in the Star Trek television spin off, Deep Space Nine, to the made-for-television biography, Liberace, where he played the title role.
My guess is that after Dirty Harry, narrow-minded Hollywood thought he could only play "crazies" and closed the door on this enormous talent. Andrew Robinson never had the career that he should of had, but he has managed to work as an actor in both film and television. He's pretty easy to spot, as he's the one you can't keep your eyes off of.
No one will argue his brilliant performance in Dirty Harry as the Scorpio Killer, but what will create conversation, is why Andrew Robinson didn't become more well known after that break out role in a huge Hollywood film.
What's even more puzzling is that he is equally good in everything he's done since then, from the movie Hellraiser, to his role as Garak in the Star Trek television spin off, Deep Space Nine, to the made-for-television biography, Liberace, where he played the title role.
My guess is that after Dirty Harry, narrow-minded Hollywood thought he could only play "crazies" and closed the door on this enormous talent. Andrew Robinson never had the career that he should of had, but he has managed to work as an actor in both film and television. He's pretty easy to spot, as he's the one you can't keep your eyes off of.
I like your blog....you should have it on facebook or twitter, too. the Google connect thing isn't as popular.
ReplyDeleteDelighted to discover this blog and especially this post about one of my favourite actors. As Robinson himself has admitted, Scorpio effectively killed his movie career. There are stories of casting agents refusing to meet him because they were frightened of Scorpio. He's great in Charley Varrick as well, and it's nice that he finally got some kind of consistent recognition through his performances in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
ReplyDeleteI think ultimately he was too much of an unusual screen presence to ever make it big in Hollywood, but it's no surprise that he had a lot of success in theatre because of it.
He now runs an acting programme at the University of Southern California.
Was entertaining in Stallone's 1986 Cobra too. A great character actor but there's are these actors that must occupy these areas as not everyone can be a Redford or Hoffman. Robinson is alongside other 70s popular character actors like Timothy Bottoms, Beau Bridges and Cleavon Little.
ReplyDeleteIn your post on Andrew Robinson above, you said that Dirty Harry had a Magnum .45. I hate to correct you but I believe you were trying to say that Dirty Harry had a .44 Magnum. But that's okay. One simple boo boo ain't gonna hurt it. Simple mistake, that's all. But anyway, after appearing as Scorpio in Dirty Harry, Robinson got a lot of death threats and had to take a break from acting. He acts occasionally today and remembers his days as a movie villain. Who knew that 80 years would be so kind to a man like him? Even if Scorpio is the bad guy. Now that's one lucky punk if you ask me. Keep it up, Andy.
ReplyDeleteCorrected. Thank you.
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