Biography
For someone whose specialty was playing genteel Brits, it's hard to imagine that Robert Douglas counted Hollywood playboy Errol Flynn as one of his closest friends. The Englishman managed to balance his pursuit of producing, acting, and directing plays, starting at the age of 23. Around the time Douglas was making his motion picture debut in the 1931 U.K. comedy "Dr. Josser, K.C.," he was also appearing in live theater alongside Jessica Tandy on Broadway and working with Laurence Olivier in London's West End. While serving as a World War II Royal Air Force pilot up through 1946, the proper Brit went Hollywood after getting signed to a Warner Brothers contract. Douglas's usual fate was that of a scowling villain, going up against a number of heroic types including Flynn ("The Adventures of Don Juan"), Burt Lancaster ("The Flame and the Arrow," and Stewart Granger ("The Prisoner of Zenda"). His favorite role during this time was as Ellsworth M. Toohey in the dense 1949 adaptation of Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead." Through the 1950s, Douglas continued acting in notable features including "Ivanhoe," "Saskatchewan," and "The Young Philadelphians." With the onset of the 1960s, his focus was primarily on directing numerous crime and medical dramas that included "Adam-12," "Baretta," "Trapper John, M.D.," and "The Streets of San Francisco."
