Robert Shayne

Acting

Robert Shayne

Born 1900-10-04 · Yonkers, New York, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert Shayne (October 4, 1900 – November 29, 1992), born Robert Shaen Dawe, was an American actor whose career lasted for over 60 years. He was best known for portraying Inspector Bill Henderson in the American television series Adventures of Superman. Shayne became an actor after having worked as a reporter at the Illustrated Daily Tab in Miami, Florida. His initial acting experience came with repertory companies in Alabama, including the Birmingham Players. Shayne's first Broadway appearance came by 1931 in The Rap. His other Broadway shows include Yellow Jack (1934), The Cat and the Canary (1935), Whiteoaks (1938), with Ethel Barrymore, and Without Love (1942), with Katharine Hepburn. Shayne began his film career in 1934, appearing in two features. In 1942, he became a contract actor with Warner Bros.. He played many character roles in movies and television, including a film series of Warner Bros. featurettes called the "Santa Fe Trail" series such as Wagon Wheels West, and as a mad scientist in the 1953 horror film The Neanderthal Man. He appears briefly in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, seated at a booth in a hotel bar, where his character meets Cary Grant's character, just as the latter is about to be kidnapped. He also had a small but pivotal role in the 1953 sci-fi classic Invaders From Mars as a scientist. He also enjoyed a brief rebirth in his career when he was cast as the blind newspaper vendor in The Flash television show. He was by this time actually blind and learned his lines by having his wife read them to him and then rehearse until he memorized them. Shayne portrayed Police Inspector William "Bill" Henderson on the 1950s TV series Adventures of Superman. He appeared sporadically in the early episodes of the series, in part because he came under HUAC scrutiny and was briefly blacklisted on unproven and unspecific charges of association with Communism. As the program evolved, especially in the color episodes, he was brought into more and more of them, to the point where he was a regular on the series.

Acting credits

North by Northwest poster
8.0

Advertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.

North by Northwest

1959

Tora! Tora! Tora! poster
7.2

In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words used by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.

Tora! Tora! Tora!

1970

Mr. Skeffington poster
6.8

A beautiful but vain woman who rejects the love of her older husband must face the loss of her youth and beauty.

Mr. Skeffington

1944

The Million Dollar Duck poster
5.8

Professor Dooley takes home a duck from his research laboratory as a toy for his son, but soon finds out that it lays golden eggs.

The Million Dollar Duck

1971

Christmas in Connecticut poster
7.0

While recovering in a hospital, war hero Jefferson Jones grows familiar with the "Diary of a Housewife" column written by Elizabeth Lane. Jeff's nurse arranges with Elizabeth's publisher, Alexander Yardley, for Jeff to spend the holiday at Elizabeth's bucolic Connecticut farm with her husband and child. But the column is a sham, so Elizabeth and her editor, Dudley Beecham, in fear of losing their jobs, hasten to set up the single, childless and entirely nondomestic Elizabeth on a country farm.

Christmas in Connecticut

1945

Invaders from Mars poster
5.9

A boy tries to stop aliens that have taken over his town and are brainwashing its inhabitants.

Invaders from Mars

1953

The Neanderthal Man poster
4.3

A scientist develops a formula which will cause animals to regress to the form of their primitive ancestors, and tries it on himself with disastrous results.

The Neanderthal Man

1953

The Blue Gardenia poster
6.5

Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.

The Blue Gardenia

1953

Hollywood Canteen poster
7.3

Two soldiers on leave spend three nights at a club offering free of charge food, dancing, and entertainment for servicemen on their way overseas. Club founders Bette Davis and John Garfield give talks on the history of the place.

Hollywood Canteen

1944

Son of Flubber poster
6.1

Beleaguered professor Ned Brainard has already run into a pile of misfortunes with his discovery of the super-elastic substance "Flubber." Now he hopes to have better luck with a gravity-busting derivative he's dubbed "Flubbergas." Ned's experiments, constantly hampered by government obstruction, earn the consternation of his wife, Betsy. But a game-winning modification to a football uniform may help Ned make the case for his fantastic new invention.

Son of Flubber

1963

Missing Women poster
6.6

A woman becomes desperate to find a pair of car thieves after her husband -- while on their honeymoon -- is killed during a robbery.

Missing Women

1951

The Specialist poster
4.7

Jerry Bounds, an upright lawyer, must stand up against Pike Smith and his the water company's efforts to exploit a local lake.

The Specialist

1975

Kronos poster
5.7

Scientists investigate a huge meteor that crashes into the ocean off Mexico, and encounter a skyscraper-tall, mobile machine which is designed to syphon energy from earth, including any energy directed at it in an effort to destroy it.

Kronos

1957

Federal Man poster
6.5

A government agent travels from the United States to Mexico to nab drug dealers.

Federal Man

1950

Shaggy poster
10.0

The film follows the story of a rancher's son, Robbie, his dog Shaggy and adventures they have with ranching neighbors and wild animals in the U.S. west.

Shaggy

1948

Winning poster
6.0

Frank Capua is a rising star on the race circuit who dreams of winning the big one - the Indianapolis 500. But to get there he runs the risk of losing his wife Elora to his rival, Luther Erding, and strains the relationship with his stepson.

Winning

1969

Death in Small Doses poster
5.1

A government agent investigates the use of illegal amphetamines among long-haul truck drivers.

Death in Small Doses

1957

The Barefoot Executive poster
5.6

In the great Disney tradition of wild family fun, a young Kurt Russell stars as Steven Post - an ambitious mailroom clerk at a second-rate TV network. With his eye on the boardroom, and getting nowhere with the studio's top dog, he makes a career-changing discovery. His girlfriend's lovable pet chimp can pick a hit show every time! His secret for success turns into a madcap monkey business when he makes vice president and jealous rivals want in on the act. Ride along with narrow escapes and a classic cast featuring Joe Flynn and Harry Morgan in a comedic climb up the corporate ladder that will leave you howling for more!

The Barefoot Executive

1971

Loaded Pistols poster
6.5

A singing cowboy clears a boy accused of murder by finding the real killer.

Loaded Pistols

1948

Hot Shots poster
6.3

Sach and the gang baby-sit a bratty TV star.

Hot Shots

1956

A Tiger Walks poster
5.8

A tiger escapes from a circus truck as it passes by a small town, and hides itself in the surrounding woods. This throws the town into a panic and everyone wants the animal killed immediately, except for the daughter of the sheriff. She wants to capture the tiger and put it in a zoo, thereby saving the tiger's life. Her determination starts a nationwide campaign among children to raise the money to buy the tiger from the circus, but first, she, her father and an Indian tiger trainer must find the tiger before the National Guard do, who have orders to kill it on sight.

A Tiger Walks

1964

Double Jeopardy poster
5.2

Marc Hill is the attorney for Emmet Devrey, a real estate developer with a past, who is being blackmailed by his former partner Sam Baggett. When Sam's unfaithful wife Marge cooks up a scheme with her used car salesman lover Jeff Calder to bilk both Devrey and her alcoholic husband, Sam is killed and Devrey is accused of the crime. Mark is called to prove his employers innocence.

Double Jeopardy

1955

From the Terrace poster
6.6

Alfred Eaton, an ambitious young executive, climbs to the top of New York's financial world as his marriage crumbles. At the brink of attaining his career goals, he is forced to choose between business success, married to the beautiful, but unfaithful Mary and starting over with his true love, the much younger Natalie.

From the Terrace

1960

Three Strangers poster
6.4

On the eve of the Chinese New Year, three strangers, Crystal Shackleford, married to a wealthy philanderer; Jerome Artbutny, an outwardly respectable judge; and Johnny West, a seedy sneak thief, make a pact before a small statue of the Chinese goddess of Destiny. The threesome agree to purchase a sweepstakes ticket and share whatever winnings might accrue.

Three Strangers

1946