Actor in clover: Robertson in "Charly"
No, he wasn’t a big star. He was, however, a dependable leading man with a solid career in TV and films, nabbing an Oscar for his title portrayal in 1968’s Charly. The momentum from that win was hampered when he publicly took David Begelman to task, exposing the former head of MGM as an embezzler (Begelman wrote phony checks on Robertson’s name. The lesson? Never screw around with an actor’s money, or his reputation). In turn, Robertson was blacklisted in his prime, but managed to stay in the public eye through substantial TV appearances and marriage to actress-socialite Dina Merrill. Retrospect: he’s watchable in anything but check out key roles in Charly, PT 109 (as a young John F. Kennedy), The Best Man, Bob Fosse’s Star 80 (as Hugh Hefner), Brian DePalma’s Obsession, Three Days of the Condor, and as the president in one of my favorite mini-series, Washington: Behind Closed Doors (based on John Ehrlichman’s book about the Nixon administration). An old reliable; RIP.