Robert Symonds, leading actor and associate director of the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center, New York, for eight years, died August 23 from complications of prostate cancer at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 80. Born on December 1, 1926, in Bristow, Oklahoma, Robert acted in theater, film and television, for over 50 years. His career began in the resident theatres of San Francisco, Houston, Seattle and San Diego. Closely associated with avant-garde drama of the 1950s and ’60s, he performed in (most notably at the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop) many United States premiere productions of Brecht, Beckett, Pinter, and Genet. Arriving in New York with a rich background in experimental and classical theater, he was a leading actor and associate director at the Repertory Theatre from l965-73 and during that time he starred in “Cyrano de Bergerac,” as Harpagon in “The Miser,” and gave an award-winning performance of Azdak in Brecht’s “Caucasian Chalk Circle.” Off-Broadway, Robert premiered Harold Pinter’s “Landscape and Silence” under the author’s supervision. From 1973-80 he served as guest director at the Alley Theatre in Houston. He made numerous appearances at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa and many theatres in Los Angeles, including the Mark Taper Forum, Matrix, Odyssey, Coronet Theatre and LATC. Los Angeles’ audiences have seen him in “Night of the Iguana,” “Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia,” and at the Matrix Theatre in “The Tavern and The Seagull.” He performed at the Fountain Theatre in “The Road to Mecca,” and before that in “Fighting Over Beverley” and “Park Your Car in Harvard Yard.” Robert’s film credits include “Catch Me If You Can,” “Primary Colors, “The Exorcist,” “Micki and Maude,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “And Justice for All,” and “The Ice Pirates.” He had a recurring role in two long-running television series, “Dynasty” and “M*A*S*H.” He guest-starred on numerous television shows and won particular acclaim for his appearances as Benjamin Franklin in “The Adams Chronicles,” as Robert E. Lee in “The Blue and The Gray,” and in the PBS presentation of Ibsen’s “Enemy of the People.” Robert’s penchant for life-long learning and his curious mind led him to study Tai Chi at the age of 50 and to learn French still later in life. The Santa Monica resident spent part of each year in Paris with his wife, actress Priscilla Pointer, where the couple performed with the group Dear Conjunction, his last production being “The Faith Healer.” He is survived by his wife; his children Vicki Morrison, Barry Symonds, and Rebecca Wooldridge; three step-children David, Katie and Amy Irving; and eleven grandchildren.
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