David Robb

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David Robb (born 23 August 1947) is a Scottish actor.^[1]

Early life[]

Born in London, the son of David Robb and Elsie Tilley, Robb grew up in Edinburgh and was educated there at the Royal High School, where he played Henry II in a school production of Jean Anouilh’s Becket.^[2]

Screen career[]

Robb has starred in various British films and television shows, including films such as Swing Kids and Hellbound. He is well known for playing Germanicus in the famous 1976 BBC production of I, Claudius,^[3] and as Robin Grant, one of the principal characters in Thames Television's 1981 series The Flame Trees of Thika. He has also performed as a voice actor for several Star Wars video games, and had a recurring role in the fantasy television series Highlander: The Series. He has worked extensively on BBC radio drama, including as Charles in the original radio series of Up the Garden Path opposite Imelda Staunton; as Captain Jack Aubrey in the BBC Radio 4 adaptations of the Patrick O'Brian "Aubrey" novels, and as Richard Hannay in several adaptations of the John Buchan novels, including The Thirty-Nine Steps in 2001 and Mr Standfast in 2007. In 2020, BBC Radio 4 Extra rebroadcast his performance from 1985 in E Phillips Oppenheim's mystery thriller The Great Impersonation. He played Dr Clarkson in the television drama series Downton Abbey.

Theatre career[]

Robb performed in two of Richard Norton-Taylor's Tricycle Tribunal Plays: The Colour of Justice (the dramatised version of the Sir William Macpherson inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, his family's search for justice, and endemic racism in British police forces), and Half the Picture (a distillation of the Scott Inquiry into Arms-to-Iraq. It was the first play to be performed in the Palace of Westminster); both were directed by Nicolas Kent and performed at the Tricycle Theatre. The productions were broadcast by the BBC.

Personal life[]

Robb married the actress Briony McRoberts in 1978. Beginning in 2004, he and his wife ran every year in the Edinburgh Marathon to raise money for leukaemia research. McRoberts took her own life on 17 July 2013 (age 56), after a long illness with anorexia.^[4]

Filmography[]

References[]

External links[]

• David Robb at IMDb