What
a hunk…of metal.
Robby
the Robot is not merely a movie star, he’s a Hollywood icon. For a generation of film-goers and cult-tv
watchers, Robby personifies the very term “robot.” Designed in the mid-1950s by MGM’s prop
department, Robby stands an imposing seven feet tall, and has had a diverse and
notable acting career, one that many carbon-based life-forms would certainly
envy.
After
making a big splash on the silver screen in Forbidden Planet (1956)
and The
Invisible Boy (1957), Robby moved to golden age television, appearing
in a variety of villainous and heroic roles.
Two of his most memorable villainous turn came in The Twilight Zone’s “Uncle
Simon” and the first season Lost in Space episode “The War of
the Robots.” The latter pitted him – as the evil “Robotoid” -- against the
Robinsons’ beloved and bubble-headed B9.
If Robby the Robot has any foible
as an actor, it’s likely vanity. Over
the years, he’s had more face lifts than Joan Rivers. Robby sported a new, cylindrical face in “Uncle
Simon,” and adopted a smaller, more sleek-looking cyclopean dome for Space
Academy (1977) and Project UFO (1978). But no matter his guise, Robby always looked
sharp and sleek, wearing a bow-tie (on The Love Boat’s “Programmed for Love”)
or, in the spirit of Milton Berle going “drag”
as Mildred the Robot on The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (1970).
Over the years, Robby has shown
he can replace the average human worker (The Twilight Zone’s “Brain Center at
Whipples”), host a science fiction convention (Wonder Woman: “Spaced Out”) and
much, much more.
A true cult-television classic,
Robby has also appeared in several notable TV commercials, some of which you
can find below.
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