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Michael Robbins
Born in London, Robbins was a bank clerk who became an actor after appearing in amateur dramatic performances in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, where he and his family lived at the time. Robbins made his television debut as the cockney soldier in Roll-on Bloomin' Death. Primarily a comedy actor, he is best remembered for the role of Arthur Rudge, the persistently sarcastic husband of Olive (Anna Karen), in the popular sitcom On the Buses (1969–73). Robbins and Karen provided the secondary comic storyline to Reg Varney's comedy capers at the bus depot. Robbins also appeared in the series film spin-offs, On the Buses, Mutiny on the Buses, and Holiday on the Buses. His other comedy credits include non-recurring roles in Man About the House, Oh Brother!, The Good Life, One Foot in the Grave, The New Statesman, George and Mildred, Hi-de-Hi! and You Rang, M'Lord? He appeared as a rather humorously portrayed police sergeant in the TV adaptation of Brendon Chase.
As well as these comic roles, he assumed various straight roles in some of the major British television shows of the 1960s and 1970s: including Minder, The Sweeney, Z-Cars, Return of the Saint, Murder Most English, The Avengers, Dixon of Dock Green, The Bill and the 1982 Doctor Who story The Visitation.
Robbins's film credits included The Whisperers, Up The Junction, The Looking Glass War, Zeppelin and Blake Edwards' films The Pink Panther Strikes Again and Victor/Victoria'. He also had an extensive career as a radio actor, including a role in the soap opera Waggoner's Walk and the satirical 1970s show Life is What Yer Make It.
Robbins was an indefatigable worker for charity. He was active in the Grand Order of Water Rats (being elected 'Rat of the Year' in 1978) and the Catholic Stage Guild, and received a Papal Award for his services in 1987. In one of his last television appearances, in A Little Bit of Heaven Robbins recalled his childhood visits to Norfolk and spoke of his faith and love of the Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham. Michael Robbins had a brother Jack who was a head teacher at Saint Gregory's Catholic middle school in Bedford in the 1970s and early 1980s. Michael made some guest appearances at this school throughout the years and sometimes entertained the pupils with various sketches with his brother Jack Robbins
In the mid-1970s he also directed a film: How Are You?
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 1.984 |
Birthday | 1930-11-14 |
Place of Birth | London, England, UK |
Also Known As |
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1962

You in Your Small Corner
0/0
Barry Reckord adapted his stage play for TV and his brother Lloyd plays the central character – a Jamaican new to London. When he begins a relationshi...
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You in Your Small Corner

1972

Mutiny on the Buses
7.425/53
Bus driver Stan Butler agrees to marry Suzy, much to the anguish of Mum, her son-in-law, Arthur, and daughter Olive. How, they wonder, will they ever...
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Mutiny on the Buses
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1964
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The Bone Yard
0/0
Extraordinary things happen at an ordinary police station.
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The Bone Yard

1969
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Till Death Us Do Part
7.192/13
The film version of 'Till Death Do Us Part' tells the story of Alf Garnett, his wife Else, and their newborn daughter Rita, living through the London...
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Till Death Us Do Part

1970
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The Hunting of Lionel Crane
0/0
An army deserter hides out on a country estate but falls foul of the gamekeeper.
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The Hunting of Lionel Crane
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1968
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The Drummer and the Bloke
0/0
Alf and Jack, two labourers hired to work in a quarry,have decided to go on strike because of the degrading nature of the job.
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The Drummer and the Bloke
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1971
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On the Buses
6.4/35
Stan gets a little annoyed when his Mum and Sister keep buying expensive items on hire purchase, but the money he earns for overtime working as a bus...
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On the Buses

1973
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Holiday on the Buses
7.667/57
Due to a female passenger falling out of her top whilst running for the bus Stan is distracted and crashes the bus resulting in the depot managers car...
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Holiday on the Buses

1982
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Victor/Victoria
7.3/416
A struggling female soprano finds work playing a male female impersonator, but it complicates her personal life.
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Victor/Victoria

1964
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The Bargee
7.1/11
After a lock-keeper entrusts his daughter to a canal Casanova, he is shocked to learn that she is pregnant. He then refuses to open his locks - causin...
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The Bargee

1965
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Dead Man's Chest
5.7/3
Two young journalists simulate a murder, but the scheme backfires when the mock victim disappears.
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Dead Man's Chest

1964
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The Count of Monte Cristo
0/0
A TV adaptation of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel. Edmond Dantes is falsely accused by those jealous of his good fortune, and is sentenced to spend...
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The Count of Monte Cristo

1969
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Crossplot
5.5/22
A successful London ad-exec hires a beautiful Hungarian girl to pose for some modeling shots, little realising that she has overheard an assassination...
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Crossplot

1964
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Children of the Damned
6.115/100
Six children are found spread through out the world that not only have enormous intelligence, but identical intelligence and have a strange bond to ea...
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Children of the Damned

1992
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Adam Bede
7.3/13
Rich and languorous, this adaptation of George Eliot's classic tale perfectly evokes rural England in the 18th Century. But beneath the tranquil surfa...
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Adam Bede

1979

The Saint and the Brave Goose
0/0
A two-part episode of the 1978 TV series "The Return of the Saint," edited together and released as a feature.
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The Saint and the Brave Goose

1962
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A Prize of Arms
6.6/8
A criminal gang sets out to pull off the heist of a large army payroll.
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A Prize of Arms

1968
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Horizontal Hold
0/0
A woman writes a book about sex and marriage and it becomes a best seller.
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Horizontal Hold

1961
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Danger! Men Working
0/0
In Ulster, Major Trumbull is put in charge of overseeing the completion of a hospital on time. As the pressure increases, he replaces well-liked forem...
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Danger! Men Working

1962

Lunch Hour
6.8/8
A young female designer is on the brink of an affair with a married male executive at the company where she works. The film tells the story of their i...
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Lunch Hour

1973
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Soap Opera in Stockwell
0/0
A baby is snatched from outside a launderette. The manageress and customers try to work out who was responsible.
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Soap Opera in Stockwell

1973

No Sex Please: We're British
5.1/17
A porn-store owner orders some new stuff from his supplier, but the delivery address gets mixed with the address of the local Barclays Bank. Here, Dav...
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No Sex Please: We're British

1971
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Villain
6.2/38
In 1970s London, Scotland Yard orchestrates the downfall of mob boss Vic Dakin after he crosses the line by blackmailing Members of Parliament.
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Villain

1970
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The Looking Glass War
5.5/27
When a Polish sailor jumps ship in Britain, a couple of local intelligence operatives keep him under surveillance. Soon, he’s recruited to infiltrate...
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The Looking Glass War
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1974
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Man About the House
5.1/15
An unscrupulous property developer wants to flatten the street to make way for new buildings. Householder George Roper is happy to take the offered mo...
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Man About the House
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1988
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Just Ask for Diamond
4.3/3
Thirteen-year-old Nick and his slightly dense older brother Herbert run the Diamond Private Detective Agency above Camden Town Tube Station in north-c...
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Just Ask for Diamond

1976

The Pink Panther Strikes Again
6.842/552
Charles Dreyfus, who has finally cracked over inspector Clouseau's antics, escapes from a mental institution and launches an elaborate plan to get rid...
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The Pink Panther Strikes Again

1981
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The Great Muppet Caper
6.8/308
Kermit and Fozzie are newspaper reporters sent to London to interview Lady Holiday, a wealthy fashion designer whose priceless diamond necklace is sto...
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The Great Muppet Caper

1967
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The Whisperers
6.4/30
Margaret Ross is an impoverished old woman who lives alone in a seedy apartment and enjoys a rich fantasy life as an heiress. One day she discovers st...
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The Whisperers
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1982
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The Merry Wives of Windsor
8/2
When Sir John Falstaff decides that he wants to have a little fun he writes two letters to a pair of Window wives: Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. Wh...
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The Merry Wives of Windsor

1985

Lost In London
0/0
Facing his parent's impending divorce and emotional upheaval, a young boy runs away and joins a gang of London street urchins who live by their wits,...
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Lost In London

1964

Rattle of a Simple Man
5.45/10
Percy Winthram is a naive young man who still lives at home with his mum. In London for the Cup Final with his friends, he finds himself in a Soho str...
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Rattle of a Simple Man

1970
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All the Way Up
6/3
Fred Midway may be a bit short on brains, but he's got plenty of ambition. However, before he can gain promotion as a salesman, he must make his famil...
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All the Way Up

1963

What a Crazy World
6.2/6
Unemployed East End lad Alf Hitchens has an on-off relationship with his girlfriend Marilyn and a dream of hitting the big time in the music business....
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What a Crazy World

1968
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Up the Junction
6/13
A young woman trades her upper-class existence for a new life in an economically depressed suburb of London.
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Up the Junction

1982

Doctor Who: The Visitation
7/2
In 17th century England, the Doctor and itinerant thespian Richard Mace uncover a plot by a crew of criminal Terileptils to wipe out humanity.
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Doctor Who: The Visitation

1980
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Murder Rap
0/0
Wally, a caretaker in a block of flats, loses his job when the flats are used to rehouse Bhengali families.
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Murder Rap

1972

That's Your Funeral
1.5/2
Two funeral parlours fight one another for business, one of whom is more shady than the other.
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That's Your Funeral

1971
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Zeppelin
6.217/30
The outbreak of World War I places Scots officer Geoffrey Richter-Douglas in an uncomfortable position. Although his allegiance is to Britain, his mot...
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