Anthony K. Roberts
Anthony Kalani Roberts, also known as Kal Roberts, was an American actor and photographer who won a Pulitzer Prize for photojournalism in 1974.
Biography
Born into a Navy family in Honolulu, Hawaii, Roberts spent his teenage years in Southern California. There, his activities as a surfer and hot rod racer brought him to the attention of Hollywood, where his and natural athleticism won him work in commercials and as an advertising model. Yet his acting career stalled after a single film in 1965, only to be resumed 20 years later in character roles. In the interim he won considerable acclaim as a photographer, garnering the profession's top awards and producing both serious photojournalism and popular images of celebrities.Long a fixture of the music and video scene in Nashville, Tennessee, he died of prostate cancer in Phoenix, Arizona at the age of 65.
As an actor
Roberts was cast to type as a surfer in his film debut, credited as Tony Roberts, playing the role of "Brad" in The Beach Girls and the Monster. In post-production Roberts' dialogue was hurriedly overdubbed by another actor, obliterating the distinctive baritone that would become a hallmark of later performances. Roberts was inactive as a performer for the next twenty years, working instead as a photographer.In 1986, when commissioned to take still photographs of the remake of the 1939 John Wayne film, Stagecoach, Roberts was recruited by director Ted Post to play the role of the outlaw Hank Plummer. The mature Roberts now projected a persona evocative of the Old West, with an imposing beard and patriarchal demeanor. He went on to play a similar role in the Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson vehicle, The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James, and in several music videos.