Robert Phillips (actor)
Robert R. Phillips was an American film and television actor.
Life and career
Phillips was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was a self-defense instructor while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and later played football for the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins. Phillips was also a police officer in the Los Angeles Police Department and Illinois State Police. He was a personal bodyguard for the 31st Governor of Illinois, Adlai Stevenson II.Phillips began his film and television career in the 1950s, when a film producer suggested he should become an actor, and gave him a role in a film, and the TV series Tightrope! was based on aspects of his life.
Phillips retired as a police officer after being injured while working undercover, and attended acting school in the early 1950s. Phillips was hired by studios as a minder for Lee Marvin, to prevent him getting into fights after hours. He appeared in two films with actor Richard Jaeckel: The Gun Runners and The Dirty Dozen.
His other film roles included appearances in The Killers and Cat Ballou, Dimension 5, Hour of the Gun, Mackenna's Gold, Slaughter, The Slams, I Escaped from Devil's Island, The Dion Brothers, Capone, Mitchell, Mean Johnny Barrows, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and Walking Tall: Final Chapter.
Phillips also guest-starred in numerous television programs including Star Trek: The Original Series, Gunsmoke, The Rockford Files, Bonanza, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Wild Wild West, Rawhide, Mission: Impossible, The High Chaparral, Mannix, The Fall Guy and Planet of the Apes. His last credit was for the western television series Bordertown.