Rev. Robert Wilkinson Castle Jr. (August 29, 1929 – October 27, 2012) was an AmericanEpiscopal priest,social activist, andactor. Castle was the subject of the 1992documentary filmCousin Bobby, which was directed by his cousin, film directorJonathan Demme. His involvement in Demme's documentary led to an unlikely career as an actor in more than a dozen films over the next two decades, including roles inPhiladelphia,The Addiction,Beloved, andRachel Getting Married.^[1][2]

Castle was born on August 29, 1929, inJersey City, New Jersey. He played as a footballquarterback atSt. Lawrence University, where he received hisbachelor's degree. He earned a second degree from theBerkeley Divinity School inNew Haven, Connecticut.^[1] While still studying at Berkeley, was given an assignment to serve at a predominantlyAfrican AmericanEpiscopal parish onManhattan'sLower East Side, sparking a lifelong commitment to civil rights and minority rights.^[1]

His first assignment as an Episcopal priest was as a rector atSt. John’s Episcopal Church in his native Jersey City from 1960 to 1968.^[1] During that time, Castle became very involved with theAmerican civil rights movement, including traveling toMississippi to march withMartin Luther King Jr.^[1]

He became one of the city's most vocal activists. He once dumped large amounts of garbage outside Jersey City Hall as a way to draw attention to the need for more street cleanings.^[1] He protested against his own New Jersey Episcopal bishop for his membership insegregated social clubs.^[1] Castle also led protests against restaurants, banks, and other businesses because they would not hire minority employees. An opponent of theVietnam War, he allowed 1960s left-wing groups, including theBlack Panthers andStudents for a Democratic Society, to use both his home and St. John's Episcopal Church for their meetings.^[1]

His views and actions in Jersey City proved so controversial that when he left his post St. John's Church in 1968, no other church in theEpiscopal Diocese of Newark would accept him into their parishes.^[1] Castle and his family moved toVermont, where he became involved with social work and operated ageneral store.^[1] Castle was also the football coach for several years atNorth Country Union High School where he led the team, with his son John at quarterback, to the state championship game in 1981.^{[citation needed]}

Castle next became therector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, located onWest 126th Street in Manhattan'sHarlem neighborhood. He served as rector from 1987 until his retirement in 2000.^[1] Castle continued his vocal activism at St. Mary's. In the early 1990s, he protested against the much largerCathedral of St. John the Divine, also an Episcopal church, for honoring retired GeneralColin Powell and other leading figures inOperation Desert Storm.^[1] He campaigned againstgentrification of Harlem other neighborhoods in New York City. Though he was the founder of the St. Mary’s Episcopal Center, an AIDShospice located in Harlem, Castle protested against himself to demand better contracts and pay for the hospice workers.^[1]

St. Mary's Episcopal Church is located directly across the street from the 26th Police Precinct of theNYPD. Castle would put flyers on police cars admonishing the officers for illegally parking on the sidewalk in front of his church.^[1] His ongoing parking battle with the NYPD led a to newspaper article on him published during the late 1980s. That article caught the attention of film director Jonathan Demme, a cousin of Castle; both had previously lost touch with one another. In a 1992 interview with NPR, Demme recalled his reaction to the article, "I thought: 'Good Lord. I wonder — no, that couldn’t possibly be cousin Bobby...The good Bobby Castle would never be trashing police cars, for heaven's sake."^[1]

• Robert W. Castle atIMDb

• 1929 births
• 2012 deaths
• St. Lawrence University alumni
• Yale Divinity School alumni
• American male film actors
• Male actors from Jersey City, New Jersey
• Male actors from New York City
• 20th-century American Episcopal priests

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