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Toby Robins | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1931-03-13)March 13, 1931 |
| Died | March 21, 1986(1986-03-21) (aged 55) London, England, UK |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1950–1984 |
Toby Robins (March 13, 1931 – March 21, 1986) was aCanadian actress of film, stage and television.
Robins starred in hundreds of radio and stage productions in Canada from the late 1940s through the 1960s, working with such performers asJane Mallett,Barry Morse,John Drainie,Ruth Springford, andJames Doohan among others. She appeared in a number of television and film roles beginning in the mid-1950s, and hosted the first-everCBC Television series,The Big Revue in 1952. In Toronto she played in repertory withLorne Greene, Mavor Moore, and Don Harron. At the Crest Theatre she played the leading parts inCat on a Hot Tin Roof,Dream Girl and many others.[citation needed]
Robins became a popular television personality as an original member of the cast of the long-running CBC television seriesFront Page Challenge in 1957, remaining with the program until 1961. Originally hosted byAlex Barris and laterFred Davis,Front Page Challenge was a current events series disguised as a panel-style game show in a similar format to the AmericanWhat's My Line?. Panelists had to guess the news story or person behind a news story by asking questions of the guest; after the game portion, the guest was then interviewed informally by the panel.[citation needed]
Although Robins was initially criticized for asking simple and sometimes unintelligent questions,[1] she soon found her journalistic sea legs and before long was holding her own alongside the more experienced journalists, including her co-panellistsGordon Sinclair andPierre Berton.[citation needed] She left the series in a salary dispute in 1961 and was replaced by futuresenatorBetty Kennedy (who remained with the show until its demise in the 1990s). Robins returned to the show from time to time as a guest panelist.[citation needed]
In 1964, Robins relocated to London and she appeared in a number of film and television productions, includingThe Saint ("When Spring Is Sprung"),Space: 1999 (the two-parter "The Bringers of Wonder", which was later re-issued as the television filmDestination Moonbase Alpha) and in 1981 she playedMelina Havelock's ill-fated mother in theJames Bond filmFor Your Eyes Only (1981).[2] She appeared in an episode ofMinder entitled "The Willesden Suite", broadcast in February 1984.[3] On London'sWest End stage, she appeared in such dramas asThe Relapse,The Latent Heterosexual,The Flip Side, andThe Aspern Papers.[4]
Toby Robins died frombreast cancer on 21 March 1986. In 1991, her family founded theBreakthrough Toby Robins Breast Cancer Centre inLondon, which was opened in 1999 byHRH The Prince of Wales, with the aim of producing a coordinated program of research to tackle breast cancer.[5] It is the first dedicated breast cancer research centre in the United Kingdom, and directly linked to one of the most renowned cancer facilities in the world, theRoyal Marsden Hospital.[6]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Parking on This Side | The Girl | |
| 1952 | The Big Revue | Co-host | |
| 1965 | Game for Three Losers | Frances Challinor | |
| 1967 | The Naked Runner | Ruth | |
| 1969 | Department S | Selina Trenton | Episode: “The Man In The Elegant Room” |
| 1971 | The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder | Sadie | Episode: "The Duke" |
| 1971 | Friends | Mrs. Gardner | |
| 1972 | The Protectors | Madame Rue | Episode: "Ceremony for the Dead" |
| 1974 | Paul and Michelle | Jane | |
| 1976 | Spy Story | Helen Schlegel | |
| 1979 | Space: 1999 | Diana Morris | Two-part Episode: "The Bringers of Wonder, Part One" & "The Bringers of Wonder, Part Two" |
| 1979 | Hazell | Jean Curzon | Episode: "Hazell Gets the Part" |
| 1979 | Licensed to Love and Kill | Scarlet Star | |
| 1981 | For Your Eyes Only | Iona Havelock | |
| 1983 | Princess Daisy | Eleanour Kavanaugh | |
| 1984 | Scandalous | Pamella Reynolds |