Robert Drivas

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Robert Drivas was an actor of television, film, and stage. Remembered by TV and film audiences primarily for his work of the 1960s, Drivas delivered fascinating performances, usually depicting psychologically complex characters, in television guest-starring roles and supporting roles in films.

Active also on the stage as performer and director, Drivas was associated with many well-known theatrical figures of his time, among them playwright Terrence McNally, and was himself prominent in the theater culture of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s.

Though he did not not become a star popular with general audiences, a cult following has grown up around his distinctive persona and unusual performances, and his premature death at age 47 of AIDS-related complications includes him in the company of important artists lost to that epidemic.

[edit] Biography and Career

Born Robert Choromokos Drivas on November 21, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois, Drivas studied at the University of Chicago and the University of Miami. After further training at the Greek Playhouse in Athens, Greece and with the Cocoanut Grove Playhouse, he made his New York debut in the role of Rameses in the play "The Firstborn" (1958), which starred Anthony Quayle as Moses. He continued to perform on stage with "One More River" (1960), "The Wall" (1960), "The Irregular Verb to Love" (1963), and "And Things That Go Bump in the Night" (1965), which he also directed. In 1963 he won a Theatre World Award for his performance in "Mrs. Dally Has a Lover" alongside fellow TWA winner Estelle Parsons.

Concurrent with his theater work, Drivas appeared in television, beginning in 1958. He showed great intensity and power in guest-starring roles on 1960s crime shows and dramas such as Route 66, N.Y.P.D., The Defenders, The Fugitive and The F.B.I..

Drivas' first theatrical film appearance was in the role of "Loudmouth Steve" in the classic prison drama Cool Hand Luke (1967). This debut led to more film work, Drivas soon sharing the screen with Rod Steiger and Claire Bloom in the The Illustrated Man (1969). Though Drivas' performance was mezmerizing, the film was a commercial failure and was not the star-making role for Drivas it might otherwise have been. Drivas also excelled as the cool, but idealistic, son of David Janssen in "Where It's At" (1969), but again, the film was dismissed and Drivas' career did not advance.

Drivas continued working in television and in independent features but with limited success. After his numerous appearances in television and film, Drivas turned to stage directing in the 1970's, including several projects on Broadway. He gained progressive respect with his helming of such plays as Bad Habits, for which he won an Obie award, the uproarious farce The Ritz, Legend, Cheaters, It Had to Be You, a revival of the musical Little Me, and, his last, Peg (in 1983), a re-enactment of the life of songstress Peggy Lee, with lyrics and book by the star herself.

On June 29, 1986, Drivas died of AIDS-related cancer in New York City, aged 47.

[edit] Miscellanea

  • Drivas was of Greek descent.
  • Drivas was once involved in an on-stage scuffle with an irate theater-goer during a 1965 performance of Terrence McNally's play And Things That Go Bump in the Night. The play, which featured an overtly gay character, had been panned by the six daily New York newspapers and had become a source of some controversy. McNally told theatermania.com that he saw one theater-goer "jump onto the stage and try to get [actress] Eileen Heckart off of it, prompting Robert Drivas to grapple with him. The man felt that the play was filthy and that such a distinguished actress as Heckart shouldn't be doing it". - from theatermania.com
  • Drivas has long held iconic status among connoisseurs of images of nudity in film for his famous extended bare-bottomed scene in "The Illustrated Man" (1969). Considered ground-breaking for its time, the sequence features Drivas, seen from behind, bathing nude in a lake.
  • The drama Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune (later filmed as Frankie and Johnny, starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer) was written by playwright Terrence McNally soon after losing his two best friends, Drivas (to AIDS) and actor James Coco (to heart disease). In 1993 McNally told The New York Times, "Bobby [Drivas] didn't want anyone to know he had AIDS,so he would regularly change his phone message, saying, 'Hi, it's Bobby. I've gone to Paris.' Or 'Hi, it's Bobby, I'm in Australia. I'll be back soon.' When I called up people to tell them he'd died, they'd say, 'How can that be? I just talked to him. He was just in India' or 'He was just in Paris.' And I'd tell them, 'No, that was his answering machine.' And they'd realize they hadn't laid eyes on the man for 18 months". - from "A Profile of Terrence McNally", Aug. 29, 1993 ([1])

[edit] External link

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