Davis Roberts

Davis Roberts (born Robert A. Davis, March 7, 1917 – July 18, 1993) was an American character actor whose career spanned six decades, from the late 1940s until his death in 1993. A pioneering African-American actor who steadily found work in films when opportunities were limited to ethnic minorities in the late 1940s and 1950s, his success continued, expanding into television in the following decades. He is best known for his guest role as Dr. Caldwell in three episodes in the second and third seasons of the NBC-TV sitcom series Sanford and Son.

Acting career

Throughout his long and distinguished career, Roberts, a native of Mobile, Alabama, moved with his family to Chicago, Illinois in 1931; He graduated from Wendell Phillips Academy High School there in Chicago in 1935. Roberts appeared in over 30 feature films, including: In a Lonely Place (1950); The Killers (1964) written by Star Trek executive producer Gene L. Coon and featuring future U.S. President Ronald Reagan in his final film role; The Chase (1966) with Steve Ihnat; Westworld (1973) with Majel Barrett, Charles Seel, Alan Oppenheimer, Kenneth Washington and Paul Sorensen; Demon Seed (1977), with Fritz Weaver, Gerrit Graham, Michael Dorn and Felix Silla; and John Schlesinger's Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), which featured Teri Garr, Jerry Hardin and Jeffrey Combs. He also appeared in the ABC-TV mini-series Roots, which starred LeVar Burton, as well as other television shows, including I Dream of Jeannie, Mission: Impossible, Gunsmoke, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Sanford and Son, and All in the Family. Off-screen, Mr. Roberts was active in Hollywood and black causes, serving several terms on the western advisory board of Actors' Equity.

Death

Davis died in the home of his brother Charles on July 18, 1993 of emphysema at the age of 76.

References

External links

• Davis Roberts at the Internet Movie Database