Barry Robins

BARRY ROBINS was an American stage, film and television actor. He was best known for his starring role as Cotton in Stanley Kramer's 1971 movie, Bless the Beasts and Children. Born in Brooklyn, he attended New York's High School of Performing Arts, and later studied acting with Stella Adler and singing with Ruth Miller. His Chicago performance as the Crown Prince in a 1963 production of The King and I led its composer, Richard Rodgers, to invite him to reprise the role in the 1964 revival in New York at Lincoln Center. He would eventually play the part more than 600 times in various regional and touring productions. Mr. Robins appeared around the country in numerous productions of the musicals Annie Get Your Gun (Little Jake), Camelot (Mordred, Tom of Wariick), Milk and Honey (Adi), Cesario in Fanny ( Cesario), Boys From Syracuse (Dromio of Ephesus), Li'l Abner (Evil Eye Fleagle), the plays A Thousand Clowns (Nick), Incident at Vichy (The Boy), and Benjamin Brotten's opera A Midsummer Night's Dream (Puck) and a several cameos at The Metroploitan Opera. His television appearances include A Night in Maritzburg (as Mahatma Gandi), in Jerome Lawrence’s Actor: The Paul Muni Story (Munya, age 14), Columbo (King Hamid Kamal of Suari), The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.! (Chico) and Rat The Rat Patrol (Ben Nafi), The 12 O'Clock High (Emile) and The Monkees. In 1977, Mr. Robins penned Our Days at M.A.D., an unproduced teleplay based on his experiences at the High School of Performing Arts. From time to time he also performed as a cocktail lounge pianist. Mr. Robins died of complications from AIDS at the age of 41, in Los Angeles, California, on April 1, 1986.