Robert Ivers
Encyclopedia
Robert Ivers, AKA Bob Ivers, (December 11, 1934 - 13 February 2003 was an American
actor who appeared in films and television in the 1950s and 1960s.
. He attended Tucson High School
between 1950 and 1953. He was then was offered scholarships to Pasadena Playhouse
and the University of Arizona
. After short time at Pasadena, where he could not get on stage until his second year he then enrolled at the University of Arizona where he began appearing in roles during his first year. During this time he had a number of uncredited roles in films such as Broken Lance
in 1954 and Violent Saturday
in 1955, before finally being signed by Paramount Pictures
in 1956 after he was seen performing the lead role in the play Tea and Sympathy
.
, in which he co-starred with Jerry Lewis
. In 1957 he also starred in Short Cut to Hell, the only film directed by James Cagney
. He also co-starred in 1960 with Elvis Presley
in G.I. Blues
as 'Cookie', one of Elvis's army buddies stationed with him on base overseas. It was Presley's first film after coming home from the army. He appeared in a number of television series in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was one of the four stars of the syndicated
western
series, Pony Express
in the 1959-1960 season. The timing of the program coincided with the centennial of the Pony Express
. Ivers also appeared on ABC
's The Fugitive
starring David Janssen
, Twelve O'clock High
, The Virginian
, Bat Masterson
, The Untouchables
, and Gunsmoke
.
He later worked as a television announcer at KTHI-TV in Fargo, North Dakota
. Ivers eventually returned to his home state of Washington, where he continued working in television in Yakima
. In the 1970s he was a mainstay of KAPP TV, Channel 35, anchoring the newscasts along with hosting the Saturday morning kid's show, the weekday "Morning Moneyman Movie" and its annual participation in the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
. After leaving KAPP, Ivers had a stint as newscaster at a competing Yakima station KNDO
. He then began his own advertising agency business in the Yakima area after leaving broadcasting while hosting a small syndicated radio show in central Washington providing factual trivia about films and actors along with reviews.
. Ivers died on February 13, 2003, at the age of 68 in Yakima. A memorial tombstone in his honor is located in the Terrace Heights Cemetery in Yakima, Washington. Although his remains are not located there, his memorial is located next to another marker with the same true last name as his, "Prestlien". At the time of this writing, it was not known what the relationship these other two were to Robert, other than possibly his parents. On Robert's tombstone is a slogan captioned, "Green-Go Daddy".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor who appeared in films and television in the 1950s and 1960s.
Background
Ivers was born in Seattle, WashingtonSeattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. He attended Tucson High School
Tucson High Magnet School
Tucson High Magnet School , commonly referred to as THMS, THS, Tucson High, and Tucson Magnet, is a 2009 Performing Plus Tucson public high school and is part of the Tucson Unified School District with magnet programs in Science, Mathematics, Technology, Visual Arts, and Performing Arts...
between 1950 and 1953. He was then was offered scholarships to Pasadena Playhouse
Pasadena Playhouse
The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engagements each year.-History:...
and the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
. After short time at Pasadena, where he could not get on stage until his second year he then enrolled at the University of Arizona where he began appearing in roles during his first year. During this time he had a number of uncredited roles in films such as Broken Lance
Broken Lance
Broken Lance is a 1954 Western film made by Twentieth Century-Fox, directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Sol C. Siegel. The movie stars Spencer Tracy and features Katy Jurado, Richard Widmark, Robert Wagner, Jean Peters, Eduard Franz, Hugh O'Brian and Earl Holliman.Shot in color and...
in 1954 and Violent Saturday
Violent Saturday
Violent Saturday is a 1955 American crime drama directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Victor Mature, Lee Marvin, Richard Egan and Stephen McNally. The film, set in a mining town, depicts the planning of a bank robbery as the nexus in the personal lives of several townspeople.Prominent actors...
in 1955, before finally being signed by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
in 1956 after he was seen performing the lead role in the play Tea and Sympathy
Tea and Sympathy
Tea and Sympathy is a 1953 stage play in three acts by Robert Anderson.-Broadway premiere:It received its premiere on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on September 30, 1953 in a production by The Playwrights' Company, directed by Elia Kazan and designed by Jo Mielziner. The play starred...
.
Film and television career
Ivers played a major role in the 1957 film The Delicate DelinquentThe Delicate Delinquent
The Delicate Delinquent is a 1957 American black-and-white film starring Jerry Lewis. It was filmed in 1956 and released on June 6, 1957 by Paramount Pictures and is notable as the first film that Lewis made without his longtime partner Dean Martin....
, in which he co-starred with Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
. In 1957 he also starred in Short Cut to Hell, the only film directed by James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
. He also co-starred in 1960 with Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
in G.I. Blues
G.I. Blues
G.I. Blues is a 1960 Elvis Presley musical motion picture played as a romantic comedy. It was filmed at Paramount's Hollywood studios, with some pre-production scenery shot on location in Germany before Presley's release from the army. The movie reached #2 on the Variety weekly national box office...
as 'Cookie', one of Elvis's army buddies stationed with him on base overseas. It was Presley's first film after coming home from the army. He appeared in a number of television series in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was one of the four stars of the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
series, Pony Express
Pony Express (TV series)
Pony Express is a half-hour syndicated western television series which ended its 39-episode schedule in 1960, the centennial of the launching of the Pony Express, a short-lived venture promoted by William Hepburn Russell of the freight company Russell, Majors and Waddell...
in the 1959-1960 season. The timing of the program coincided with the centennial of the Pony Express
Pony Express
The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 3, 1860 to October 1861...
. Ivers also appeared on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
starring David Janssen
David Janssen
David Janssen was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Dr. Richard Kimble in the television series The Fugitive , the starring role in the 1950s hit detective series Richard Diamond, Private Detective , and as Harry Orwell on Harry O.In 1996 TV Guide...
, Twelve O'clock High
Twelve O'Clock High (TV series)
Twelve O'Clock High or 12 O'Clock High is an American drama series set in World War II. This TV series originally broadcasted on ABC-TV for two-and-one-half TV seasons from September 18, 1964, through January 13, 1967; was based on the motion picture Twelve O'Clock High...
, The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
, Bat Masterson
Bat Masterson (TV series)
Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black and white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961...
, The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
, and Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
.
He later worked as a television announcer at KTHI-TV in Fargo, North Dakota
Fargo, North Dakota
Fargo is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County. In 2010, its population was 105,549, and it had an estimated metropolitan population of 208,777...
. Ivers eventually returned to his home state of Washington, where he continued working in television in Yakima
Yakima, Washington
Yakima is an American city southeast of Mount Rainier National Park and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, United States, and the eighth largest city by population in the state itself. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 91,196 and a metropolitan population of...
. In the 1970s he was a mainstay of KAPP TV, Channel 35, anchoring the newscasts along with hosting the Saturday morning kid's show, the weekday "Morning Moneyman Movie" and its annual participation in the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
The MDA Labor Day Telethon is an annual telethon in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association . The first MDA telethon was during the Thanksgiving Day weekend of 1952 and titled Party for MDA. It has been held annually since 1966...
. After leaving KAPP, Ivers had a stint as newscaster at a competing Yakima station KNDO
KNDO
KNDO is the NBC affiliate television station serving the Yakima, Washington, USA, area. It is owned by the Cowles Publishing Company of Spokane as part of The KHQ Television Group. It is sister station to KNDU in the Tri-Cities, which is considered a semi-satellite of KNDO even though the two...
. He then began his own advertising agency business in the Yakima area after leaving broadcasting while hosting a small syndicated radio show in central Washington providing factual trivia about films and actors along with reviews.
Personal life
Ivers married Lenore Robert in 1961 but the marriage was annulled later that year; on 7 September 1961 he married actress Marcia Henderson. They had two daughters, Alenda and Mallory. Marcia died 23 November 1987 of lupusLupus
Lupus most commonly refers to the disease systemic lupus erythematosus.Lupus may also refer to:-Medicine:* Lupus erythematosus, a chronic autoimmune disease with several different forms...
. Ivers died on February 13, 2003, at the age of 68 in Yakima. A memorial tombstone in his honor is located in the Terrace Heights Cemetery in Yakima, Washington. Although his remains are not located there, his memorial is located next to another marker with the same true last name as his, "Prestlien". At the time of this writing, it was not known what the relationship these other two were to Robert, other than possibly his parents. On Robert's tombstone is a slogan captioned, "Green-Go Daddy".
Filmography
- Film
- Stalag 17Stalag 17Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor...
(1953) - Broken LanceBroken LanceBroken Lance is a 1954 Western film made by Twentieth Century-Fox, directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Sol C. Siegel. The movie stars Spencer Tracy and features Katy Jurado, Richard Widmark, Robert Wagner, Jean Peters, Eduard Franz, Hugh O'Brian and Earl Holliman.Shot in color and...
(1954) - Ten Wanted Men
- Violent SaturdayViolent SaturdayViolent Saturday is a 1955 American crime drama directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Victor Mature, Lee Marvin, Richard Egan and Stephen McNally. The film, set in a mining town, depicts the planning of a bank robbery as the nexus in the personal lives of several townspeople.Prominent actors...
(1955) - A Kiss Before DyingA Kiss Before Dying (1956 film)A Kiss Before Dying is a 1956 American color film noir, directed by Gerd Oswald. The screenplay was written by Lawrence Roman, based on Ira Levin's 1953 novel of the same name, which won the 1954 Edgar Award for "Best First Novel." The drama stars Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Virginia Leith,...
- The Delicate DelinquentThe Delicate DelinquentThe Delicate Delinquent is a 1957 American black-and-white film starring Jerry Lewis. It was filmed in 1956 and released on June 6, 1957 by Paramount Pictures and is notable as the first film that Lewis made without his longtime partner Dean Martin....
(1957) - Short Cut to Hell (1957)
- I Married a Monster from Outer SpaceI Married a Monster from Outer SpaceI Married a Monster from Outer Space is a 1958 science fiction film, directed by Gene Fowler Jr. and starring Tom Tryon and Gloria Talbott....
(1958) - G.I. BluesG.I. BluesG.I. Blues is a 1960 Elvis Presley musical motion picture played as a romantic comedy. It was filmed at Paramount's Hollywood studios, with some pre-production scenery shot on location in Germany before Presley's release from the army. The movie reached #2 on the Variety weekly national box office...
(1960) - The Errand BoyThe Errand BoyThe Errand Boy is a 1961 American comedy film directed, co-written and starring Jerry Lewis.-Plot:Paramutual Pictures decides that they need a spy to find out the inner workings of their studio. Morty Tashman is a paperhanger who happens to be working right outside their window. They decide that...
(1961) - Cattle King (1963)
- The Young and The BraveThe Young and The BraveThe Young and The Brave is a classic feature film released in 1963 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film has been recognized by Turner Classic Movies as an historical representation of the war film genre and in 2006, the network executives selected the film for preservation in their archives...
(1963) - The Patsy
- Stalag 17
- Television
- Pony Express (1959)
- Bachelor Father (1959)
- GunsmokeGunsmokeGunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
(1959) - The UntouchablesThe Untouchables (1959 TV series)The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
(1959) - 77 Sunset Strip77 Sunset Strip77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
(1959 and 1962) - Tombstone TerritoryTombstone TerritoryTombstone Territory is an American Western series starring Pat Conway and Richard Eastham. The series' first two seasons aired on ABC from 1957 to 1959...
(1960) - Not For Hire (1960)
- Hawaiian EyeHawaiian EyeHawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...
(1960 and 1961) - Bat MastersonBat Masterson (TV series)Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black and white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961...
(1960 and 1961) - Frontier Circus (1962)
- The VirginianThe Virginian (TV series)The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
(1964) - Town Tamer (1965)
- Mister RobertsMister Roberts (TV series)Mister Roberts is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 17, 1965 to April 8, 1966. Based on the best selling novel, 1948 play, and the 1955 film of the same name, the series starred Roger Smith in the title role.-Synopsis:...
(1966) - The FugitiveThe Fugitive (TV series)The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
(1966) - The F.B.I. (1966)
- Twelve O'Clock HighTwelve O'Clock High (TV series)Twelve O'Clock High or 12 O'Clock High is an American drama series set in World War II. This TV series originally broadcasted on ABC-TV for two-and-one-half TV seasons from September 18, 1964, through January 13, 1967; was based on the motion picture Twelve O'Clock High...
(1966)