Chris Robinson, whose more than 100 TV and film roles were dominated by doctor characters on TV soaps to the extent that the actor once appeared in a commercial intoning, “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV,” setting off a national catchphrase and late-night TV punchline, died June 9 of heart failure in his sleep at his ranch near Sedona, Arizona. He was 86.
His death was announced on social media by his friend and colleague MJ Allen.
With a prolific career that included a series regular role on the 1960s ABC war drama 12 O’Clock High, and a prominent role in the 1962 Burt Lancaster classic Birdman of Alcatraz, Robinson would come to be known to a large TV audience as Dr. Rick Webber on ABC’s General Hospital. He played the role from 1978 to 1986, with Dr. Webber entered into pop culture lore as the adoptive father of Genie Francis’ Laura (of the Luke and Laura 1980s sensation).
Dr. Webber came to a gruesome end when Robinson returned to the show for a short stint during which he was bludgeoned to death in 2002 by a candlestick-wielding Scotty Baldwin (Laura’s ex played by the actor Kin Shriner).
Robinson’s credits also included The Bold and the Beautiful, Colt. 45, Hennesey, The Donna Reed Show, Sea Hunt, Death Valley Days, Ben Casey, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train and The Fugitive.
But it was his roles as soap doctors that provided Robinson with a fame that went beyond daytime fandom. During the mid-1980s, Robinson appeared in a Vicks Formula 44 cough syrup commercial. Lest any viewers thought Dr. Rick Webber was actually dispensing medical advice, Robinson said, “I’m not a doctor but I do play one on TV.” The self-serious humor of the line made it a catch-phrase-ready statement for comedians or anyone feeling the need to mockingly state the obvious.
Robinson didn’t last long with Vicks, however: a tax evasion scandal got him fired from the commercial role, which was quickly taken over by All My Childrens‘ Peter Bergman, who, yes, played a doctor on TV.
Born on November 5, 1938, in West Palm Beach, Florida, Christopher Brown Robinson took an early interesting in acting, and by his teenage years was playing in a juvenile delinquent in The Diary of a High School Bride and, even more memorably, as a the spider monster in Beast From Haunted Cave (he designed the spider costumer himself).
Other credits include The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bob Hope Presents, Wagon Train, Perry Mason, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C, Hogan’s Heroes, The Streets of San Francisco, Barnaby Jones, CHiPs, Fantasy Island, Murder She Wrote, and Another World, among many others. His most recent credit is the 2022 feature film Just For a Week.
Robinson is survived by his wife of fourteen years, artist-actor Jacquie Shane-Robinson, sons Shane, Coby, Christian, Taylor, Christopher Robinson, Christopher Lance, and adopted son Robb Walker. He also is survived by five grandchildren.
In the 2009 documentary Bankrupt By Beanies, Robinson’s son Christopher Robinson documented the family’s financial ruin due to his father’s misguided obsession with the financial possibilities of collecting Beanie Babies. Christopher Robinson also directed a 2010 documentary called Bastard: An Illegitimate Film, which documented the long biological reach – and numerous little-known siblings – of his father’s promiscuity during his acting heyday.
