Richard Rober

Richard Steven Rauber was born in Rochester, New York, on May 14, 1906.[1] He was the son of Frederick S. Rauber, [2]an attorney, and Elizabeth Ford.[3]

Rober began his career as a stage actor in the mid-1930s under his real name, Richard Rauber. Penniless and looking for work after his graduation from the University of Rochester, he landed a small part in a play by the Lyceum Players starring Louis Calhern.[4] He went on to act with nearly every repertory theatre company on the East Coast.[4] He was part of the original Chicago company of Born Yesterday.[3][5] He also performed in the long-running Oklahoma!.[6]

In 1947,[1] Rober embarked on a career in Hollywood, appearing in his first film role in Call Northside 777 (1948). He appeared in many B-movies—including Sierra (1950)—and film noir drama films such as The File on Thelma Jordon (1950) and The Well (1951). In July 1951 it was reported that he had appeared in 26 films in his 3 1/2 years in Hollywood.[4]

While Rober mostly played supporting roles, his career began to go on the ascendancy before his death in 1952. He had a starring role in The Well (1951), and had traveled to Austria to play the lead in the MGM production The Devil Makes Three (1952).[3] The week before his death, he played the lead in Corny Johnson, a television film produced by Bing Crosby Enterprises.[3]

Rober was married twice.[7] His second marriage, at age 40, was to Mary Hay Barthelmess, age 23, daughter of actors Richard Barthelmess and Mary Hay, in New York in January 1946.[7][8] They later divorced.

Rober died after crashing his car in the San Fernando Valley on May 26, 1952.[3] He had been driving with a passenger, actress Norma Britton. The car swerved off the highway in heavy fog and plummeted over a 75 ft (23 m) embankment, something which, three years earlier, in The File on Thelma Jordon, he actually depicted, sitting next to Barbara Stanwyck.[3][9] Rescuers took the pair to Santa Monica Hospital, where Rober died a few hours later. Britton survived with rib injuries.[3]

Rober was eulogized in Rochester and buried in the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery there.[1][3]

Sources: [6][10][11]

• Blum, Daniel C. (1951). Theatre World – Season 1951–1952. Crown Publishing Company.
• Dietz, Dan (2010). Off Broadway Musicals, 1910–2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786457311.
• Mantle, Burns (1938). Burns Mantle Yearbook. Vol. 19.
• Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons. McFarland. ISBN 9780786479924.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Rober.

• Richard Rober at IMDb
• Richard Rober at the Internet Broadway Database
• Richard Rober at AllMovie
• Richard Rober at Find a Grave