Robby the Robot; a true classic
of robot design. Like the Zippo lighter, the Swiss Army knife,
the Marmite jar, or the Routemaster omnibus he never goes out of
style. In fact, now that I think about it, he does rather
resemble a Morris Minor. And, as we can see above, the women are
drawn to him like flies to a honey pot. And, no, he didn't like
Elektro either.
Robby first appeared on the
public scene in the 1956 sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet.
Designed by MGM art director Robert Kinoshita,
Robby reportedly cost
MGM $125,000 to make. Since Robby was a contract player at the
time, this was regarded by the studio as a cheap investment.
Forbidden Planet
was a milestone in science fiction cinema. In a genre that had
up then been dominated by juvenile serials like Buck Rogers and
Radar Men from the Moon, Forbidden Planet managed to
present a fairly mature story line (the first draught was by William
Shakespeare) while capturing the look and spirit of pulp sci-fi of the
time. Robby was a key element of this. His lumbering
entrance set to the electronic tonalities of Bebe & Louis Barron told
us that we were entering the future and this was our usher.
Robby was the
quintessence of what a robot should be; not an impersonal piece of
industrial hardware, but an wise, polite, obedient, powerful, yet
diffident servant. The Anti-Bender, if you will.
But
Robby turned out to be more than a prop. He became a hard
working actor with a string of credits that extend to this day.
He even has his own IMDB
entry. His first gig after Forbidden Planet was a
guest appearance on the Perry Como Show. After that, he was the
star of the The Invisible Boy, where he became the best friend
of a neglected little boy while battling a computer bent on world
domination. Then the offers just poured in and Robby was
guest starring on The Thin Man, Columbo, The Twilight Zone,
Lost in Space, and his latest cameo in Looney Tunes: Back in
Action.
Robby
soon became the toast of Society and in the '60s he was a fixture at
Hollywood parties and a frequent guest at the Playboy mansion.
He even dabbled in politics and launched a gubernatorial bid in 1964
that failed notwithstanding a strong showing in the polls
Despite his success, Robby never let fame go to his head. Having
achieved financial independence due to a lucrative toy deal in Japan,
Robby was able to turn his attention to charity, such as his
foundation for the rehabilitation of delinquent calculators and the
March of Diodes.
