Wayne Robson

Wayne Robson (April 29, 1946 – April 4, 2011) was a Canadian television, stage, voice and film actor known for playing the part of Mike Hamar, an ex-convict and sometime thief, on the Canadian sitcom '' The Red Green Show'' from 1993 to 2006, as well as in the 2002 film ''Duct Tape Forever''.

Robson was also known as the escape artist character Rennes, "the Wren", from the 1997 science fiction film ''Cube''. He was in the episode “A Miracle of a Rare Device” on The Ray Bradbury Theater in 1989.

Background

Robson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He began his acting career on stage there, but moved with his family to Toronto, Ontario, where he continued stage acting and appeared in Canadian television commercials in the 1970s. After receiving several small character roles in films such as '' McCabe & Mrs. Miller'' (1971) and ''Popeye'' for which he was nominated for a Genie Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Robson voiced Bloom in the cartoon ''Pippi Longstocking'' and Matthew Cuthbert in '' Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series''. He also voiced Professor Cuthbert Calculus on ''The Adventures of Tintin'' between 1991 and 1992, and voiced Melvin Fish in the animated series ''Bob and Margaret''. Robson played minor characters in such films as '' Finders Keepers'' (1984), ''One Magic Christmas'' (1985), '' Parents'' (1989), Frank on ''The Rescuers Down Under'' (1990), '' Double, Double, Toil and Trouble'' (1993), '' Dolores Claiborne'' (1995), '' Two If by Sea'' (1996), ''Cube'' (1997), '' Wrong Turn'' (2003), '' Welcome to Mooseport'' (2004), ''The Incredible Hulk'' (2008), and ''Survival of the Dead'' (2009).

He appeared as Christie in the TV movie ''The Diviners'' (1993) based on the Governor General's Award-winning novel by Margaret Laurence, and as Holly Hunter's ailing father, Tug Jones, in the TV movie '' Harlan County War'' (2000). Robson was nominated and won several Gemini Awards. He appeared in TV series and miniseries ''The New Twilight Zone'', ''The Good Germany'', ''Puppets Who Kill'', '' Relic Hunter'', and ''Lexx''.

Death

Robson died while in rehearsals for ''The Grapes of Wrath'' at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada on April 4, 2011 from a heart attack, a few weeks before his 65th birthday.

His son, Louis McKeen Robson (b. 1991), who did a part on ''The Red Green Show'' with his father, died on December 25, 2016, aged 25.

Selected filmography

*'' McCabe & Mrs. Miller'' (1971) – Bartender
*'' Russian Roulette'' (1975) – Mechanic (uncredited)
*''Popeye'' (1981) – Prisoner
*''The Grey Fox'' (1982) – Shorty
*'' Finders Keepers'' (1984) – Zev Tyndale
*'' Just the Way You Are'' (1984) – Theater Assistant Manager
*''Mrs. Soffel'' (1984) – Halliday
*''One Magic Christmas'' (1985) – Harry Dickens
*'' Bullies'' (1986) – Vern
*'' Dead of Winter'' (1987) – Officer Huntley
*'' Candy Mountain'' (1987) – Buddy Burke
*''Housekeeping'' (1987) – Principal
*''And Then You Die'' (1987) – Wally Degan
*''Goofballs'' (1987) – Stick
*'' Something About Love'' (1988) – Myles
*'' Parents'' (1989) – Lab Attendant
*'' Buying Time'' (1989) – Rolley
*'' Bye Bye Blues'' (1989) – Pete
*''Justice Denied'' (1989) – Roy Ebsary
*''Love & Murder'' (1990) – Jeff
*''Dark Horse'' (1990) – Elliot
*''The Rescuers Down Under'' (1990) – Frank the Lizard (voice)
*'' Bingo'' (1991) – Four Eyes
*'' Double, Double, Toil and Trouble'' (1993, TV Movie) – Gravedigger
*''April One'' (1994) – Wayne Brock
*'' Dolores Claiborne'' (1995) – Sammy Marchant
*''Goosebumps'' (1995) - Jimmy O'James
*''National Lampoon's Senior Trip'' (1995) – Frank Hardin
*'' Two If by Sea'' (1996) – Beano Callahan
*'' Getting Away with Murder'' (1996) – Bartender
*''Pippi Longstocking'' (1997) – Bloom (voice)
*'' Affliction'' (1997) – Nick Wickham
*''Cube'' (1997) – Rennes
*'' Babar: King of the Elephants'' (1999) – Marabou / Sales Manager (voice)
*'' Redwall'' (1999) - Methuselah (voice)
*''The Highwayman'' (2000) – Cruickshank
*''Lexx'' (2000) - Gubby Mok
*'' Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series'' (2000) – Matthew Cuthbert (voice)
*''Duct Tape Forever'' (2002) – Mike Hamar
*''Mark Twain's Roughing It'' (2002) – Mr. Ballau
*''Interstate 60'' (2002) – Tolbert (Deep Stomach)
*'' Wrong Turn'' (2003) – Maynard Odets
*''Cold Creek Manor'' (2003) – Stan Holland
*'' Welcome to Mooseport'' (2004) – Morris Gutman
*'' Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends'' (2004-2006, TV Series) - Mr Mantis (voice)
*'' Stuck'' (2007) – Mr. Binckley
*'' Wrong Turn 2: Dead End'' (2007) – Maynard Odets
*''In Between'' (2007) – Professor
*''The Incredible Hulk'' (2008) – Boat Captain
*''The Timekeeper'' (2009) – Lomacki
*''Survival of the Dead'' (2009) – Tawdry
*''Servitude'' (2011) – Donny (final film role)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Robson, Wayne
1946 births
2011 deaths
Male actors from Vancouver
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male stage actors
Canadian male voice actors
Canadian male television actors
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Canadian Screen Award winners