Richard Rober

Richard Steven Rauber was born in Rochester, New York, on May 14, 1906.{{sfn|Wilson|2016|p=634}} He was the son of Frederick S. Rauber,{{cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/19930433:2704 |website=www.ancestry.com |access-date=2023-09-13 |title=Register |url-access=subscription}} an attorney, and Elizabeth Ford.

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. He went on to act with nearly every repertory theatre company on the East Coast. He was part of the original Chicago company of Born Yesterday.{{sfn|Blum|1951|p=242}} He also performed in the long-running Oklahoma!.

In 1947,{{sfn|Wilson|2016|p=634}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46395646/richard-rober/|title=Veteran Paramount Actor Doesn't Like The Long Hair|first=Burt|last=Fogelberg|date=July 20, 1951|newspaper=Rapid City Journal|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}}{{open access}}

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). The week before his death, he played the lead in Corny Johnson, a television film produced by Bing Crosby Enterprises.

Rober was married twice.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46395432/calgary-herald/|title=Richard Rober Weds|agency=Associated Press|date=January 21, 1946|newspaper=Calgary Herald|page=5|via=Newspapers.com}}{{open access}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46395292/the-los-angeles-times/|title=Barthelmess Wedding Set|first=Hedda|last=Hopper|authorlink=Hedda Hopper|date=January 20, 1946|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|page=17|via=Newspapers.com}}{{open access}} They later divorced.

Rober died after crashing his car in the San Fernando Valley on May 26, 1952. He had been driving with a passenger, actress Norma Britton. The car swerved off the highway in heavy fog and plummeted over a {{cvt|75|ft}} embankment, something which, three years earlier, in The File on Thelma Jordon, he actually depicted, sitting next to Barbara Stanwyck.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/05/27/archives/actor-dies-in-crash-richard-rober-killed-in-car-plunge-actress.html|title=ACTOR DIES IN CRASH; Richard Rober Killed in Car Plunge – Actress Injured|date=May 27, 1952|access-date=February 18, 2020|work=The New York Times}} Rescuers took the pair to Santa Monica Hospital, where Rober died a few hours later. Britton survived with rib injuries.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7271321/democrat_and_chronicle/|title=Funeral of Richard Rauber, Actor, Arranged Here Monday|newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle|date=May 30, 1952|page=30|via=Newspapers.com}}{{open access}}

Rober was eulogized in Rochester and buried in the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.{{sfn|Wilson|2016|p=634}}

Sources:{{cite web |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/richard-rober-90253|title=Richard Rober|work=Internet Broadway Database|year=2020|access-date=February 18, 2020}}{{sfn|Dietz|2010|p=302}}{{sfn|Mantle|1938|pp=368, 444}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BwFlAAAAMAAJ&q=Richard+Rober|title=Theatre World – Season 1951–1952|first=Daniel C.|last=Blum|year=1951|publisher=Crown Publishing Company}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgOqZWHCLbUC&pg=PA302|title=Off Broadway Musicals, 1910–2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows|first=Dan|last=Dietz|year=2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786457311}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kiYOAAAAIAAJ&q=lord+ross|title=Burns Mantle Yearbook|volume=19|year=1938|first=Burns|last=Mantle|authorlink=Burns Mantle}}
• {{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=7-DgDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA634|title= Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons|first=Scott|last=Wilson|year=2016|publisher=McFarland|isbn= 9780786479924}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{IMDb name|0730533}}
• {{IBDB name|90253}}
• {{Find a Grave|18516741}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rober, Richard}}

Category:1906 births

Category:1952 deaths

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:American male film actors

Category:Male Western (genre) film actors

Category:Male actors from Rochester, New York

Category:Road incident deaths in California

Category:University of Rochester alumni