Fresh out of Temple University, actor Robert Hooks was billing himself as Bobby Dean Hooks when he made his 1962 Broadway bow in Tiger Tiger Burning Bright. Hooks' first film was the independently produced Sweet Love, Bitter (1966), though many reference books regard Hurry Sundown (1967) as the actor's big-screen debut. In 1967, he was co-starred with Jack Warden in the New York-based TV cop series NYPD, and in 1988 he was top-billed as Captain Jim Coleman in the military weekly Supercarrier (1988). A co-founder of the Negro Ensemble Company, Hooks was also the creator of the DC Black Repertory Company, based in his hometown of Washington. Robert Hooks is the father of actor/director Kevin Hooks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide