Robert Ridgely

American actor Robert Ridgely's first television job was the part of Kimbro in the 1962 #92;wartime drama The Gallant Men. He later played a Ted Baxter-ish anchor man on Domestic Life (1984), and was earlier featured as an unctuous talent-show emcee in Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard (1979). Ridgely showed up in a brace of Mel Brooks films during the early '90s, including Life Stinks (1991) and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), and was featured in Michael Keaton's Multiplicity and Tom Hanks' That Thing You Do! Although he was always busy in front of the cameras, the actor was best-known as one of show business' most prolific and versatile voice-over artists. Ridgely's extensive TV-cartoon resumé included the title roles in Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All (1979), Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1980), and Thundarr the Barbarian (1982) Ridgely made his final film appearances in Boogie Nights and Fire Down Below (both 1997). He died of cancer in 1997 at the age of 65. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

• Also Credited As:
  Bob Ridgely, Robert Ritterbusch
• Born:
  December 24, 1931 in Teaneck, New Jersey
• Died:
  February 8, 1997.
• Job Titles:
  Actor

Milestones

• 1957 Performed in "Fire Down Below"
• 1974 Appeared in Mell Brook's "Blazing Saddles"
• 1987 Featured in "Beverly Hills Cop II"
• 1993 Starred in "Philadelphia" and "Robin Hood: Men In Tights"
• 1994 Worked on "The Ref"
• 1997 Final film perfomance, as 'The Colonel' in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights"
• Began carrer by performinng in Manhattan supper clubs
• Worked in off broadway production of "The Threepenny Opera"