Latest news with #BirdmanofAlcatraz
Time of India
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful actor Chris Robinson passes away at 86
Chris Robinson , who appeared on General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful, has passed away at 86. His death was posted on Facebook by actor and musician MJ Allen. Allen, who co-starred with Robinson in the 2022 film Just for a Week, said Robinson "peacefully passed in his sleep at his ranch near Sedona, Arizona. " He went on to say that Robinson had been experiencing heart failure for some time and that it was listed as the official cause of death. Robinson started his acting career in the early 1960s in roles for The Young Savages and Birdman of Alcatraz, both of which featured Burt Lancaster. In 1967, he landed his first regular series role as Sgt. Alexander "Sandy" Komansky on ABC's military drama 12 O'Clock High, where he appeared during seasons two and three. Robinson started playing Dr. Rick Webber on General Hospital in 1978, a role he played periodically through 2013. While working on the show, Robinson also became famous for his exposure in a commercial for Vicks Formula 44 cough syrup, in which he said, "I'm not a doctor but I do play one on TV." The catchphrase became a household one. Robinson was subsequently replaced in the commercial promotion by All My Children actor Peter Bergman due to Robinson's taking part in a tax fraud case. He returned to General Hospital in 2022. His character, Rick Webber, was killed off the show with a plot where he was beaten to death with a candlestick by Scotty Baldwin, played by Kin Shriner.
Express Tribune
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
The most iconic TV doctor, Chris Robinson of General Hospital, dies at 86
Chris Robinson, an actor best known for his portrayal of Dr. Rick Webber on General Hospital, passed away on June 9 at the age of 86. He died of heart failure in his sleep at his ranch near Sedona, Arizona. The news was shared on social media by his friend and colleague, MJ Allen. Robinson's career spanned over six decades and included more than 100 roles in television and film. His most iconic role was that of Dr. Rick Webber on General Hospital, where he became a fixture from 1978 to 1986. The character of Dr. Webber, an adoptive father to Laura (played by Genie Francis), was woven into pop culture, particularly during the 1980s when the Luke and Laura storyline captivated viewers. Robinson's character met a violent end on the show in 2002 when he was killed by a candlestick-wielding Scotty Baldwin. Before his soap opera fame, Robinson appeared in various television series, including 12 O'Clock High, Birdman of Alcatraz, The Bold and the Beautiful, Ben Casey, and Gunsmoke. Despite the broad range of roles, it was his iconic TV doctor roles that helped Robinson carve out a distinctive place in pop culture. In the mid-1980s, Robinson became the face of a Vicks Formula 44 cough syrup commercial, where he famously quipped, 'I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV,' turning the line into a widely recognized catchphrase. However, Robinson's association with the commercial ended after a tax-evasion scandal led to his dismissal, with All My Children actor Peter Bergman later taking over the role. Born Christopher Brown Robinson on November 5, 1938, in West Palm Beach, Florida, he began acting at a young age, first making a name for himself in The Diary of a High School Bride and Beast from Haunted Cave. Robinson's diverse TV career also included roles in Perry Mason, Murder, She Wrote, and Fantasy Island. His most recent film credit was in the 2022 feature Just for a Week. Robinson is survived by his wife of 14 years, Jacquie Shane-Robinson, their children, and five grandchildren. He is also remembered for his personal struggles, which were captured in documentaries about his family's financial challenges and his personal life.
Pink Villa
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Who Was Chris Robinson? Exploring Life and Career of General Hospital Actor as He Passes Away at 86
Trigger Warning: This article contains mention of death. General Hospital star Chris Robinson passed away at the age of 86. The late actor, who was popularly known for his role as Dr. Rick Webber in the daily soap, breathed his last on June 9 and died in his sleep due to heart failure. The unfortunate news was confirmed by Robinson's friend and colleague, MJ Allen. The actor gained popularity playing multiple characters in the shows over the years. Some of the notable titles to his name include 12 O'Clock High and Birdman of Alcatraz, among others. However, the one role that made him a household name was Dr. Webber, a character he portrayed in the ABC show from 1978 to 1986. The late veteran star also gave the iconic line, 'I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV,' which went on to become the catchphrase and the late-night TV punchline. Exploiting Chris Robinson's life and career Born as Christopher Brown, the actor was born on November 5 in Florida, California. He started acting early and took interest in the skill since his teenage years. Robinson's first acting role was in The Diary of a High School Bride, and later he went on to play the role of spider monster in Beast from Hunted Cave. Some other titles that the veteran star acted in included The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bob Hope Presents, Wagon Train, Perry Mason, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., Hogan's Heroes, The Streets of San Francisco, Barnaby Jones, CHiPs, Fantasy Island, Murder She Wrote, and Another World. As for the actor's role as Dr. Webber, the character was brought to a gruesome end when the actor returned for a short stint, during which Webber was killed off in the show. Chris Robinson is survived by his wife of fourteen years and his kids, Coby, Christian, Taylor, Christopher Robinson, Christopher Lance, and adopted son Robb Walker. Moreover, the late actor also had five grandkids.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
From 'Public Enemy No. 1' to 'Birdman,' these 5 Alcatraz inmates had Kansas ties
"Public Enemy No. 1" Alvin Karpis grew up in Topeka. George "Machine Gun" Kelly committed his best-known crime in Oklahoma and died in Kansas. Robert Stroud, the 'Birdman of Alcatraz," started on his way to becoming a respected ornithologist when he picked up three baby birds that had fallen from their nest at a Kansas prison where he was an inmate. Karpis, Kelly and Stroud are among men with Kansas connections who served time at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, which was considered escape-proof as it housed inmates from 1934 to 1963 on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. Alcatraz was back in the news this month when President Donald Trump said on X that he was directing the Federal Bureau of Prisons to rebuild and reopen a prison to house hardened criminals on that island. "We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally," he said. Following are five men with Kansas connections who were each imprisoned on "The Rock." Alvin Karpis was designated by the FBI in 1934 as "Public Enemy No. 1." After being captured in 1936, he spent about 25 years at Alcatraz. Karpis was born in 1907 in Canada, and moved with his family to Topeka as a small child. He attended the former Branner School in a building that still stands at SE 3rd and Branner Street. Karpis at one time was the marbles champion of Topeka, according to The Topeka Daily Capital. He was known by the nickname of "Creepy," according to which said he was "the brains" of the 1930s Barker-Karpis gang of criminals. The gang robbed banks and trains, and brought in large ransoms from the separate kidnappings in 1933 of Milwaukee brewer William Hamm and in 1934 of St. Paul, Minnesota, banker Edward Bremer, whose father was a friend of President Franklin Roosevelt. The FBI linked the gang to the killings of 10 people, the New York Times reported. Law enforcement officers shot and killed three members of the gang in January 1935, a month in which Karpis narrowly escaped after a shootout in Atlantic City, N.J. Federal agents then captured Karpis in May 1936 in New Orleans. He was sentenced to life in prison for Bremer's kidnapping. Karpis served time from August 1936 to April 1962 at Alcatraz, except for six months spent in 1958 at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, according to Karpis then served in the penitentiary at McNeil Island, Washington, where he taught guitar lessons to a young Charles Manson, said the FBI's Facebook page. Karpis was paroled in 1969, with one condition of his parole being his deportation to Canada, the New York Times reported. He moved in 1973 to Spain, where he died in 1979. Probably Alcatraz's most famous inmate was Robert Stroud, the so-called "Birdman of Alcatraz," according to the federal Bureau of Prisons website. Stroud actually became a respected ornithologist while serving as an inmate at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas, and wasn't allowed to keep any birds at Alcatraz after he was transferred there in 1942, that site said. It said Stroud "was not the grandfatherly person" portrayed by actor Burt Lancaster in "The Birdman of Alcatraz," a largely fictionalized biographical film about Stroud put out in 1962. Stroud was born in 1890 in Seattle and went to prison for manslaughter linked to a gunshot homicide committed in 1909 in Juneau, Alaska. He was initially sent to the federal penitentiary at McNeil Island, Washington, then transferred in 1915 to Leavenworth, said the website of the Alaska Historical Society. "In 1916, he murdered a Leavenworth guard, was convicted of first-degree murder, and received a death sentence," said the federal Bureau of Prisons website. "His mother pleaded for his life, and in 1920, President Woodrow Wilson commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment." Stroud found three baby sparrows that had fallen out of a nest as he was walking in the prison exercise yard at Leavenworth and took them back to his cell to care for them, said the Missouri State University website. "He was then allowed to raise and study other birds, mainly canaries, to learn about their diseases, remedies, breeding, and care," that site said. "Though he only had a grade school education, he began taking university extension courses, learned to use a microscope and a microteme, and read Spanish and German scientific journals." In the early 1930s, Stroud wrote a treatise on canary diseases, which was smuggled out of the prison and published in 1933, the Missouri State University website said. "He also wrote a book titled 'Stroud's Digest on the Diseases of Birds,' which was published in 1943," it said. But contraband items were often found hidden in Stroud's bird cages, and prison officials discovered that equipment he had requested for scientific studies had actually been used to construct a still to make "home brew," the Bureau of Prisons website said. Stroud was consequently transferred in 1942 to Alcatraz, where he was not allowed to keep birds. Stroud successfully sought to protect other inmates during a deadly 1946 escape attempt known as the "Battle of Alcatraz," in which a group of inmates — which didn't include Stroud — took guards hostage and tried to gain control of a cellhouse. Stroud was transferred in 1959 from Alcatraz to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, where he died on Nov. 21, 1963. Theodore Cole and fellow inmate Ralph Roe on a foggy day in December 1937 filed through the flat iron bars of a window of the building where they worked at Alcatraz, then broke the window glass and slipped out. They made their way to San Francisco Bay with plans to swim for freedom. Their bodies were never found. "This attempt occurred during a bad storm and the Bay's currents were especially fast and strong," said the federal Bureau of Prisons website. "Most people believe Roe and Cole were swept out to sea. Officially, they are listed missing and presumed dead." Cole was born in 1913 in Pittsburg, Kansas, according to the Alcatraz Island History Facebook page. "Originally incarcerated in Oklahoma for bank robbery and kidnapping, Cole was known as a high escape risk, leading to his transfer first to Leavenworth Penitentiary and eventually to Alcatraz Island in 1935," it said. Roe and Cole are among five Alcatraz inmates listed as missing and presumed drowned. The others are Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin, who made a well-known escape attempt in June 1962. Wichita native John R. Bayless tried to escape alone from Alcatraz in September 1941 while serving on garbage detail. "He gave up shortly after entering the cold water of San Francisco Bay," said the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. Bayless, born in 1915 in Wichita, became an inmate at Alcatraz in 1938 after being convicted of bank robbery, according to the website for Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. About a year after his 1941 escape attempt, Bayless leaped a railing and dashed for a door while appearing at a federal hearing in a San Francisco courtroom, said "A deputy marshal grabbed him and foiled his second attempt," it said. The website for Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy said Bayless subsequently: Was transferred in 1950 to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, then paroled in 1951. Robbed another bank, was convicted and was returned in 1952 to Alcatraz, where he remained until it closed in 1963. Was transferred in 1963 to the penitentiary at McNeill Island, Washington, where he tried unsuccessfully to escape. Was paroled in 1973 and spent the rest of his life in and out of prison until he died while on parole in 1981. George R. Kelly was an inmate for 17 years at Alcatraz before he was transferred to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas, where he died of a heart attack. Kelly was born in 1897 in Tennessee, according to which said he attended public schools before working as a salesman and then a bootlegger. His year of birth is given as 1895 at and Kelly in 1927 married Kathryn Thorne, who bought him a machine gun and gave him the nickname "Machine Gun," according to He subsequently robbed some banks, that site said. George Kelly — carrying his trademark Tommy gun — and a man with a pistol in July 1933 abducted oil tycoon Charles Urschel, one of the wealthiest men in Oklahoma, for ransom from his Oklahoma City mansion. They blindfolded him and took him to a rural Texas ranch. Urschel was held for nine days before the ransom was paid and he was released. Urschel gave investigators a detailed statement sharing information about "every movement and action taken by himself, the kidnappers, and those with whom they came in contact during his period of captivity," said Investigators identified the ranch and those involved in the kidnapping plot. George and Kathryn Kelly were among several people captured and convicted of crimes linked to the abduction. The Kellys were sentenced in October 1933 to life imprisonment. George Kelly initially was imprisoned at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, according to "Kelly was arrogant towards prison officials, and bragged to the press that he would escape, break out his wife and they would spend Christmas together," it said. "It was decided that these threats should be taken seriously and in August of 1934, Kelly along with his accomplices Albert Bates and Harvey Bailey, were transferred from Leavenworth by train to Alcatraz. Arriving on Sept. 4, 1934, they would be among the first groups of prisoners." Kelly remained until 1951 at Alcatraz, then was transferred back to Leavenworth, where he died in 1954. Kathryn Kelly was imprisoned at Cincinnati, Ohio, where she served until she was released in 1958. She died in 1985, according to Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@ or 785-213-5934. This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: These 5 men with Kansas connections were inmates at Alcatraz
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump wants to reopen Alcatraz. What about WA's federal island prison?
President Trump recently floated the idea of reopening San Francisco's Alcatraz federal penitentiary. Could he reopen Washington's abandoned island prison? In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump said he was directing the Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security to reopen, enlarge and rebuild the former federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island, which closed in 1963 and is now a tourist attraction managed by the National Park Service. Questioned about the decision by reporters on Monday, Trump said Alcatraz is a symbol of law and order, according to PBS News footage. Located west of Steilacoom in Puget Sound, Pierce County's McNeil Island measures about seven square miles; its 27-acre prison opened as a federal penitentiary in 1875, 14 years before Washington became a state, according to the Washington State Department of Corrections website. Chris Wright, communications director at the Washington State Department of Corrections, told The News Tribune via email that McNeil Island was officially deeded to Washington state in 1984. In 1981, the facility became the state-operated, minimum to medium security McNeil Island Corrections Center (MICC) and remained as the oldest prison in the Northwest and the last U.S. island-based prison until it closed in April 2011, according to the state DOC website. Asked if the federal government could reopen the facility, Wright said in a follow-up email that it's not out of the question, though it hasn't been proposed. Wright told The News Tribune that the original deed requires the state of Washington to have an operational prison on the island, meaning the state has technically been in violation of the deed for the last 14 years since MICC closed. 'In theory, the feds could take the island back,' he said in the email. The ferry Neil Henly makes the 2.8 mile crossing from McNeil Island to Steilacoom carrying corrections staff and visitors on March 23, 2011. The DOC website states that the DOC's Industries program is responsible for general island maintenance for Washington state to stay in compliance with the federal deed. Despite this program, however, Wright said via email, the fact that the prison has closed is enough for federal authority to cite noncompliance with the deed. According to the state DOC website, the prison was declared an official United States prison in 1904, but had served as a federal penitentiary for over 100 years before it was leased to the state of Washington in 1981. Wright told The News Tribune on the phone Tuesday that the McNeil Island Penitentiary held notorious inmates, including some who also spent time in Alcatraz, such as cult leader Charles Manson and the infamous 'Birdman of Alcatraz' Robert Stroud. MICC's 2011 closure was brought on by financial struggles following the 2008 recession, Wright said. Although other U.S. island prisons like Rikers Island and Terminal Island remain operational, bridges now connect them to the mainland; MICC was the last island prison that could truly only be reached by plane or ferry, he added. Maintaining an island facility makes everything — from transporting food and medicine to maintaining infrastructure — much more expensive, he said. 'Inherent costs that come with running an island facility are very high,' he said. '... The state decided to shut it down in the wake of the financial challenges and it's been mothballed ever since.' Today, McNeil Island also holds the state's Special Commitment Center, a separate facility run by the state Department of Social and Health Services that serves as a place to civilly commit sex offenders that the state has identified as 'sexually violent predators' after the completion of their prison sentences. The McNeil Island prison, shown here on March 23, 2011, was closed in 2011. The prison is currently unmaintained, closed to the public and there are no plans to reopen it, Wright said. He said the facility has fallen into disrepair since it closed in 2011, and unlike Alcatraz — which hosts frequent tours — safety concerns, including unstable infrastructure and asbestos, keep visitors limited to those associated with the state DOC, Coast Guard patrols or state DSHS operations. 'I can't imagine that the state would consider opening it again,' Wright said.
