Robert Desmond
Birthday: Born in 1922-12-16 in London, England, UK
Deathday: 2002-01-01
Robert Desmond (16 December 1922 – 2002) was a British film and television actor of the 1950s and 1960s. He started out in juvenile roles, making his film debut in 1948's The Guinea Pig opposite Richard Attenborough. He appeared in a number of early television films such Boys in Brown, recreating the role of Spud Parker in the theatrical film version of 1949, again with Attenborough. He would appear opposite Attenborough one more time in The Great Escape (1963), as Griffith the Tailor. Other films include The Cockleshell Heroes (1955), Indiscreet (1958), The Ugly Duckling (1959), Sink the Bismarck! (1960), The Bulldog Breed (1960) and The Best of Enemies (1961).
TV Credits
Compact
Character: Adrian Coombs
Compact was a British television soap opera shown by the BBC between 1962 and 1965. The series was created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, who together went on to devise Crossroads. In contrast to the kitchen sink realism of Coronation Street, Compact was a distinctly middle-class serial, set in the more "sophisticated" arena of magazine publishing. An early "avarice" soap, it took the viewer into the business workplace, and aligned the professional lives of the characters with more personal stor...
Movie Credits
The Great Escape
Character: Griffith 'Tailor'
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story....
The Cockleshell Heroes
Character: Marine Todd
During WW2, German ships are "safely" docked upriver at Bordeaux, but the British send a team of kayakers to attack them....
Gaolbreak
Character: Page
An honest news agent realizes that his 2 sons are corrupt. When one criminal son is in jail, the other breaks him out to help with a job....
Don't Ever Leave Me
Character: Mechanic (uncredited)
Elderly crook Harry Denton, when challenged to prove he is "not past it," decides to kidnap Sheila Farlane, the 16 year old daughter of a famous actor. When Harry loses his nerve, Sheila won't let him give up....
Indiscreet
Character: Young Man (uncredited)
Anna Kalman is an accomplished actress who has given up hope of finding the man of her dreams. She is in the middle of taking off her face cream, while talking about this subject with her sister, when in walks Philip Adams. She loses her concentration for a moment as she realizes that this is the charming, smart, and handsome man she has been waiting for....
The Lady is a Square
Character: Wally (uncredited)
Neagle stars as Frances Baring, a socialite widow attempting to keep her late husband's symphony orchestra going. Reluctantly she enlists the help of a young pop singer (Frankie Vaughan) who has fallen for Baring's daughter Joanna, played by a young Janette Scott....
Sink the Bismarck!
Character: Dexter (uncredited)
The story of the breakout of the German battleship Bismarck—accompanied by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen—during the early days of World War II. The Bismarck and her sister ship, Tirpitz, were the most powerful battleships in the European theater of World War II. The British Navy must find and destroy Bismarck before it can escape into the convoy lanes to inflict severe damage on the cargo shipping which was the lifeblood of the British Isles. With eight 15 inch guns, it was capable of destroying...
The Square Peg
Character: Sentry (uncredited)
Norman Pitkin and Mr Grimsdale are council workmen mending the road outside an Army base when they come into conflict with the military. Shortly afterwards, they get drafted and fall into the clutches of the Sergeant they have just bested. They are sent to France to repair roads in front of the Allied advance but get captured. Pitkin takes advantage of a useful similarity to impersonate General Schreiber and manages to return a hero...
These Dangerous Years
Character: Cream O'Casey
A Liverpool gang member wins a singing contest is then called up for National Service where he clashes with another soldier....
Too Young to Love
Character: 1st Sailor
A court case ensues when a 47-year old man is caught with a 15-year old girl, and he claims he never knew she was so young....
The Guinea Pig
Character: (Uncredited)
A working-class boy wins a scholarship to a public school, as part of a post-World War Two experiment in bringing boys of different social classes together....
The Ugly Duckling
Character: Dizzy
Henry Jekyll was always the outsider, a bungling and awkward buffoon, relegated to waiting for his invitation to participate in life that never arrived: until he discovers a medical formula developed by a dead uncle, which claimed to turn 'a man of timid disposition into a bold, fearless dragon'. Taking a draught of the elixir Henry is transformed into suave, sophisticated and highly desirable Teddy Hyde. Armed with his new persona, Teddy is ready to face the world; but is Henry ready for the co...
Boys in Brown
Character: Spud
Jackie lives in poverty with his widowed mother. In a bid to escape poverty he gets involved in a robbery that sees him sentenced to three years in Borstal where he meets a tough crowd, tougher than anything on the outside....
The Best of Enemies
Character: Pvt. Singer
During World War II, a plane full of RAF fighter crashes in the Ethiopian desert and they are met upon by an enemy Italian patrol that allows them to go free. But, when the Brits are given orders to attack the Italians, lots of problems ensue....