Robert Hooks was nominated for a Tony Award for his lead role in the musical, Hallelujah, Baby!, has received both the Pioneer Award and the NAACP Image Award for Lifetime Achievement, and has been inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. He also won an Emmy Award for his PBS special Voices of Our People.
There is no more prestigious honor for an American film than being selected by the National Film Registry (NFR) as a classic film event to be preserved forever in American Film Heritage and Archives. I congratulate all those films with the good fortune of being recently selected by the NFR, including my colleague and NEC inaugural director Michael Schultz, and his amazing classic film “Cooley High” starring Glynn Turman and his deeply talented acting ensemble in the film. But, what takes my personal enthusiasm to a whole ‘nova-leva’ was the long-awaited selection of Lonne Elder III’s breathtakingly superb film classic “Sounder”. So, I acknowledge and congratulate Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks, Eric Hooks, Yvonne Jarrel, Taj Mahal, Janet Maclaughlan, George Kennedy, Martin Ritt, and Robert Radnitz… for making the NFR ‘cut’!
He passed down his passion for acting to two of his sons, Kevin Hooks, and Eric Hooks. Kevin Hooks is also a film director and cast his father in two of his films: Passenger 57 (1992) and Fled (1996). Eric Hooks is an actor, known for Sounder (1972) and Just an Old Sweet Song (1976).
Significant roles for which Robert is known, include Reeve Scott in Hurry Sundown (1967), Mr. T. in the blaxploitation film Trouble Man (1972), Grandpa Gene Donovan in the comedy Seventeen Again (2000), and Fleet Admiral Morrow in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). He also appeared on television in an episode of the NBC crime drama series The Eddie Capra Mysteries in 1978 and portrayed Doctor Walcott in the 1980s television series Dynasty.
“One of the proudest moments of my life and career was this amazing and honored experience I shared with my #1 son (and great creative artist) Kevin Hooks. And we both made ‘Father/Son history at the graduation event at Morehouse College, one of the most important Black Colleges in America!”
“In the many interviews for the upcoming two-part documentary on my life and career, the question was asked “What was the most important decade in your storied career as an artist?” Well, now you’re gonna get me to braggin’! The answer for me is the tumultuous, pivotal sixties, where I performed in eight Broadway plays (being nominated for a TONY Award for the last one); four hit Off-Broadway plays; was the first Black actor to star in a hit TV dramatic police series; starred in several feature films; became the first Black producer to mount a successful Off-Broadway production with all Black financing, actors, writer and producer; created and built three major Black theatre institutions which created opportunities for many Black artists and for America’s Black communities; and was inducted into the Black Filmmaker’s Hall of Fame.”
Fun Flashback let’s go back a while. Here are eight of my amazing and talented celebrity colleagues as we show off some serious ‘Afros’ for this celebrated EBONY COVER!
Nominations:
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical
Hallelujah, Baby!
Leslie and I were both nominated for the Tony Award that year. How long ago you ask… just look at the price of the Jet back then.
Robert Hooks (sitting on a stool), Leslie Uggams, and company in the stage production Hallelujah, Baby! – (Friedman-Abeles)
Robert Hooks, Garrett Morris, Alan Weeks, Kenneth Scott, and Winston DeWitt Hemsley in the stage production Hallelujah, Baby! – FRIEDMAN-ABELES PHOTOGRAPHS: [LEGACY COLLECTION]
Robert Dean (Bobby) Hooks is an African-American actor in films, television, and stage. With a career as a producer, theatre builder, and political activist to his credit, he is most recognizable to the public for his over 100 roles in films and television.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBERT [ 2024 ]
Slide Presentation by Dale Ricardo Shields
Remembering my longtime and dear friend Maya Angelou, Here’s a FUN Flashback Friday photo from the set of “Trouble Man” (circa 1971). Surprising me on the set for my Birthday is, from left to right, the supremely brilliant Maya Angelou, director Ivan Dixon, actor Lawrence (Al) Cook, me as “Trouble Man/Mr. T” and that most regal thespian Roscoe Lee Browne. The cake and the surprise visit were arranged by Maya and Roscoe. Between us and the crew- the cake was devoured in less than a half-hour.
A SURPRISE BIRTHDAY!
I’ve had many Birthday surprises over these many years, but none like this one. It’s 1971, I’m shooting the movie “Trouble Man”, and in the middle of a scene of Mr.”T”‘s pool game, director Ivan Dixon yells…CUT!!…I’m thinking, the scene was going great, what happened. Then out on the set comes (seen here) Maya Angelou, Ivan Dixon, Al Cook and Roscoe Lee Browne singing Happy Birthday to me. And gave me this beautiful cake, I was blown away with emotions, as everybody on set applauded and shouted bravos. Usually I can feel a surprise coming on, but this one really got me. It was Maya and Roscoe’s idea, and they just wanted to show me some love.
After we partied for a while on set, Ivan insisted on continuing and finishing the scene. At the time I was living back in DC and building my new company The DC Black Repertory Company, and got the Hollywood assignment to come out and star in Trouble Man.
And I must say I’m feeling pretty damn good…
DCN Presents: The Robert Hooks Story
Biography
Robert (Bobby Dean) Hooks – Here’s a throwback photo of me, little Bobby Dean, at 10 or 11 years old, and Captain of the Steven’s Elementary School Safety Patrol. I was happy when this school photo sitting was over so I could get back to my homeroom and jive around with my classroom buddy Roberta Flack. Those were some very fun times.
Early life
Parents: Edward Hooks and Bertha Hooks
The youngest of five children, Hooks was born in Foggy Bottom, Washington, D.C., the son of Bertha (née Ward), a seamstress, and Edward Hooks, who worked on the railroad tracks, where he died.
My mother at age 14. Isn’t she something? The photo was restored by ‘Dexterity Images’ by artist Dexter Bunn.
My Mother and Me…
Bertha (Bert) Ward Hooks, Elizabeth Ward Eatmon, and Alma Powell are looking fabulous! – Newport Place, NW, Washington, DC.
My siblings and me (guess who’s ‘me’) posing for the Sunday photographer in front of our railroad flat in the Foggy Bottom ghetto of our nation’s capital (circa 1939.) Yes! that’s me in front holding my wee-wee cause I had ‘to go’. But they needed the shot so my two brothers were holding the back of my dress (yes! dress! it was hand-me-down time, and that’s all there was.) All my siblings are gone now (bless their beautiful souls), but what a life we shared growing up together!
Me and my amazing siblings (l to R) Charles Edward, Bernice, James Walter, Caroleigh, and Me (the baby!) These guys helped raise me, up from the streets of ‘the foggy bottom’! Love you all,..may you continue to rest in glorious peace…
Here’s a Thursday throwback I’ll share. Standing on my hotel room balcony looking across the court, anxiously waiting to see three of my favorite cousins in all the world. Three amazing women I hadn’t seen since I was a small boy, and they were energetic youngsters growing up on a farm, who taught me everything I needed to know about life on a farm in deep south North Carolina. At the time I was on location in Wilmington North Carolina shooting a big television movie and had called them to see if they could come to the film set- so we could hang out and catch up after so many decades… And LOOK!..there they were walking across the courtyard, my three adorable cousins Lula, Mamie, and Roxie, the Ward sisters! We hugged and smooched and had a fabulous mini-family reunion all day that day! Here we are pictured outside in the hotel courtyard, Roxie standing with me, Lula (who has since sadly passed), and Mamie sitting. It was one of the most exciting times for me- sitting with them and their husbands, laughing and sharing wild kid’s stories of my young summer vacation days with them on my Uncle Joe and Aunt Essie’s tobacco farm. These are three great women pictured with me in this photo.
“This is my amazing and caring brother James Walter Hooks and me. Growing up in DC’s Foggy Bottom, my four siblings, and our angel of a Mom, Mae Bertha (Bert), and I, lived (despite having very little material) an astoundingly beautiful and healthy life! ‘Jimbo’ was my running buddy and true mentor, and gave me all the protection I needed to whether any difficulty as a youngster on the DC streets! Though he’s gone from this plane, I’m sending him all the love I have (and will always have) for him, and to give him my eternal thanks, (and my other amazing four siblings, all gone from us now)) for guiding me into and through my own fabulous experience on this earth!“
