Doug Roberts obit

Doug Roberts, longtime Baltimore stage and screen actor, dies

 

He was not on the list.

BALTIMORE — Doug Roberts, an actor who appeared in “The Wire” and played the character killed by Kathleen Turner in John Waters’ “Serial Mom,” died Monday of complications related to old age at College Manor in Lutherville. The Roland Park resident was 86.

“Doug played the villain or straight man, the man in authority,” Waters said. “He took direction well. His character often reacted meanly or insanely, a character who was against the morals of my world — which was actually correct.”

Born Lloyd Douglas Roberts in Richmond, Kentucky, he was the son of Lloyd Roberts, an insurance salesman, and his wife, Ann, who raised show dogs. He was a Lafayette High School graduate in Lexington, Kentucky, and was a graduate of the University of Kentucky.

Roberts moved to Manhattan and appeared with George C. Scott in the Circle in the Square Theatre’s production of “Desire Under the Elms.” He was also a page and talent coordinator for the “Today” show at Rockefeller Center.

When a new dinner theater, The Barn, opened near Richmond, Virginia, he became intrigued by the concept. He tried it briefly and later moved on, in 1966, to the Oregon Ridge Dinner Theatre in Cockeysville.

Roberts proposed marriage to his future wife, Tara Russo, at the final game of the 1966 World Series between the Orioles and the Los Angeles Dodgers. She replied, “Only if we win.” The Orioles won, and the two married a year later.

When times were lean, he became a waiter at the old Charcoal Hearth and Oyster Bay restaurants in downtown Baltimore and worked in public relations at the Painters Mill Music Fair and for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He later bought into the Bolton Hill Dinner Theatre, where he described himself as a cook, actor, director, owner, and dishwasher and bottle washer.

“There were, in Baltimore’s early days of theater and dinner theater and radio and TV and movies and ad voice-overs, a few people like Doug who were talented, willing to work hard and were very generous,” said Stanley Heuisler, the former Baltimore Magazine editor who acted in the 1970s. “And they were respected as the warm, genuine and professional people. Doug could do, and did, it all. And very well.”

Roberts found that a good living could be made doing commercials and voice-overs for local advertising agencies. His family said he was in more than 5,000 commercials — often anonymously. He sold cars, furniture and appliances over the air, uncredited. He also handled political campaign announcements.

But as Baltimore began attracting film scouts for location work, Roberts found himself in demand.

He appeared in “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “The Wire.” He also appeared in John Waters’ “Hairspray,” “Cecil B. Demented,” “Serial Mom” and “A Dirty Shame.”

At Maryland Public Television, Roberts appeared in “Book, Look, and Listen,” alongside singer Ethel Ennis; hosted the food documentary “Eatin’ Crab Cakes: The Best I Ever Had!”; performed in the “Consumer Survival Kit”; and did comic skits in “Crabs.”

An MPT colleague and director, Richard George, said: “‘Crabs’ was a live-on-the-air sketch comedy show featuring local talent that won 13 Emmys, and Doug was our comedy director. He was the smooth 350 V-8 engine under the hood of ‘Crabs’ that drove us to airtime on every show.”

His favorite film was 1997’s “G.I. Jane,” in which he had a scene with Anne Bancroft.

He also appeared on WBAL-TV and WBAL Radio as an entertainment and food reporter called the Beltway Gourmet.

A baseball and basketball fan, Roberts served on the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum’s board. He also fished, hunted and collected penknives.

“He was outgoing and generous, almost to a fault,” his wife said. “But most of all, he was a family man and loved his grandchildren. He was proud to have been a working actor all his life.”

Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Tara Russo Roberts, a retired Baltimore County Schools teacher; two daughters, Hilary Roberts-King and Amy McLoughlin, both of Baltimore; a son, J. Brooke Roberts, of Marietta, Georgia; and eight grandchildren.

The Ruck Towson Funeral Home is handling the funeral arrangements.

 

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