Robert Henderson (actor)

Robert Henderson (December 19, 1904 – September 9, 1985 ) was an American actor and director. He was known for Superman (1978), Superman III (1983), and Phase IV (1974).

Henderson was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His father was dean at the University of Michigan (UM).

He played an important role in the early career of Sean Connery. On a 2003 episode of Michael Parkinson's talkshow, Sean Connery told Parkinson, and guests Boris Johnson and actor Ricky Tomlinson, that when he was touring as a chorus member in South Pacific, "An American actor in the cast, Robert Henderson, said to me 'Don't you want to be an actor,'and I said 'Me, an actor? What would I have to do?' And he said, 'First of all, you're totally illiterate. You will have to give yourself an education,' which I never had. So he gave me ten titles, that included all the plays of George Bernard Shaw, all of Shakespeare, An Actor Prepares, The Count of Monte Cristo, My Life in Art, Remembrance of Things Past. I read them all." (The full interview is available on YouTube).

In the fall of 1932, Henderson became manager of the Detroit Civic Theatre. In the early 1930s he began the Ann Arbor Festival, which began with one week of plays presented in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater on the UM campus. By its fourth year it had expanded to five weeks. Actors, including those from Broadway, went to the campus to present plays.

Henderson directed a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor in Hollywood in 1937, and in 1938 he directed plays at His Majesty's Theatre in Montreal, Canada. On Broadway, he acted in The Tyrant (1930), Electra (1932), I Loved You Wednesday (1932), Strangers at Home (1934), and Tomorrow's Harvest (1934). Broadway productions that he produced, staged, or both included The Merry Wives of Windsor (1938), Wuthering Heights (1939), When We Are Married (1939), First Stop to Heaven (1941), The Duke in Darkness (1944), and It's a Gift (1945).

Henderson died in London, England.