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Actor George Ross Robertson campaigned privately for children
Photo:
Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images
He played the lightning rod for the nonsense that his colleagues were allowed to do: Canadian actor George Ross Robertson regularly lost his nerve in his role as head of the »Police Academy«.
In his private life he was committed to helping disadvantaged children and was a UNICEF ambassador.
As is now known, Robertson died on January 29 at the age of 89.
The film series »Police Academy«, which was extremely popular in the 1980s, made fun of authorities with slapstick interludes and irreverent humor and mocked the police film genre.
George Ross Robertson starred in the 1984 original and six sequels.
He also appeared in supporting roles in the disaster film Airport, drama Norma Rae and Oliver Stone's political thriller JFK.
All three were nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture.
George Ross Robertson was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1933.
He began his acting career in the early 1960s on theater stages in the United States.
From 1969 he also appeared in films, for the first time in a small role in the horror classic »Rosemaries Baby«.
His most important goal: to stand up for others
He has appeared in 80 roles in film and television over the course of his 60-year career.
In 2017 he retired to paint and write.
Robertson's most important goal, his family wrote in their obituary, was to serve others.
To raise money for an orphanage in Thailand, he walked 529 kilometers through southern France.
He also traveled through schools in Canada as a UNICEF ambassador to draw attention to the problems of disadvantaged children.
George Ross Robertson is survived by his wife of 61 years and two daughters.
