Bob Elkins: Hiding in the Spotlight

He was once a Nazi, a creepy cult leader, a homeless man, ruthless mobster, country disc jockey, racist congressman, and loving father.

Age 3

In a career spanning four decades, actor Bob Elkins has played a range of diverse characters too numerous to remember, but too compelling to forget. Despite impossible deadlines, sleep-depriving rehearsal schedules and grueling projects that required him to endure hours in rain, snow and scorching heat, his toughest role may have been the one into which he was born and from which he eventually fled, hiding in the spotlight, seeking the approval of strangers.

Bob Elkins spent his first five years of life in the tiny mountain town of Mt. Hope, West Virginia, the son of a struggling coal miner, and the only brother of two sisters. One of his earliest memories is that of a real-life drama: a nearby creek overflowing its banks, muddy floodwaters inundating the first floor of his two-story house. Oblivious to the danger at hand, young Bob rode his tricycle through the rapidly rising water in the downstairs hallway, his mother desperately yelling for him to come upstairs. He made it just in time, sadly watching the tricycle, his prized possession, get swept away.

Bob and family in Muncie, Indiana

In search of better job opportunities and more stable living conditions, Bob's family moved from West Virginia to Muncie, Indiana, where his father went to work for a lawnmower company. The family's economic situation improved slightly, but emotionally, things deteriorated as a result of an invisible wall that his father was slowly and steadily beginning to build around himself.

"For some reason, my father chose not to speak to me," Bob says. "I didn't think it was odd. I just thought he was a very quiet man. It wasn't until years later that I realized it was a form of abuse. I learned to listen to silence, which helped me later as an actor. I developed a sensitivity to understanding what people are thinking or feeling without hearing them speak."

Bob in Hatfull of Rain, one of his early plays

Although at the time Bob did not realize that this disconnection with his father was abnormal, he began to understand that his home life was somehow different from that of his friends.

"I had two friends who were brothers, and they would invite me over for dinner," Bob says. "Their family owned their own house. We rented ours. Their dad actually talked to them. I referred to them as a 'regular' family."

School was a constant struggle, as Bob had difficulty comprehending textbooks and what teachers were writing on the chalkboard. Little did he or anyone else realize it at the time, but he suffered from dyslexia, a learning disability that would not be identified until much later.

"In the fourth grade, I became acutely aware that everyone else was 'getting it,' but me," Bob says. "I was always the last kid standing at the blackboard. All the other students would be giggling, and I knew they were laughing at me. It didn't help matters that I was unbelievably shy."

Age 16

When Bob was 12, his family moved to Covington, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio. It was in that year that a pivotal and tragic event occurred that haunts Bob even now. One day, without warning or explanation, his father simply walked away from home, never to be seen or heard from again. Understandably, Bob was devastated.

"I wasn't angry with him for leaving as much as I was that he left me alone with three women," Bob says. "I would have done anything for him. He didn't have to talk to me. He just could have taken me with him. I still think about that."

Bob reacted to his father's mysterious disappearance by withdrawing from those around him. Frustrated by his poor academic performance, he began to skip school, and would spend hours at the movies.

Bob in Mr. Barry's Etchings

"I fell in love with films because they were an escape," Bob says. "I could escape the fact that my father was gone. I went to movie after movie after movie. I didn't realize it at the time, but I think those movies planted the first seed of my interest in acting."

To support her fractured family, Bob's mother took a job as a maid, and his sisters went to work part-time. With grades suffering and, for all practical purposes, no parental supervision, Bob became friends with other teenagers who introduced him to crime.

"I got involved with a kid at school who was a bookie," Bob explains. "He was a real genius at math. He figured out the odds. I was the front guy. I collected all the bets and paid the winners. I also took care of any disagreements. Non-violently, of course."

Bob's career in illegal gambling came to an end when one of his sisters discovered the books he kept, and convinced him that what he was doing was wrong. Bob quit working for his bookie friend, but continued down an equally dangerous path, hanging out with a rough crowd, staying out late at night and stealing things, like boxes of cigarettes. On one occasion, the group stole a car and took it for a joyride. Bob's life of youthful crime came to an abrupt halt when one night, he and his buddies got caught breaking into a coal company office.

"A very large police officer arrested us and took us to the police station," Bob says. "He told me what would happen if I was sent to reform school. That scared the hell out of me, and that stopped my life of crime. My mom never found out. I was lucky."

Bob (second from right) out for a night on the town with his Navy buddies

Because of failing grades, Bob attended summer school for five years. He also worked odd jobs, and became involved in sports. At the age of 18, like many young men his age, he joined the U.S. Navy. It was a turning point in Bob's life, as the Navy gave 600 recruits an aptitude test, the top 5% of whom were selected to go to college at the government's expense. Bob was among the top 5%.

"That shocked the daylights out of me," Bob says. "I told them they were mistaken because I was such a terrible student. They said 'No, you are extremely intelligent. You just have a learning disability in some areas.' They thought I was a natural leader, and they wanted to send me to college. I turned them down because I had always felt that the only kids who went to college were rich or smart, and I was neither."

Although he refused the Navy's offer of free college tuition, Bob accepted an alternate offer to attend military school. Quickly promoting him to the rank of Petty Officer, the Navy put Bob in charge of a division on a ship, a job that gave him a much-needed boost of self-confidence.

"The Navy taught me that I wasn't just some stupid kid," Bob says. "I spent four years with Uncle Sam. It was an experience that really turned my life around."

While in the Navy, Bob learned that his earlier academic difficulties were the result of dyslexia. One of Bob's best friends in the Navy, gunnery officer Lt. Jack Russell, taught Bob to read more efficiently. It was another turning point in Bob's life, as he began reading more, and higher-quality books.

After Bob was discharged from the Navy, a friend talked him into attending night school, which the government paid for. Bob studied liberal arts for a year-and-a-half before his life took yet another turn, when he noticed a newspaper ad for an acting school in Cincinnati.

"I was interested because I had always liked movies, and decided to give acting a try," Bob says. "I got into this really wonderful school, the Eyer Acting Academy. A year later, I was doing summer stock."

Bob (left) in Mister Roberts, his first professional play

Bob was able to draw from his experience in the Navy for his first professional acting job, a small part as a shore patrol officer in a stage production of the comedy Mister Roberts. A year later, he found himself playing the lead role in that same play.

From the beginning, Bob enjoyed glowing reviews, and earned praise from fellow actors and directors. One director encouraged him to move to New York or Hollywood, to pursue work on Broadway, or in movies. However, romance intervened, and at age 25 Bob got married, and chose to stay in the Cincinnati area. During the next few years, he and his wife had four children.

Bob continued acting, appearing in dozens of plays and TV commercials. Like most professional actors, though, he was not able to earn a living doing what he most enjoyed, so he supported his family by working a series of day jobs. One of his jobs was that of a salesman for a Fortune 500 chemical company. Despite having failed chemistry in high school, Bob worked his way up to the position of assistant vice president of the company's industrial division.

"One of the folks who reported to me was a chemist who had graduated with a 4.0 grade average," Bob laughs. "I never told him that I flunked high school chemistry."

Bob's acting career received a sudden boost in 1980, when he auditioned for and won a part in the motion picture Coal Miner's Daughter, starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones.

Bob as Bobby Day the DJ in Coal Miner's Daughter

"My agent had learned that Universal Pictures was going to film this movie in Kentucky," Bob says. "She called Universal and convinced them to hold auditions in Cincinnati. I had two callbacks in Cincinnati, and then flew to Nashville for the final audition. I was reading for the part of a deejay, and I improvised oinking like a pig. The director, Michael Apted, thought that was funny, and I got the part."

Although not the largest role he had ever played, the part of Bobby Day the DJ was the most prestigious for Bob, because he had finally realized his dream of being in a movie.

"It was the first major thing that I had ever done," Bob says. "I really wanted that part for several reasons. First, because it involved coal mining, and my father was a coal miner. Also, because it was about the life of Loretta Lynn, and I like her a lot. I like her story because she came from nothing, and I can relate to that."

Bob's experience working on Coal Miner's Daughter taught him a lot about acting for motion pictures.

Bob and Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner's Daughter

"Sissy Spacek was always in character, even when we weren't filming," Bob says. "During one break, she started improvising with me, and I thought she was kidding, but when I realized that she wasn't, I played along with her. That taught me to stay focused. No matter what is going on around you, as an actor you have to stay in character. That's your responsibility. People are depending on you."

"I really liked working with Michael Apted," Bob continues. "He was a really wonderful guy, a bloody genius. He knew he was in charge, but he had respect for his actors. Everyone respected him."

Unfortunately, Bob's personal life was not going nearly as well as his professional life seemed to be. Shortly after filming Coal Miner's Daughter, his marriage ended in divorce. It was the second major traumatic event of his life, leaving him in a deep state of depression.

Unable to get motivated, Bob passed up several professional opportunities during this period. Finally, facing a mid-life crisis, he gave up the more stable corporate life to pursue acting full time, moving with a friend to Orlando, Florida.

"The film industry was just starting to take hold in Orlando," Bob says. "Everyone thought Orlando was going to become the 'Hollywood of the East,' so I thought it would be a good place to be. I was wrong."

Bob (left) and Mike Dennis in April's Fool

Disappointed with the acting opportunities in Orlando, Bob returned to Cincinnati, where he remained for several years, working in theater and getting occasional movie and television roles, including one in which he co-starred with Sandy Dennis in Trouble With Mother.

After Bob's children were grown, he decided to take another stab at Hollywood, this time hitting the road for Los Angeles. In L.A., Bob studied acting under such professionals as Dee Marcus and Jason Alexander (George on Seinfeld). He also did several plays, including Passion Fruit, and movies that included The Big Day, with Saundra Seacat. However, good acting jobs were few and far between, and like many actors in Hollywood, Bob ran out of money and decided to return home. It might have been the best decision he ever made.

Bob Elkins as Adm. Günther Lütjens in James Cameron's Expedition: Bismarck

Back in Cincinnati, Bob immediately began getting work in a variety of motion pictures and television shows, including This Train with Soupy Sales, and Tattered Angel with Lynda Carter. More recently, he had a supporting role in the ABC television movie The Pennsylvania Miners' Story, in which he played the father of a trapped miner, and the acclaimed docu-drama James Cameron's Expedition: Bismarck on the Discovery Channel, in which he portrayed German Admiral Gunther Lutgens.

In February of 2003, Bob was honored to win the Best Actor Award in the Dublin Film and Music Festival in Ireland, for his portrayal of a homeless man in the independent film Homefree, written and directed by Greg Newberry.