Having trained at the Bessie V. Hicks School of Theatre in Philadelphia, and after seeing
A Raisin in the Sun in its Philadelphia tryout in February 1959, Hooks moved to New York to pursue acting. In April 1960, as Bobby Dean Hooks, he made his Broadway debut in
A Raisin in the Sun, replacing
Louis Gossett Jr., who would be doing the film version. Hooks then continued to do its national tour. He then stepped into the Broadway production of
A Taste of Honey, replacing
Billy Dee Williams; then repeating the same national tour trajectory as he had done for "Raisin..." the previous year. In early 1962, he next appeared as the lead in
Jean Genet's
The Blacks, replacing
James Earl Jones as the male lead, leaving briefly that same year to appear on Broadway again in
Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright, before stepping back into the lead role in
The Blacks in 1963. He then returned to Broadway, first in
Ballad for Bimshire and then in the short-lived 1964 David Merrick revival of ''The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Any More'' (as a character created by
Tennessee Williams for this revival) and starring
Tallulah Bankhead and
Tab Hunter in his only stage performance. Immediately thereafter, on March 24, 1964, he originated the role of Clay in
Amiri Baraka's
Dutchman. With this play, on the advice of
Roscoe Lee Brown, Hooks became known as, Robert Hooks. He also originated roles on the New York stage in ''Where's Daddy?
for which he won the Theatre World Award and he was nominated for Best Male Lead in a Musical for Hallelujah Baby'' while he was simultaneously starring in David Susskind's
N.Y.P.D.—the second African-American lead on a television drama, following Bill Cosby on “I Spy”. In 1968, Hooks was the host of the new public affairs television program
Like It Is. Hooks was nominated for a
Tony 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 for his
PBS special
Voices of Our People. Significant roles for which Hooks 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. ==Activism==