Robert Alexander Atkins Jr. was born in
Dulwich,
London, England, to Annie Evans and Robert Atkins Sr. He had a brother, Lawrence. Atkins was most famous for his association with the theatre. An early graduate of
Beerbohm Tree's
Academy of Dramatic Art, he joined the
Old Vic company in 1915, and became Director of Productions for
Lilian Baylis from 1921 to 1926. Atkins went on to appear in several other film and television roles over the next 50 years with the most famous production possibly being
A Matter of Life and Death. He also produced and/or directed several adaptations of
William Shakespeare plays during the 1940s and 1950s for British TV. He was director of the
Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford, and along with Sydney Carroll, also founded
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. ==Personal life and death==