George R. Robertson, the Canadian actor who played Henry Hurst, the police chief and eventually the commissioner, in the first six Police Academy films, has died. He was 89. Robertson died on Sunday at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, according to his family.
Robertson also appeared in three Oscar-nominated films, Airport (1970), Norma Rae (1979), and JFK (1991), and portrayed Vice President Dick Cheney in the ABC miniseries The Path to 9/11 in 2006.
Hugh Wilson directed Robertson as Hurst in the first Police Academy film in 1994, and he stayed on through Police Academy 6: City Under Siege (1989). As the series progresses, his character becomes more accepting of the oddball recruits commanded by Commandant Lassard (George Gaynes).
The actor did not travel to Moscow for the 1994 season, but he did appear in one episode of CTV’s 1997-98 Police Academy series.
Who Was George R Robertson?
George Ross Robertson was born in Brampton, Ontario, on April 20, 1933. He excelled at hockey and football and got the Allan Hall Memorial Trophy from West Hill High School in 1952, which is “given each year to the athlete who sets a high standard in pure sportsmanship and who, through precept and example, stimulates his teammates to higher performance.”
In 1959, he received his master’s degree in business from Columbia University in New York, and he immediately began his performing career on the stage. He made his film debut in Rosemary’s Baby (1969) as an uncredited extra, and he portrayed a minor-league hockey coach in Paperback Hero (1973), starring Keir Dullea.
Robertson performed many powerful characters throughout the course of his 60-year acting career. He played Adm. William Leahy in the 1995 Showtime telefilm Hiroshima. In 2003 TV movies, he played Arkansas Sen. William Fulbright in FX’s The Pentagon Papers, starring James Spader, and Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater in Showtime’s The Reagans, starring James Brolin and Judy Davis.