Robert F. Hill
Robert Hill (disambiguation)Robert Hill
Robert F. Hill

The Film Daily Year Book, Volume 11, 1928, page 336 · Public domain
- Name
- Robert F.
- Born
- 14 April 1886
- Birthplace
- Port Rowan, Ontario, Canada
- Died
- 18 March 1966
- Place of death
- Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Occupation
- Actor, director, screenwriter
- Nationality
- Canada
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Robert Hill (disambiguation)Robert Hill
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
Robert F. Hill (1886–1966) was a Canadian actor, director and film actor, among other activities. Born in Port Rowan, the actor died in Los Angeles. Robert F. Hill was also known as Jimmy Hawkey and Robert Allen.
Languages used include English. Works by Robert F. Hill are held at Harvard Film Archive.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 29 September 2026
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In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Robert F. Hill • Born — 14 April 1886 • Birthplace — Port Rowan, Ontario, Canada • Died — 18 March 1966 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Other Names — Robert Allen Jimmy Hawkey Rock Hawkey Rock Hawley Bob F. Hill Bob Hill Robert Hill Robt. F. Hill Bob Stillman • Occupation — Actor, director, screenwriter • Years Active — 1915–1966 Robert F. Hill (April 14, 1886 – March 18, 1966) was a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter, and actor.
Career
Career
Bob Hill began his screen career in 1915 at Universal Pictures. In those early days, members of film crews were sometimes called upon to do double duty, and young actor Hill also showed a talent for writing and directing. Universal had several popular series of short subjects, and Hill contributed to several. He became an action specialist, working in Westerns, outdoor adventures, and serials. Like other established silent-film directors Christy Cabanne, William Beaudine, Elmer Clifton, Lambert Hillyer, and Harry Fraser, Hill was given fewer major assignments in talking pictures. Although Hill began the sound era with Universal, he soon was forced to freelance for independent producers like Sol Lesser, Max and Arthur Alexander, and Sam Katzman. Sometimes the producers' budgets were so very low that Hill was challenged to make his films look presentable. His 1935 serial Queen of the Jungle was largely composed of silent footage filmed in 1922 for The Jungle Goddess; Hill shot new "jungle" scenes on an indoor soundstage to tie the silent material together. Likewise, Hill's 1937 serial Shadow of Chinatown, starring Bela Lugosi, suffered from Sam Katzman's typically cheap production mountings, but Hill (under the pseudonym Rock Hawkey) fashioned a serviceable screenplay that kept the various perils within the budget. Hill became one of Katzman's standbys, sometimes directing Olympic athlete and action star Herman Brix. Hill's last film for Katzman was East Side Kids (1940), launching a popular knockoff of the Dead End Kids. Hill returned to direct major-studio work only once; he co-directed Universal's 1938 serial Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars. Hill often played cameo roles in films he directed – not out of vanity, but because he was handy if an actor was suddenly needed. In the 1940s Hill gave up the feverish pace of low-budget filmmaking and returned to acting full-time. Now white-haired and bespectacled, he played doctors, ministers, judges, and professional men. He retired from the industry in 1950, and died in Los Angeles on March 18, 1966 at the age of 79.
Selected filmography
Selected filmography
• Illustration — Temptation and the Man (1916) • Year — Film — Role — Notes • 1915 — Destiny's Trump Card — Story • 1919 — The Great Radium Mystery — Director • 1919 — Almost a Husband — Story • 1919 — Jubilo — Story • 1919 — Full of Pep — Story • 1920 — The Flaming Disc — Director • 1920 — Water, Water, Everywhere — Story • 1921 — The Adventures of Tarzan — Director, writer • 1922 — The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe — Director • 1923 — Around the World in Eighteen Days — Director • The Social Buccaneer — Director • The Phantom Fortune — Director • 1925 — Idaho — Director • Wild West — Director • 1926 — The Bar-C Mystery — Director • 1927 — The Return of the Riddle Rider — Director • Blake of Scotland Yard — Director, writer • The Cat and the Canary — Adaptation • 1928 — Life's Mockery — Director • Haunted Island — Director • A Million for Love — Director • 1931 — Heroes of the Flames — Director • Sundown Trail — Director • 1932 — Love Bound — Ship passenger — Director • The Last Frontier — Writer • 1933 — Tarzan the Fearless — Director • 1934 — A Demon for Trouble — Director • Frontier Days — Director • Cowboy Holiday — Mr. Hopkins, Ruth's Father — Director, writer • 1935 — Queen of the Jungle — Director • Danger Trails — Director • 1936 — Prison Shadows — Director • Rip Roarin' Buckaroo — Director • The Phantom of the Range — Auctioneer Robert — Director • Idaho Kid — Director • Shadow of Chinatown — Serial and/or Feature film — Director • 1937 — Cheyenne Rides Again — Townsman — Director • 1938 — Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars — Director • 1939 — Overland Mail — Director • 1941 — Flying Wild — Mr. Woodward • 1943 — Keep 'Em Slugging — Mr. Woodward — Credited as Bob Hill • Wild Horse Rustlers — Judge • Wolves of the Range — Judge Brandon • Calling Dr. Death — Judge — Uncredited • 1944 — Men on Her Mind — Undetermined role — Uncredited
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
He also worked under the names Robert Allen, Jimmy Hawkey and Rock Hawkey. His recorded language was English.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1966
Robert F. Hill died in 1966 at Los Angeles.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Port Rowan.
Birth place
Los Angeles.
Death place
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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