Robert Symonds, stage screen actor, dies

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Robert Symonds, veteran theater, film and television actor, has died in Los Angeles from complications of prostate cancer at the age of 80.

Symonds was a member of the San Francisco Actor's Workshop, where he appeared in dramas by Bertold Brecht, Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-starred with actress Priscilla Pointer, married to the workshop's co-founder, Jules Irving, who went to New York to head the Lincoln Center Repertory Theater in 1965, Variety reported Tuesday

He eventually joined Irving in New York, serving as the company's associate director until 1972. Pointer and Symonds married in 1981 after Irving's death in 1979.

Symonds had recurring roles in "Dynasty," and "M*A*S*H," and appeared on dozens of television shows. On the big screen, his credits included "Catch Me If You Can," "Primary Colors" and "The Exorcist."

Symonds appeared in both Broadway and off-Broadway productions. He was a guest director at the Alley Theatre in Houston and appeared in productions in several theaters in California.

Besides his wife, Symonds is survived by two daughters, a son, six grandchildren, three stepchildren and five step-grandchildren.