Robert Goldsby

1926 - 2024

Robert Goldsby
12/11/1926 - 10/26/2024
Robert Weddington Goldsby, a distinguished theater director, educator, and author, passed away peacefully on October 26, 2024, at his home in Oakland, California. Born on December 11, 1926, in Brooklyn, New York, to Robert Echols and Winifred Wailes Goldsby, Robert spent his early years in Maplewood, New Jersey. In 1945, he enlisted in the Army and served in the Philippines for two years.
After military service, Robert obtained a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Columbia University in New York and an M.F.A. in Acting from the Yale School of Drama. He then launched a long and successful career in the Performing Arts, as an actor, a full professor, and prominent stage director
He directed 153 Equity and University theater productions: 11 plays by Molière, 46 classical plays, including those from Aristophanes, Shakespeare, and Giraudoux, and 98 modern plays, ranging from Ibsen to Innaurato. He worked with established theaters in New York, Paris, Marseille, London, and Venice, Italy. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Robert was appointed Resident Stage Director and Conservatory Director at the American Conservatory Theater in 1967. With his wife Angela Paton, Robert co-founded the Berkeley Stage Company in 1974, producing and directing new stage works for 10 years. In Los Angeles, he was an associate member of the Antaeus Company and directed productions at South Coast Repertory, the Los Angeles Theatre Center, and the Odyssey Theatre.
As an esteemed educator, Robert taught acting and directed students at UC Berkeley, Columbia, UCLA, Pepperdine, the University of Washington, and USC. At UC Berkeley, he served as Department Chair and was later honored as Professor Emeritus. He was a recognized authority on Molière, with the publication of his book, Molière on Stage: A Director's Story, which remains a definitive guide to the French playwright's work.
Robert was predeceased by his wife and life partner of sixty-five years, Angela Paton, and is survived by three children, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. A celebration of his life is being planned. Robert will be deeply missed, but his spirit will live on through the many lives he touched and the indelible mark he left on life's stage.