Roberta Haynes

Roberta Haynes (born Roberta Arline Schack; August 19, 1927 – April 4, 2019) was an American actress who was active from 1947 until 1989. Early life She was born Roberta Arline Schack in Wichita Falls, Texas on August 19, 1927, to William Schack and Jewel Eichel Schack. She had one older brother. Her parents were both originally from New York City. Her mother had been a dancer with a Shubert road company and an Eddie Cantor revue. Her father was an electrical engineer; in 1930 he took a job with the Canada Electric Company in Toronto. Canadian border control records from that time identified the family as being of "Hebrew" race. By 1935 the family had moved to Los Angeles, California. She attended John Burroughs Junior High School thru 1942, where the yearbook listed her desired occupation as "actress". She took dancing lessons from an early age, studied with drama coach Grace Bowman, and performed in variety shows for charity. She then went to North Hollywood High School where as a senior she played a 19th Century California senorita in a student stage production. This event marked two "firsts" that would be repeated many times in her long career: getting her photo in the newspaper, and being cast as an ethnic "type". Early stage career After graduating from high school in June 1945, "Bobbi" Schack married John E. Freund, who had just received a master's degree at UCLA. The couple moved to New York City, where Freund entered a Ph.D. program at Columbia University, while she studied drama with Herbert Berghof. Schack also took a course in modern dance from Martha Graham. But her marriage ended by January 1946, so Schack returned to Los Angeles and enrolled in classes at UCLA, majoring in Drama and French.