Born in Kent, Robinson trained at the London’s Central School of Speech
and Drama. During his third year at drama school, he was chosen to appear
as Benvolio in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (1968), then in
Ken Russell's The Music Lovers (1971), he later
quit acting to concentrate on writing. Robinson's first screenplay to
reach the screen was Roland Joffe’s Oscar-winning The
Killing Fields (1984). Buoyed by success, he set about his directorial
debut, the critically acclaimed, semi-autobiographical Withnail
and I (1987), starring Paul McGann and Richard
E. Grant. Its hysterical script incorporated a fine degree of pathos,
making the film a precise and involving fable of love, mania and loss.
Richard E. Grant also starred
in Robinson's farcical satire of the advertising industry and consumer
culture, How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1988). He was inevitably wooed
by Hollywood due to the cult success of Withnail and I, and his sole
Hollywood feature, the serial-killer thriller Jennifer 8 (1992), flopped.
Several other of his scripts were mauled beyond recognition, Robinson
become disillusioned with the restrictive film-making and turned his
back on directing. Robinson continued writing screenplays, and returned
to acting for a cameo appearance in the 70’s rock rival film Still Crazy
(1998).
