ROBERT Trebor, best known for his fan-favourite role as the wily merchant Salmoneus in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, has died aged 71.
The actor passed away at Los Angeles Medical Center from sepsis, his wife Deirdre Hennings confirmed.
Trebor had been battling leukemia since 2012 and underwent a stem-cell transplant the following year.
The star passed away on March 11, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Born Robert Alan Schenkman in Philadelphia on June 7, 1953, Trebor adopted his stage name in college to avoid confusion with classmate and playwright Robert Schenkkan.
A creative from a young age, he wrote and directed short films, composed music, and contributed reviews to Scholastic magazine before graduating from Northwestern University in 1975.
He later moved to New York, acted in Shel Silverstein plays, and made his film debut in 1980’s Gorp.
The star directed an episode of Hercules in 1997 and remained a convention favourite for years, with even an action figure made in Salmoneus’ likeness—albeit “less muscular than Sorbo’s.”
Trebor stole scenes across 20 episodes of Hercules between 1995 and 1999, and crossed over to Xena: Warrior Princess for four more.
Originally hired for just two episodes, his pitch-perfect portrayal of the materialistic but well-meaning Salmoneus quickly made him a regular.
“The arc for Salmoneus is to try to be a good person, but his essential mercantile instincts kept interfering with that,” he said in 2001.
“I never saw him as a thief. Autolycus [played by Bruce Campbell] was the thief. I never saw him as a con man either, although I could understand why other people could.
Trailer for Channel 5’s Xena: Warrior Princess
“He was just a very enthusiastic guy who didn’t read the fine print and needed to make a living when he wasn’t a farmer or fighter. He lived by his glib tongue.”
A highlight of Trebor’s early career came in 1985 when he portrayed infamous serial killer David Berkowitz, also known as the Son of Sam, in CBS’s Out of the Darkness.
It starred Martin Sheen as the detective who tracked him down.
Trebor later recalled the experience as “emotionally and physically draining,” particularly as he was pulling double duty performing in a comedy play at night.
“Occasional 18-hour workdays” were the norm, he said.
His big screen credits include The Purple Rose of Cairo, 52 Pickup, Talk Radio, and Hail, Caesar, where he played a movie producer in his final film role.
In later life, he was named an artist-in-residence at The Braid, formerly the Jewish Women’s Theatre, and in 2023 appeared in Stories From the Violins of Hope, a UN-backed Zoom production about Holocaust-era violins.
He also turned to writing, publishing two books: Dear Salmoneus: The World’s First Guide to Love and Money in 1999 and the 2019 political satire The Haircut Who Would Be King, featuring “Donald Rump” and “Vladimir Poutine.”
“Salmoneus just kind of schmoozed people over and was always trying to scheme and get somebody to do something by showing them the glitter without talking about the substance of the rather shoddy product he was selling,” Trebor said in an interview.
“And I think there’s some application to the guy in the White House as far as that’s concerned.”
“I believe in many ways, Trump is the intersection of psychopath and salesman. And by having portrayed that as an actor, apparently fairly successfully, I thought about that while I was writing.”
Trebor and Hennings met while taking a business class at the New School in New York.
They moved to L.A. in 1990 and married in 2012 shortly after his diagnosis.
Donations in his memory can be made to The Braid, where a scholarship fund is being established in his name, or to the Leukemia Research Foundation.
