Robert F. Lyons is one of my favorite character actors, and he turned 87 years old on October 17, 2026. One of the best nights of my life was when I was able to interview him, along with host Eric Todd, on the THIS WEEK IN CHARLES BRONSON PODCAST episode “Everyone calls me Bobby.” I mostly appreciate him based on his work with Bronson (DEATH WISH II, TEN TO MIDNIGHT, MURPHY’S LAW), but he’s got over 100 credits, and he’s given a lot of memorable performances in films and on TV over the years. As far as the horror genre, I generally think of his role as Skeeter Norris in THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW (1981). When I was looking through his filmography this week, I noticed he had guest-starred in an episode of FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES that premiered on February 4th, 1990. Having never watched an episode before, this seemed like the perfect time to check it out.

I only watched the first part of the episode in order to see Lyons, but his story concerns an obnoxious sculptor (Lyons) who fakes his own death to avoid prosecution after the accidental death of one of his models. This also has the added benefit of increasing the value of his work. He instructs his wife, who knows he’s really alive, to sell his remaining sculptures for the premium before they head to France and live out their lives in luxury. The narcissist that he is, he goes stir crazy cooped up in his loft apartment, even accusing his wife of having an affair. Unsurprisingly, things don’t go well for him in the end.

As I said earlier, this was my first episode of FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES. I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I did enjoy the nostalgia of seeing Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) host the episode, even if his comments were a little corny. I don’t want to speak for the entire series, but based on this one episode alone, the story seemed designed to teach our protagonist a thing or two about the right way to treat people. Despite his artistic talent, our lead was selfish, jealous, bitter, and abusive to everyone around him, and he learned a valuable, but deadly lesson. I enjoyed Lyons’ performance, and I thought Fabiana Udenio was extremely sexy as his wife. I mean seriously, the guy should have been thanking God that he had her rather than treating her like crap. This being the early 90s, he had an earring in his left ear and a cute little ponytail, but he truly is a jerk and Lyons went all in as he always seemed to in his best performances.

I’m glad I watched this episode, even if I don’t necessarily have the desire to go back through the entire series. Lyons is good, and the story had a reasonable, if superficially manufactured, moral lesson for a guy who had treated the important people in his life kind of like property. If another episode catches my attention in the future, I’ll definitely give it a watch!

P.S. I’ve attached a link to our interview on TWICB just in case interviews with character actors like Lyons interest you. It was so much fun for me!