Robert Kya-Hill (né Robert Hill; December 4, 1930 – May 31, 2026) was an American actor, director, playwright, musician, composer and educator. He also performed under the name "Bob Hill". On learning that there was an actor with the same name, he briefly changed his name to Robert Hill II. He then added the prefix "Kya" after joining the Screen Actors Guild in 1961 because a union rule barred members from having the same name.
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Early life and education
Kya-Hill's youth on farms in North Carolina and Virginia's Bible Belt country influenced his later works. At the age of 12, he moved to Harlem in New York City with his mother, Fannie Williams Hill, a garment presser. After graduation as a silk screen major from the High School of Industrial Arts in 1948, he worked in the silk screen industry and then attended City College of New York in 1950-51.
Because he loved to sing but could not find a piano accompanist, he taught himself to play the guitar. He also went to music auditions for singing practice because he could not afford lessons. His formal music studies were deferred until after Army service in Germany during the Korean War. He was discharged in 1953 with a National Defense Service Medal and an Army of Occupation Medal Germany.
From 1954 to 1957, he studied at the New York College of Music and Jarahal School of Music in Harlem, where he conducted the Jarahal Concert Chorus for two seasons. At Jarahal, he also became an acting student and then protégé of the vaudeville performer, Lillyn Brown. He also studied with private teachers including Herbert Gellendre, Vinettte Carroll and Carol Vikse. As his interests diversified, so did his mixed-media program credits, sometimes by choice and sometimes by budgetary constraints. In 1991, he earned an M.A in Theater Education from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont.
Professional career
Kya-Hill's extensive and diverse career began as a folk musician in 1958 with performances as a guitarist, folk singer, and concert soloist. He appeared in Let My People Go in New York's Town Hall, with Lillyn Brown's one-woman shows in Carnegie Recital Hall, and nightclubs in Manhattan, Connecticut, and New Jersey.
For several years, he appeared as guitarist and actor, including as Gorman in Dark of the Moon, with James Earl Jones in 1959 at Equity Library Theatre in Manhattan. He was billed as Robert Hill II when he appeared as Ketch and guitarist in the 1962 production of Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, at East 11th Street Theater in New York City which starred James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson. Eventually, his career transitioned to acting, composing, playwriting, directing, then into teaching and back into acting and composing.
By intentionally auditioning for plays with no roles for African Americans, Kya-Hill sought to broaden casting directors' preconceptions and thereby increase employment for blacks. Although Kya-Hill was not often selected for roles, he nevertheless appeared on stages in New York, regionally, and abroad in more than 140 professional productions.
As Bob Hill, he played the lead in Dark Valley, Gospel Films, 1961, and was awarded the "Christian Oscar" by the National Evangelical Film Foundation (NEFF) for Best Actor of the Year. His role as Jericho in Slaves, produced by Theatre Guild Films in 1969 and released by Walter Reade was praised as "excellent" by the Boston Herald. Terry Kay in The Atlanta Journal described him as "a remarkably talented actor," adding "Kya-Hill is the finest actor in the cast, which includes Stephen Boyd, Ossie Davis, and Dionne Warwick." He reveals "a peculiar and magnificent fire, an unleashed freedom of acting 'attack' that breaks the conventions of characteristic posing too often committed by other performers."
In 1969, his performance as Purlie in Purlie Victorious at the Equity Library Theatre in New York earned an Obie Award nomination as best actor. He performed the title role in Othello numerous times, including in Montreal, Vermont, New York City, and Perth, Australia. When cast as a last-minute replacement for Stephen Kumalo, the lead in Lost in the Stars, he learned the entire role and music in only three days before opening night. He has played leading roles in New York City, regional and international theaters. He also performed with touring companies, as Young Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., written by Alice Childress, and Josef K, a dramatization by Andre Gide and Jean-Barrault of Kafka's The Trial; and with repertory companies such as the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut.
Personal life and death
Kya-Hill married his wife Sally in 1966; they had one daughter, Bouqui. He died in New Rochelle, New York, on May 31, 2026, at the age of 95.
Film and television
1961: Dark Valley – Jason
1969: The Pony Film – Father
1969: Slaves – Jericho
1970: Edge of Night (TV Series) – Apollo
1971: Another World – Frank Chadwick
1972: Shaft's Big Score! – Cal Asby
1972: Rivals – Second Policeman
1973: One Life to Live (TV Series) – Hogan
1974: Death Wish – Joe Charles
1974: Roots: The Next Generations (TV Mini-Series) – Minister
1977: The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer (TV Movie) – Henry
1978: The Perfect Gentleman – Harry Blount
1978: Good Times – J.J.'s boss
1978: Lou Grant – Foreign News Editor
1978: Eight is Enough (TV Series) – Trucking Company Owner
1978: The Critical List (TV Movie) – Judge
1980: Sanford Arms – Businessman neighbor
1980: Kaz – Ex-Convict
1997: Sue Lost in Manhattan – Willie
1999: The Shade – Seller
Stage
1963: Abe Lincoln in Illinois, as Gobey, Phoenix Theatre, New York City
1964: The Beggar's Opera, as Matt, Equity Library Theatre, New York City
1966: Winterset, as Shadow, Jan Hus Theatre, New York City
1966–67: Lost in the Stars, as Stephen Kumalo; Noah (Wakefield Mystery Plays), as Noah; King Lear, as Kent, Morris Repertory Theatre, Morristown, NJ
1967: The Merchant of Venice, as Prince of Morocco; Julius Caesar, as Pindarus, Soothsayer, American Shakespeare Festival, Stratford, CT
1968: The Ballad of Joe Smith, as Old Man, Theater for Peace, Playwrights' Workshop Club, NYC
1968: Purlie Victorious, as Purlie, Erie Playhouse, Erie, PA
1968: The Trial, as Josef K, Vanguard Theater, Pittsburgh, PA
1969: Purlie Victorious, as Purlie, Equity Library Theatre, New York City
1969: Young Martin Luther King, Jr., as Martin Luther King Jr., Performing Arts Repertory Theatre, 4 -State tour
1969: Irma La Douce, as Persil, Dallas Summer Musicals, Dallas, TX
1969: Othello, as Othello, Champlain Shakespeare Festival, Burlington, VT
1970: The Trial of A. Lincoln, as Lucius Richardson, Hartford Stage Company, Hartford, CT
