Bob Christo (1938-2011) was an Australian-Indian civil engineer and actor. Bob also served as the Official Director of Health and Fitness at Sanjay Khan Resort in Bangalore. He has acted in more than 200 films and TV series in Bollywood, Mollywood, Kollywood and Tollywood, including Qurbani (1980), Nastik (1983), Mr India (1987) and Gumraah” (1993) and other films. He is known for bringing archetypal foreign thugs to the screen. Bob Christo died on March 20, 2011 from a ruptured left ventricular valve.
Wiki/Biography
Bob Christo was born Robert John Christo in 1938 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (aged 73; time of death). Bob completed his education in Germany and studied drama. Before coming to India, Bob traveled around the world. After completing a civil engineering degree in Sydney, he joined the Australian Army and served in Vietnam, commanding a team of mercenaries and building bridges. Afterwards, he came to South Africa. Bob’s work and life have taken him from Hong Kong to Japan to the Seychelles. As a member of the Australian Army, he joined the Special Air Service in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). In Zimbabwe, Bob read an article in Time magazine about Parveen Babi, which inspired him to meet her. Thereafter, he went to Muscat to work for a while, after which he had to leave Muscat and come to India until his license was renewed. After trying to meet Parveen Babi, instead of leaving, he ended up in Bollywood and acted in over 200 films in the Indian film industry.
appearance
Height (approximately): 6′0″
Weight (approximately): 90kg
Hair color: dark brown (semi-bald)
Eye color: black
Body Measurements (Approximately): Bust: 41″, Waist: 38″, Biceps: 15″
family
Bob Crystal was born into a Christian family in Sydney, Australia. When Bob was five years old, the family moved to Germany.
Parents and siblings
Bob Crystal’s father is of Greek descent and his mother is German. He has a sister and two brothers named Mike and Helmut.
wife and children
Bob Christo met his first wife, Helga, when he was 20, with whom he had three children, including two daughters, Monique and Nicole (Nicole). After his wife died in a car accident, Bob left his three children with friends and his wife and traveled to Saigon, where he helped the South Vietnamese Army. He subsequently married Nargis Christo in 1981, with whom he had two sons: Darius and Sunil.
Bob Christo with wife Nargis, sons Darius and Sunil and daughter-in-law
Relationships/Affairs
In Bob’s autobiography, Flashback: My Life and Times in Bollywood and Beyond, he talks about the relationships and affairs of his life. While Bob was in the Philippines building sets for Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now, he simultaneously had affairs with Kisa, a Polynesian student, and a Filipino woman named Maria Antoinette. Maria and Bob have twin daughters, and Bob even agrees to marry her. However, he did not keep his promise and fled the city. He also admitted to having a physical relationship with his maid Reena in Mumbai, which happened many times before he became an actor.
religion
Bob Kristol is a Christian.
Profession
Movie
Bob Christo made his German film debut at the age of 16; he appeared in this film after working as an extra at the National Theater in Düsseldorf, Germany. He remained in the film industry, using his civil engineering degree to build a jungle palace for Francis Ford Coppola as part of the set of the film Apocalypse Now (1979). After arriving in Bombay, he played the villain “The Magician” in the Hindi film Abdullah (1980).
Bob Christo on Abdullah poster (1980)
Although this was his first film, he had released other films before this such as Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan (1978) and Qurbani (1980). He has since appeared in more than 200 films in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, always playing bald, evil foreigners. He then appeared in films such as “Kaalia” (1981) and the cult classic “Disco Dancer” (1982), in which he played the role of “The International Killer.”
Bob Christo on the Disco Dancer (1982) poster
He appeared in many Hindi films such as Nastik (1983), Haadsa (1983), Insaaf Kaun Karega (1984), Insaaf Main Karoonga (1985), Geraftaar (1985) as Ram, Mr. India (1987) as Mr. Wolcott , one of his most popular roles: Toofan (1989), Agneepath (1990), Saugandh (1991), Kali Charan (1998) and Aman K Farishteh (2016), which was his last film. He also acted in South Indian films such as the Malayalam film Hello Dear Wrong Number (1986), the Tamil film Kadar Parisu (1987) and Khanna Darling film Jayasimha (1987).
Bob Christo and Akshay Kumar in the film Saugandh (1991)
television
Although Sanjay Khan discovered him and cast him in the film Abdullah, he also cast him in the TV series The Sword of Tipu Sultan (1990) as General Mathews, and Played General Matthews in The Great Maratha (1994). The character of Ahmed Shah Abdali went on to become an icon among the audience of the show. He also appeared in the French television program “La Nouvelle Malle des Indes” (1981), which means “The New Main Street of India”.
die
Bob Christo died of left ventricular rupture on March 20, 2011, at the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, Bengaluru, at the age of 73. While in the hospital, he suffered another heart attack that resulted in death.
Facts/Trivia
- Bob always wanted to play the hero, but he never got the chance.
- Bob Christo was a yoga instructor from 2000 to 2006. But due to a spinal injury, he no longer works as a yoga instructor. He attributed the injury to the number of stunts he had to perform while filming the movie.
- Bob Christo’s character in Abdullah was credited to his massage skills when Bob was working as Abdullah’s bodyguard. Sanjay Khan was impressed by the skill.
- Bob Christo carried around a copy of Time magazine featuring Parveen Babi until he met her.
Parveen Babi’s Time Magazine Piques Bob Christo’s Interest
- Most of Bob Crystal’s character names are variations of his first name, such as Inspector Bob, Terrorist Bob, Commander Bob, etc.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education