{{short description|American actress}} {{Use American English|date=July 2020}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Cynthia Chenault | image = File:Betty Davis Cindy Robbins Wagon Train 1959.jpg | caption = Robbins with Bette Davis in ''Wagon Train'', 1959 | birth_name = Cynthia Robichaux | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1937|1|5}} | birth_place = Hammond, Louisiana, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Tommy Leonetti|1964|1979}} (his death) * {{marriage|Robert Chenault|1983|2009}} (his death) }} | occupation = Actor, television producer & writer | years_active = 1955–present | children = Kimberly Beck }} '''Cynthia Chenault''' (née '''Robichaux''') is an American television actress and producer/writer active from the mid-1950s to the present. She used the screen name '''Cindy Robbins''' in her acting credits.
==Early years== Robbins was born Cynthia Robichaux<ref name="dn" /> in Hammond, Louisiana.<ref name="bn" /> Her mother operated a dancing school in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and Robbins began dancing at age five.<ref name="ac" /> When she was eight years old, her family moved to California. When she was a student at Glendale High School, her career plans changed from dancing to acting. In 1952, she was the school's representative at an annual drama festival.<ref name="bn">{{cite news |last1=Caldwell |first1=Lily May |title=Cindy Robbins comes to town in first movie |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69318167/cindy-robbins/ |access-date=February 4, 2021 |work=The Birmingham News |date=July 5, 1959 |page=E 1|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> She has four sisters.<ref name="ac">{{cite news |last1=Gray |first1=Dick |title=Bubbling Cindy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69320194/cindy-robbins/ |access-date=February 4, 2021 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |date=June 29, 1959 |page=30|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> She is of French descent.<ref name="dn">{{cite news |last1=Hale |first1=Wanda |title=Cindy Robbins - The Champagne Blonde! |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-cindy-robbins-was-of-french-d/181549246/ |access-date=October 8, 2025 |work=Daily News |date=June 7, 1959 |location=New York, New York City |page=6}}</ref>
==Career== ===Stage=== Robbins's entertainment debut came in Ken Murray's ''Blackouts''<ref name="bn" /> when she was 11 years old.<ref name="ac" /> On Broadway, she portrayed Molly Belmont in ''By the Beautiful Sea'' (1954), and Janice Dawson in ''Happy Town'' (1959).<ref>{{cite web |title=Cindy Robbins |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/cindy-robbins-103233 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=February 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209112733/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/cindy-robbins-103233 |archive-date=February 9, 2021 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> She also had a lead role in ''The Vacant Lot'' at the La Jolla Playhouse.<ref name=bn/>
=== Television === Her first acting role on television was in 1955, in the episode ''Moonfire'' of the television western series ''Brave Eagle''. In 1960, Robbins appeared as a ballerina in the "Bullets and Ballet" episode of ''Tightrope!''.<ref>{{cite news|title=(photo caption)|newspaper=Daily Independent Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5099767/daily_independent_journal/|agency=Daily Independent Journal|date=May 28, 1960|location=California, San Rafael|page=33|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = April 29, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>
Her last acting role in television was on the television comedy series ''McHale's Navy'' in 1964.
Her best-known role was that of Carol Porter, one of the daughters in the one-season situation comedy ''The Tom Ewell Show'' (1960–61).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tucker|first1=David C.|title=Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television: Thirty Sitcoms That Faded Off Screen|date=2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786455829|page=205|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kCjT3AvbN5QC&q=%22Cindy+Robbins%22+actress&pg=PA205|access-date=2 November 2016|language=en}}</ref> She also made two guest appearances on ''Perry Mason'', including the role of Teddi Hart in the 1960 episode "The Case of the Treacherous Toupee" and the role of Mabel Richmond in the 1962 episode "The Case of Melancholy Marksman".
Her other television work consisted of appearances in comedy shows (''Ensign O'Toole'', ''Father Knows Best'', ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'', ''Leave It to Beaver''), ''McHale's Navy'' and military/action shows (''Steve Canyon'', ''Whirlybirds'', ''Harbor Command''), westerns (''Wagon Train'', ''The Tall Man''), and dramas (''Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse'', ''Tightrope!'', ''Dragnet'').
=== Film === She appeared in several films from 1957 to 1959: * ''I Was a Teenage Werewolf'' (1957) playing Pearl, Vic's Girl * ''Dino'' (1957), a Sal Mineo drama, playing Sylvia * ''Rockabilly Baby'' (1957), a film about family secrets and small-town life (featuring Les Brown and His Band of Renown), playing Vougette #1 * ''Gunsight Ridge'' (1957), a Joel McCrea Western, playing the Bride * ''This Earth Is Mine'' (1959), a Rock Hudson drama about California wine country, playing Buz Dietrick
=== Producing/writing === In the mid-1980s, she produced/wrote several ''ABC Weekend Specials'' (notably, ''Pippi Longstocking'') and a ''CBS Schoolbreak Special''. She was also a writer in 1984 for the TV cartoon series ''Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats''.
== Personal life == She has one child, actress Kimberly Beck.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kleiner|first1=Dick|title='Roots II' may be in making|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7287761/abilene_reporternews/|work=Abilene Reporter-News|agency=Newspaper Enterprise Association|date=February 16, 1977|location=Texas, Abilene|page=12|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = November 2, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>
Cynthia, then still known as Cindy Robbins, married New Jersey singer-songwriter Tommy Leonetti on November 27, 1965, in Beverly Hills, California.<ref>{{cite news|title=Singer & Actress Honeymooning|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7287831/standardspeaker/|work=Standard-Speaker|agency=Associated Press|date=November 29, 1965|location=Pennsylvania, Hazleton|page=15|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = November 2, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{IMDb name|0730316}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Robbins, Cindy}}
Category:Living people Category:American television actresses Category:20th-century American actresses Category:American film actresses Category:People from Hammond, Louisiana Category:Actresses from Louisiana Category:American television writers Category:American women television writers Category:Screenwriters from Louisiana Category:American stage actresses Category:21st-century American women Category:Year of birth missing (living people)