Interviewed by: Maggie Roberge
Robert Axelrod (born May 29, 1949) is a U.S. actor who has been in several movies and lent his voice to countless televisual shows including Digimon, having started vocal acting for the English versions of Japanese cartoons in 1980. Two of his best known roles was that of Lord Zedd, the main antagonist of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and Finster, the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers monster maker. He has also portrayed a Paul McCartney look-alike on the popular sitcom, Family Matters.
What do you like most about acting?
Robert loves the communication that comes with acting. He finds it very satisfying when he can create a character and convey an idea to the audience, making that character more real.
Why did he choose acting over music?
While he was a bass guitar player in a few bands, they kept breaking up. Since he had been an actor before he started playing, he figured out that he liked acting better, since it was more of a “solo affair.” Also, he was better educated in acting than he was in performing as a musician. So he went back to acting and has never regretted his choice.
Does he prefer voice acting or acting on screen?
He loves both equally. Both are still acting and he thoroughly enjoys doing both.
Does he have more fun playing villains?
While Robert has played both victims and villains in horror movies and in other genres, he loves playing villains more. For him, victims are helpless and don’t have as many dimensions as villains do. Villains have more “fullness” and “charisma” that Robert likes playing around with.
Would he act in more horror movies if given the chance?
He would definitely like to be in more horror movies. He has a lot of fun with the genre, and would definitely love to play more villains.
Power Rangers
Did he enjoy playing Lord Zedd?
He immensely enjoyed playing Lord Zedd. He considers Zedd to be one of his fullest roles where everything fell into place. He loved the writing they had for Zedd’s character; he felt that the way Zedd was developed, he was “complete,” and continues to be a popular character to this day.
Was any enhancement added to his voice for Zedd?
In the beginning, a little bit of emulation was added, but as the show went on, they reverted to just using Robert’s natural voice for him. Essentially the added emulation really was not needed and did not bring anything extra to the way the character was received.
How does he rate Zedd as a villain?
Zedd is not a very serious villain. At first he was so sinister and scary that parents were actually calling in to complain about their children getting nightmares, so they had to re-write the role so Zedd was sillier, and they added the wedding between him and Rita Repulsa.
Does he have any future projects?
Robert still has a music hobby and has been keeping it up. He has recently played a musician on Tim and Eric, Awesome Show, Great Job, and has even played in a music video for Dave Matthews Band too. He also has some classified projects that cannot be disclosed just yet, but should be announced soon.
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