Robin Harris

CTL-E-5720 · Person · other · 1953–1990

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-06995 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-5720.

Robin Harris, born Robin Hughes Harris on August 30, 1953, in Chicago, Illinois, was an American comedian and actor best known for his “Bébé's Kids” routine. The son of Earl Harris, a welder, and Mattie Harris, a factory seamstress, he was born at the family home at 4640 South Drexel Avenue; the family moved to Los Angeles in 1961, where he attended Manual Arts High School, and he went on to Ottawa University in Kansas. Harris debuted at The Comedy Store in 1980 and worked as master of ceremonies at the Comedy Act Theater in the mid-1980s. His film roles came in a rush: a bartender in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), Sweet Dick Willie in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989), Harlem Nights (1989), and Pop in House Party (1990), a performance that earned a posthumous Independent Spirit Award nomination. On March 18, 1990, hours after a sold-out performance in his hometown, Harris died of heart failure at Chicago's Four Seasons Hotel, aged 36. The Hudlin brothers' animated Bébé's Kids (1992) carried his signature routine to the screen after his death.

The record

• Also known as: Robin Hughes Harris Sr.

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Fill 500 Lists Wave 4, Tier 1 — 747 Program). Gate A (2026-10-16): no Robin Harris entity in the live graph at 3,409 entities (exact/normalized/alias + token containment); ID CTL-E-5720 free. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger, Fill 500 Comedians gap #26. Vital status: DECEASED — died March 18, 1990, Chicago (Wikipedia, Encyclopedia.com, and The Source agree); tribute treatment applies in the Curator's Judgment. Cause shown as the sources give it: heart failure / heart attack following the sold-out hometown performance. STATISTICS (sourced, dated): film career compressed into 1988–90 (four features), with the posthumous Independent Spirit nomination for House Party — Wikipedia, accessed 2026-10-16. MEDIA: photo HELD (candidate named in the packet — Wikipedia carries a 1989 portrait; its Commons file page was not read in this pass); chart FILLED; video HELD; audio HELD (his comedy recordings are label material; no rights basis located). Blocked edges documented in the packet: Ottawa University (attendance documented; no graph entity), The Comedy Store and the Comedy Act Theater (no graph entities). MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Persons receive no maps (media-layer rule carried from the CULTGRAPH packets).) | visual_assets = HELD: No Commons file page could be read at file-page level in this pass, so the slot is HELD rather than cleared on | chart = FILLED (Built only from this record's own sourced, dated facts; data table printed in the packet.) | video = HELD (No CTL Short for this subject — checked against the CTL Shorts Link Map catalog (2026-10-15) by full name and ) | audio = HELD (No matching-entity audio with a verified rights basis located in this pass. Harris's comedy albums are commerc)

Sources

• Wikipedia, “Robin Harris (comedian)” — born Robin Hughes Harris, August 30, 1953, Chicago; died March 18, 1990, Chicago; parents Earl (welder) and Mattie (seamstress); Los Angeles from 1961, Manual Arts High School; Ottawa University; Comedy Store debut 1980; I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988); Do the Right Thing (1989); House Party (1990), posthumous Independent Spirit nomination; Bébé's Kids sketch — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Harris_(comedian) (build store)
• Encyclopedia.com, “Harris, Robin 1953–1990” (Contemporary Black Biography) — born at 4640 South Drexel Avenue, Chicago; Comedy Act Theater master of ceremonies; found dead of heart failure at the Four Seasons Hotel, Chicago, March 18, 1990; CBS sitcom and Bébé's Kids feature in development at his death — https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/harris-robin-1953-1990 (build store)
• The Source (2019) — Harris remembered: died of a heart attack March 18, 1990, after a sold-out hometown performance; animated Bébé's Kids produced by the Hudlin brothers — thesource.com, accessed 2026-10-16 (build store)

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Record CTL-E-5720 · Combined Graph record U-06995 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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