A native of Oakland, California, Robert Nichols got his start as an entertainer in the Army during World War II. After his discharge, he attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art while working as a song-and-dance man at the Players Theater (Victorian music hall). Hollywood director Howard Hawks, visiting London, cast Nichols in a small part in his 1949 comedy I Was a Male War Bride (1949); Nichols' scene was shot in Germany. Relocating to Hollywood, he appeared in dozens of additional features before tiring of the succession of "elderly juvenile" roles and moving back to England, where he worked on the stage and in films. A subsequent move to New York yielded yet more stage-work while his wife, Jennifer Nichols, became one of the movies' top wardrobe supervisors there. In more recent years, Nichols has been "on the road" with productions of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", "Anything Goes" and "Ragtime".