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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".

Composer, singer, author, bassist and arranger, educated at the University of California (Ph.D.). He was a member and arranger of the Gateway Singers and also an arranger for the Kingston Trio. Between 1949 and 1965 he was a member of the Limeliters vocal group as a singer, bassist and arranger, and appeared in concerts at colleges, in night clubs and on television, and made many records. He was a partner in the Stan Yan Publishing Company. Joining ASCAP in 1961, his popular-song compositions included "Monaco", "Let's Have a Party", "Western Wind", "Vikki Dugan", "Mount Zion", and "Round About the Mountain".