Late-night movie host, entertainer Timm-Dickey dies

Thursday, July 15, 1999 | 9:55 a.m.

Vibrant late-night movie host and local entertainer Robin Timm-Dickey died July 4 in Simi Valley, Calif., after a 16-month bout with colon cancer. She was 40 years old.

Some may remember her as a featured singer in "Hallelujah Hollywood" or as the genie in the Carpet Barn commercial during the early 1980s. But most can recall Timm-Dickey as the late-night movie host on Channel 8 representing the Silver Slipper hotel-casino. She hosted the movies from 1983 to 1985.

In her high-collared, Victorian white blouse "she was the antithesis of Elvira ," her husband, Joe Dickey, said. "She was as sweet and nice and charming as could be and that was her real self."

Promoting the Silver Slipper's buffet, "the great boo-fay" she had to think up 30 commercials each week. Whether she spent a minute-and-a-half reporting on the roast beef or 30 seconds describing the German chocolate cake, she could improvise and then wrap it up within 5 seconds if needed, he said.

Born Aug. 26, 1958, in Las Vegas, Timm-Dickey attended Ruby Thomas Elementary School and Orr Junior High School.

She attended Valley High School, where she was selected Miss Teenage Nevada and was second runner up in the Miss Teen USA Pageant.

She studied music at Cal State Fullerton. And landed her first professional job as a featured singer in the old MGM Grand's production "Hallelujah Hollywood" where she met Joe Dickey.

In 1980 she and her husband moved to Nashville for two years to write songs, appear in commercials and perform at regional dinner theaters.

When they came back to Las Vegas they appeared regularly on KLVX Channel 10 as pledge hosts. They moved to Los Angeles in 1986 to further their careers. Timm-Dickey drove to Las Vegas once a week to host the late-night movies.

She and her husband were also volunteer hosts for 24-hour-telethons such as United Cerebral Palsy and Easter Seals Telethon.

Contributing to charitable causes was common to the Timm family.

To raise funds for a cancer foundation, her father, Bob Timm, who was the owner of the Silver Slots and his friend John Cook flew around Las Vegas and Los Angeles in a 172 Cessna aircraft for 64 days, 22 hours and 19 minutes without landing. The plane was refueled in midair. Food and water were replinished by other aircraft and the men took turns sleeping on a mattress in the backseat of the plane.

The two were recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records for their 1959 endurance flight. The plane is scheduled to be dedicated and will hang in the McCarron International Airport.

"The family has a good sense of humor," Dickey said.

"It was a shock when (Robin) got sick and it was a shock when she couldn't get well," he said. "She had friends all over the world praying for her.

"She was truly a vibrant person in every regard. She could talk into a camera as if it were a person so when people were watching they thought she was talking to them. Robin was the most liked person I've ever known."

Timm-Dickey also hosted the Home Shopping Network for many years.

However, the one thing she really loved, Dickey said, was being a mom.

In addition to her husband she is survived by one daughter, Blaine; one son, Bridges; one stepdaughter, Jennifer; her mother, Lorene Timm of Las Vegas; two brothers, Greg Timm and his wife, Lisa, of Las Vegas and Steve Timm and his wife, Robin, of Simi Valley; her grandmother, Emma Schmitt, and 10 nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the First Church of Religious Science, 1420 E. Harmon Ave.