I'd always been mildly curious about this little guy, because I never knew what it was he might have done to earn his notoriety. I mean, I'd never heard of him before his appearance in "Immunity" -- nor of him since. Well, the release of season 5 inspired me to look into it, and I found this:

"...The first comment of thefilm "Bless the Beasts and Children", in which Barry Robins has the title role, is by his sister Elisabeth. It is titled
"Symbolism and personal ties to this movie", and is dated 12 October 2003. It gives some interesting data about his life and especially his death, in 1986, from AIDS, a disease not yet well known at the time."

I guess that answers that, and incidentally, his only claim to fame also stars Ken Swofford --best known here as Harry Stone in "Candidate".

thanks for this mark. i too have always been a bit curious about him. i never saw him in anything else, and i always wondered if he was some type of real dignitary who loved columbo and wanted a role in it...