**Is Robert "Diamond' Coates one of the worst actors in history?** That's popular opinion, even today. But these stories of a rich kid with more ambition than talent and too much time on his hands do not stand up to scrutiny on close investigation. Born in Antigua of expats from Colonial America on a thriving sugar plantation, Robert was educated in England, leaving behind Phoebe, a slave he had loved since childhood, to return as a member of the privileged English gentry and satisfy his longing for the stage. This he achieved despite sabotage, love affairs gone off the rails, and problems as a slave owner during the Abolitionist Movement .