Clarence Aaron Robbins was born in Brooklyn in the United States on the 25th June 1888.

His billing sometimes cited him as C A Robbins but he was better known as Tod Robbins.

Information on him is either scant or unreliable. He did attend Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia and wrote the words to the popular college song 'Washington & Lee Swing' published in 1910.

As an author he wrote two short story collections as well as several novels and his often bizarre premises and settings offer genuine thrills and mystery. His works were frequently anthologized and popular in the many pulp magazines of the era.

His short story 'Spurs' was adapted by the director Tod Browning for his Universal cult film classic 'Freaks' in 1932.

Robbins left New York to emigrate to the French Riviera but was later caught up in the Second World War. After the Nazi occupation he refused to leave and spent the remainder of the war in a concentration camp.

Tod Robbins died in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on 10th May 1949 at the age of 60.