Robert Branham was born in 1926, in Louisville, Kentucky, the youngest of three children. He was inspired by the paintings of Degas at the age of 12, and recalled his mother proudly hsaring his early drawings of nude female figures with her Bridge Club.  Besides Degas, he was strongly influenced by the works of Rouault, Bonnard, Matisse, Klee, Munch, and Giacometti. After serving in the Navy at the end of World War II, Robert attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati, where he further developed his figurative drawing and painting skills.

In the 1950s Robert enjoyed early success as an architectural illustrator while living in Chicago. Highlights of his work during this period included a direct commission from the Vatican in Rome to do paintings for an American church, which later resulted in an audience with the Pope at the Vatican in recognition of his work. In April 1959, Robert's illustrations were featured in Playboy Magazine's "Playboy's Weekend Hideaway", which was the single most successful feature ever to appear in the magazine. Due to it's huge popularity, Playboy later published an article on the artist.

Robert Branham led a long, varied and diverse career as an illustrator, consultant, and conceptual design artist for the motion picture industry. He worked at every major motion picture studio in Southern California between 1964 and 1999. The list of films is extensive, including: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), Camelot (1967), Funny Girl (1968), Paint Your Wagon (1969), Masada (1981), The Tempest (1982), Ghostbusters (1984), Karate Kid I & II (1984), The MalagroBeanfield War (1988), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Dantes Peak (1997), U-571 (1999). He has worked with many imminent directors including Stanely Kramer, Paul Mazursky, and Robert Redford, and art directors including John DeCuir. In 1978 he won an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Title Sequences for his paintnigs featured in the opening of the movie Zeigfield: The Man and his Women.

Between films Robert conceived, designed and built exhibitions in; Tokyo Tower in Tokyo, Japan, Hershey Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, NBC in Los Angeles,California, and Hamley's in London, England. He also worked between films as a freelance artist and illustrator for Duell Corporation for over 20 years. He owned his own company for several years from which he conceived, designed, built and installed part of an entertainment area for Tropworld Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The first of it's kind for adults.