Robert Edward Chambliss was born on January 14, 1904, in Pratt City, Alabama. 

Robert Edward Chambliss was involved in a significant crime known as the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, which occurred on September 15, 1963. This act of violence targeted the church during a Sunday service, resulting in the deaths of four young African American girls: Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Denise McNair.

In a memo dated May 13, 1965, the FBI identified Chambliss and three other men as suspects in the bombing. The investigation initially closed in 1968 without any charges. However, it was later discovered that the FBI had gathered evidence against the suspects that had not been provided to prosecutors. J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI director at the time, had ordered the investigation to be shut down.

In 1971, Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley reopened the case. Following a new investigation, Chambliss was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder in 1977 for his role in the bombing, particularly for the death of Carol Denise McNair. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and served his sentence at the St. Clair Correctional Facility in Alabama.

Chambliss continued to proclaim his innocence during his time in prison. He died on October 29, 1985, at the Lloyd Noland Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, at the age of 81.