Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nomination for the
Best Supporting Actor for ''
The Story of G.I. Joe
''The Story of G.I. Joe'', also credited in prints as ''Ernie Pyle's Story of G.I. Joe'', is a 1945 American war film directed by William A. Wellman, starring Burgess Meredith and Robert Mitchum. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, in ...
'' (1945), followed by his starring in several classic
film noirs
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarde ...
. His acting is generally considered a forerunner of the
antiheroes
An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform action ...
prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s. His best-known films include ''
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo'' (1944), ''
Out of the Past'' (1947), ''
River of No Return'' (1954), ''
The Night of the Hunter'' (1955), ''
Thunder Road'' (1958), ''
Cape Fear'' (1962), ''
El Dorado
El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king ...
'' (1966), ''
Ryan's Daughter'' (1970) and ''
The Friends of Eddie Coyle'' (1973). He is also known for his television role as
U.S. Navy Captain Victor "Pug" Henry in the epic miniseries ''
The Winds of War'' (1983) and sequel ''
War and Remembrance'' (1988).
Mitchum is rated number 23 on the
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Lead ...
's
list of the greatest male stars of classic American cinema.
Early life
Mitchum was born in
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequo ...
, on August 6, 1917, into a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
family of English-Scottish-Irish and Norwegian descent. His father, James Thomas Mitchum, a shipyard and railroad worker, was of English-Scottish-Irish descent,
and his mother, Ann Harriet Gunderson, was a Norwegian immigrant and
sea captain
A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel.Aragon and Messner, 2001, p.3. The captain is responsible for the safe and effici ...
's daughter. His older sister, Annette (known as
Julie Mitchum during her acting career), was born in 1914. James was crushed to death in a railyard accident in
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
, in February 1919. His widow was awarded a government pension, and soon realized she was pregnant. Her third child,
John, was born in September of that year.
Ann married Lieutenant Hugh "The Major" Cunningham Morris, a former
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original R ...
officer. They had a daughter, Carol Morris, born July 1927 on the family farm in
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...
. When all of the children were old enough to attend school, Ann found employment as a
linotype operator for the ''Bridgeport Post''.
Server
Server may refer to:
Computing
*Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients
Role
* Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...
2001, pp. 3–18.
As a child, Mitchum was known as a prankster, often involved in fistfights and mischief. In 1929 his mother sent the twelve-year-old Mitchum to live with her parents in
Felton, Delaware; the boy was promptly expelled from middle school for scuffling with the principal. A year later he moved in with his older sister in Manhattan's
Hell's Kitchen. After being expelled from
Haaren High School he left his sister and traveled throughout the country,
hopping freight cars and taking a number of jobs, including ditch-digging for the
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a ...
and professional boxing. He later stated that at age 14 in
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
, he was arrested for vagrancy and put in a local
chain gang
A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was not ...
.
[article pdf, publisher's website]
By Mitchum's account, he escaped and returned to his family in Delaware. At the age of 16, while recovering from injuries that nearly cost him a leg, he met 14 year old Dorothy Spence, whom he would later marry. He soon went back on the road, eventually "riding the rails" to California.
["Biography: Robert Mitchum."](_blank)
''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: March 20, 2015.
Acting career
Getting established
In the mid-1930s Julie Mitchum moved to the West Coast in the hope of acting in movies, and the rest of the Mitchum family soon followed her to
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
. Robert arrived in 1936. During this time, Mitchum worked as a
ghostwriter for astrologer
Carroll Righter
Carroll Righter (February 2, 1900 – April 30, 1988) was known as the "astrologer to the stars". He wrote a syndicated daily advice column for 166 newspapers around the world and was reputed to be an advisor to Ronald Reagan, Ronald and Nancy Reag ...
. Julie persuaded him to join the local theater guild with her. At The Players Guild of Long Beach, Mitchum worked as a stagehand and occasional bit-player in company productions. He also wrote several short pieces which were performed by the guild. According to
Lee Server
Lee Server (May 27, 1953 – December 28, 2021) was an American writer. He was a graduate of New York University Film School. Server wrote several books about Hollywood cinema and pulp fiction. His book on Ava Gardner, ''Love is Nothing'' (2006) ...
's biography (''Robert Mitchum: Baby, I Don't Care''), Mitchum put his talent for poetry to work writing song lyrics and monologues for Julie's nightclub performances.
In 1940, he returned to Delaware to marry Dorothy Spence, and they moved back to California. He gave up his artistic pursuits at the birth of their first child
James, nicknamed Josh, and two more children,
Chris and Petrine, followed. Mitchum found steady employment as a machine operator during World War II with the
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, but the noise of the machinery damaged his hearing.
He also suffered a nervous breakdown (which resulted in temporary vision problems), due to job-related stress.
He then sought work as a film actor, performing initially as an extra and in small speaking parts. His agent got him an interview with Harry Sherman, the producer of Paramount's ''
Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of short stories and novels based on the character. Mulford portrayed the character as rude, dangerous, and rough-talking. He wa ...
'' western film series, which starred
William Boyd William, Willie, Will or Bill Boyd may refer to:
Academics
* William Alexander Jenyns Boyd (1842–1928), Australian journalist and schoolmaster
* William Boyd (educator) (1874–1962), Scottish educator
* William Boyd (pathologist) (1885–1979), ...
; Mitchum was hired to play minor villainous roles in several films in the series during 1942 and 1943. He went uncredited as a soldier in the 1943 film ''
The Human Comedy'' starring
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...
. His first on-screen credit came in 1943 as a Marine private in the
Randolph Scott
George Randolph Scott (January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987) was an American film actor whose career spanned the years from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of ...
war film
''Gung Ho''! Mitchum continued to find work as an extra and supporting actor in numerous productions for various studios.
After impressing director
Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy (; October 15, 1900 – September 13, 1987) was an American film director and producer. In his youth he played juvenile roles in vaudeville and silent film comedies.
During the 1930s, LeRoy was one of the two great practitioners of ...
during the making of ''
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,'' Mitchum signed a seven-year contract with
RKO Radio Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...
. He was groomed for B-Western stardom in a series of
Zane Grey adaptations.
Following the moderately successful Western ''
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
'', RKO lent Mitchum to United Artists for a prominent supporting actor role in ''
The Story of G.I. Joe
''The Story of G.I. Joe'', also credited in prints as ''Ernie Pyle's Story of G.I. Joe'', is a 1945 American war film directed by William A. Wellman, starring Burgess Meredith and Robert Mitchum. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, in ...
'' (1945). In the film, he portrayed war-weary officer Bill Walker (based on Captain
Henry T. Waskow), who remains resolute despite the troubles he faces. The film, which followed the life of an ordinary soldier through the eyes of journalist
Ernie Pyle (played by
Burgess Meredith), became an instant critical and commercial success. Shortly after filming, Mitchum was drafted into the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
, serving at
Fort MacArthur, California, as a medic. At the 1946
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' was nominated for four Oscars, including Mitchum's only nomination for an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, for
Best Supporting Actor. He finished the year with a Western (''
West of the Pecos'') and a story of returning Marine
veteran
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
A military veteran that h ...
s (''
Till the End of Time''), before migrating to a genre that came to define Mitchum's career and screen persona:
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...
.
Film noir
Mitchum was initially known for his work in
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...
. His first foray into the genre was a supporting role in the 1944
B-movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feat ...
''
When Strangers Marry'', about newlyweds and a New York City serial killer. Another early noir, ''
Undercurrent'', featured him as a troubled, sensitive man entangled in the affairs of his tycoon brother (
Robert Taylor) and his brother's suspicious wife (
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...
).
John Brahm's ''
The Locket'' (1946) featured Mitchum as a bitter ex-boyfriend to
Laraine Day's
femme fatale
A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype o ...
.
Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh (born Albert Edward Walsh; March 11, 1887December 31, 1980) was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh. He wa ...
's ''
Pursued'' (1947) combined the Western and noir genres, with Mitchum's character attempting to recall his past and find those responsible for killing his family. ''
Crossfire'' (also 1947) featured Mitchum as a member of a group of returned World War II soldiers embroiled in a murder investigation for an act committed by an
anti-Semite
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
in their ranks. The film, directed by
Edward Dmytryk and starring (in order of
billing)
Robert Young, Mitchum and
Robert Ryan, earned five
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nominations.
Following ''Crossfire'', Mitchum starred in ''
Out of the Past'' (also called ''Build My Gallows High''), directed by
Jacques Tourneur
Jacques Tourneur (; November 12, 1904 – December 19, 1977) was a French film director known for the classic film noir ''Out of the Past'' and a series of low-budget horror films he made for RKO Studios, including '' Cat People'', ''I Walked w ...
and featuring the cinematography of
Nicholas Musuraca
Nicholas Musuraca, A.S.C. (October 25, 1892 – September 3, 1975) was a motion-picture cinematographer best remembered for his work at RKO Pictures in the 1940s, including many of Val Lewton's series of B-picture horror films.
Biography
Bor ...
. In his best-known noir role, Mitchum played Jeff Markham, a small-town gas-station owner and former investigator, whose unfinished business with gambler Whit Sterling (
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. D ...
) and femme fatale Kathie Moffett (
Jane Greer) comes back to haunt him.
On September 1, 1948, after a string of successful films for RKO, Mitchum and actress
Lila Leeds
Lila Leeds (born Lila Lee Wilkinson, January 28, 1928 – September 15, 1999) was an American film actress.
Early life and career
Born in Iola, Kansas, Leeds's mother located to Clovis, New Mexico where Lila lived during her teens. Lila work ...
were arrested for possession of
marijuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various t ...
. The bust was the result of a
sting operation
In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a role ...
designed to capture other Hollywood partiers as well, but Mitchum and Leeds did not receive the tipoff. After serving a week at the county jail (he described the experience to a reporter as being "like Palm Springs, but without the riff-raff"), Mitchum spent 43 days (February 16 to March 30) at a
Castaic, California
Castaic () (Chumash: ''Kaštiq''; Spanish: ''Castéc'') is an unincorporated community in the northwestern part of Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 19,015. For statistical purposes the Census Bureau ...
,
prison farm. ''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...
'' photographers were permitted to take photos of him mopping up in his prison uniform. The arrest inspired the exploitation film ''
She Shoulda Said No!'' (1949), which starred Leeds. Mitchum's conviction was later overturned by the Los Angeles court and district attorney's office on January 31, 1951, after being exposed as a setup.
Despite Mitchum's legal troubles and problems without his studio, his popularity was not harmed and films released immediately after his arrest were box-office hits. ''
Rachel and the Stranger
''Rachel and the Stranger'' is a 1948 American Western film starring Loretta Young, William Holden, and Robert Mitchum. The Norman Foster-directed film was one of the few to address the role of women in the pioneer west, as well as portray ea ...
'' (1948) featured Mitchum in a supporting role as a mountain man competing for the hand of
Loretta Young, the indentured servant and wife of
William Holden. In the film adaptation of
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...
's novella ''
The Red Pony
''The Red Pony'' is an episodic novella written by American writer John Steinbeck in 1933. The first three chapters were published in magazines from 1933 to 1936. The full book was published in 1937 by Covici Friede. The stories in the book ...
'' (1949), he appeared as a trusted cowhand to a ranching family. He returned to in ''
The Big Steal'' (also 1949), where he reunited with Jane Greer in an early
Don Siegel film.
Mainstream stardom in the 1950s and 1960s
In ''
Where Danger Lives'' (1950), Mitchum played a doctor who comes between a mentally unbalanced
Faith Domergue and cuckolded
Claude Rains
William Claude Rains (10 November 188930 May 1967) was a British actor whose career spanned almost seven decades. After his American film debut as Griffin (The Invisible Man), Dr. Jack Griffin in ''The Invisible Man (1933 film), The Invisible Ma ...
. ''
The Racket'' was a noir remake of the early crime drama
'' The Racket '' (1928), and featured Mitchum as a police captain fighting corruption in his precinct. The
Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg (; born Jonas Sternberg; May 29, 1894 – December 22, 1969) was an Austrian-American filmmaker whose career successfully spanned the transition from the silent to the sound era, during which he worked with most of the major ...
film, ''
Macao
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a po ...
'' (1952), had Mitchum as a victim of mistaken identity at an exotic resort casino, playing opposite
Jane Russell.
Otto Preminger's ''
Angel Face'' was the first of three collaborations between Mitchum and British stage actress
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, (31 January 1929 – 22 January 2010) was a British actress and singer. One of J. Arthur Rank's "well-spoken young starlets", she appeared predominantly in films, beginning with those made in Great Britain during and aft ...
. Mitchum plays an ambulance driver who allows a murderously insane heiress to fatally seduce him.
Mitchum was fired from ''
Blood Alley
''Blood Alley'' is a 1955 American seafaring Cold War adventure film produced by John Wayne, directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Wayne and Lauren Bacall. The film was distributed by Warner Bros. and shot in CinemaScope and Warnercolor. ...
'' (1955) over his conduct, reportedly having thrown the film's transportation manager into
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland.
San Francisco Bay drains water f ...
. According to
Sam O'Steen's memoir ''Cut to the Chase'', Mitchum showed up on-set after a night of drinking and tore apart a studio office when they did not have a car ready for him. Mitchum walked off the set of the third day of filming ''Blood Alley'', claiming he could not work with the director. Because Mitchum was showing up late and behaving erratically, producer
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Go ...
, after failing to obtain
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
as a replacement, took over the role himself.
[ O'Steen 2002, p. 11.][Olson and Roberts 1997, p. 417.]
Following a series of conventional Westerns and , as well as the
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
adventure vehicle ''
River of No Return'' (1954), Mitchum appeared in ''
The Night of the Hunter'' (1955),
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play with his future ...
's only film as director. Based on a novel by
Davis Grubb, the thriller starred Mitchum as a monstrous criminal posing as a preacher to find money hidden by his cellmate in the man's home. His performance as
Reverend Harry Powell is considered by many to be one of the best of his career.
Stanley Kramer
Stanley Earl Kramer (September 29, 1913February 19, 2001) was an American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message picture, message films" (he would call his movies ''heavy dramas'') and a libera ...
's melodrama ''
Not as a Stranger'', also released in 1955, was a box-office hit. The film starred Mitchum against type, as an idealistic young doctor, who marries an older nurse (
Olivia de Havilland
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...
), only to question his morality many years later. However, the film was not well received, with most critics pointing out that Mitchum,
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...
, and
Lee Marvin were all too old for their characters. Olivia de Havilland received top billing over Mitchum and Sinatra.
On March 8, 1955, Mitchum formed DRM (Dorothy and Robert Mitchum) Productions to produce five films for
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...
; four films were produced.
[Roberts 2000, p. 208.] The first film was ''
Bandido'' (1956). Following a succession of average Westerns and the poorly received ''
Foreign Intrigue'' (1956), Mitchum starred in the first of three films with
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a British actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
During her international film career, Kerr won a ...
. The
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...
war drama ''
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison'', cast Mitchum as a Marine corporal shipwrecked on a Pacific Island with a nun, Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr), as his sole companion. In this character study they struggle with the elements, the
Japanese garrison, and their growing feelings for one-another. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. For his role, Mitchum was nominated for a
BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor. In the World War II submarine classic ''
The Enemy Below
''The Enemy Below'' is a 1957 DeLuxe Color war film in CinemaScope about a battle between an American destroyer escort and a German U-boat during World War II. Produced and directed by Dick Powell, the movie stars Robert Mitchum and Curt J� ...
'' (1956), Mitchum played the captain of a US Navy destroyer who matches wits with a wily German
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...
captain
Curt Jurgens
Kurt is a male given name of Germanic or Turkish origin. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor.
In Turkish, Kurt means "Wolf" and is ...
, both men would also appear in the 1962 World War II epic ''
The Longest Day''.
''
Thunder Road'' (1958), the second DRM Production, was loosely based on an incident in which a driver transporting moonshine was said to have fatally crashed on
Kingston Pike in
Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the stat ...
, somewhere between Bearden Hill and Morrell Road. According to ''
Metro Pulse'' writer Jack Renfro, the incident occurred in 1952 and may have been witnessed by
James Agee
James Rufus Agee ( ; November 27, 1909 – May 16, 1955) was an American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, writing for ''Time Magazine'', he was one of the most influential film critics in the United States. ...
, who passed the story on to Mitchum. He starred, produced, co-wrote the screenplay, and is rumored to have directed much of the film. It costars his son James, as his on-screen brother, in a role originally intended for Elvis Presley. Mitchum also co-wrote (with
Don Raye
Don Raye (born Donald MacRae Wilhoite Jr., March 16, 1909 – January 29, 1985) was an American songwriter, best known for his songs for The Andrews Sisters such as "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar", " The House of Blue Lights", "Just for a Th ...
) the theme song, "The Ballad of Thunder Road."
Mitchum returned to Mexico for ''
The Wonderful Country
''The Wonderful Country'' (aka ''The Wonderful Country, A Novel'') is a 1952 Western novel written by Tom Lea. The book is set in Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico, and Texas and New Mexico in the United States. It was filmed in 1959.
After the fi ...
'' (1959) with
Julie London, and Ireland for ''
A Terrible Beauty''/''The Night Fighters'' for the last of his DRM Productions.
Mitchum and Kerr reunited for the
Fred Zinnemann film ''
The Sundowners'' (1960), playing an Australia husband and wife struggling in the sheep industry during the
Depression. The film received five Oscar nominations, and Mitchum earned the year's
National Board of Review award for Best Actor for his performance. The award also recognized his performance in the Vincente Minnelli rural drama ''
Home from the Hill'' (also 1960). He was teamed with former leading ladies Kerr and Simmons, as well as
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of ...
, for the
Stanley Donen comedy ''
The Grass Is Greener
''The Grass Is Greener'' is a 1960 British romantic comedy film directed by Stanley Donen and starring Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, and Jean Simmons. The screenplay was adapted by Hugh Williams and Margaret Vyner from the The Gra ...
'' the same year.
Mitchum's performance as the menacing rapist
Max Cady in ''
Cape Fear'' (1962) brought him further renown for playing cold, predatory characters. The 1960s were marked by a number of lesser films. He was one of the all-star husbands of
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty, April 24, 1934) is an American actress, author, and former dancer. Known for her portrayals of quirky, strong-willed and eccentric women, MacLaine has received numerous accolades over her seven-dec ...
in the comedy ''
What a Way to Go!'' (1964), the drunken sheriff in the
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name."
A ...
Western ''
El Dorado
El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king ...
'' (1967), a quasi-remake of ''
Rio Bravo'' (1959),
and another WWII epic, ''
Anzio
Anzio (, also , ) is a town and '' comune'' on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome.
Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Isl ...
'' (1968). He co-starred with Dean Martin in the 1968 Western ''
5 Card Stud
''5 Card Stud'' is a 1968 American Western mystery film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum. The script is based on a novel by Ray Gaulden and was written by Marguerite Roberts, who also wrote the screenplay o ...
'', playing a homicidal preacher.
Later work
Mitchum made a departure from his typical screen persona with the 1970
David Lean
Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Widely considered one of the most important figures in British cinema, Lean directed the large-scale epics ''The Bridge on the River ...
film ''
Ryan's Daughter'', in which he starred as Charles Shaughnessy, a mild-mannered schoolmaster in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
–era Ireland. At the time of filming, Mitchum's recent films had been critical and commercial flops, and he was going through a personal crisis that had him considering suicide. Screenwriter
Robert Bolt told him that he could do so after the film was finished and that he would personally pay for his burial. Though the film was nominated for four Academy Awards (winning two) and Mitchum was much publicized as a contender for a
Best Actor
Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play.
The term most often refers to the ...
nomination, he was not nominated.
George C. Scott won the award for his powerful performance in ''
Patton
George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...
'', a project Mitchum had rejected as glorifying war.
The 1970s featured Mitchum in a number of well-received crime dramas. ''
The Friends of Eddie Coyle'' (1973) had the actor playing an aging
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
hoodlum caught between the
Feds and his criminal friends.
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack (July 1, 1934 – May 26, 2008) was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack directed more than 20 films and 10 television shows, acted in over 30 movies or shows and produced over 44 films. For his film '' Out ...
's ''
The Yakuza'' (1974) transplanted the typical story arc to the Japanese underworld. He also appeared in 1976's ''
Midway'' about a crucial 1942 World War II battle. Mitchum's stint as an aging
Philip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe () is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler, who was characteristic of the hardboiled crime fiction genre. The hardboiled crime fiction genre originated in the 1920s, notably in ''Black Mask'' magazine, in which Dashiel ...
in the
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...
adaptation ''
Farewell, My Lovely'' (1975) (a remake of 1944's ''
Murder My Sweet
''Murder, My Sweet'' (released as ''Farewell, My Lovely'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1944 American film noir, directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor and Anne Shirley (in her final film before retirement). The film ...
'') was sufficiently well received by audiences and critics for him to reprise the role in 1978's ''
The Big Sleep'', a remake of the
1946 film of the same title.
In 1982, Mitchum played Coach Delaney in the film adaptation of playwright/actor
Jason Miller's 1973
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...
-winning play ''
That Championship Season''.
At the premiere for ''That Championship Season'', Mitchum, while intoxicated, assaulted a female reporter and threw a basketball that he was holding (a prop from the film) at a female photographer from ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' magazine, injuring her neck and knocking out two of her teeth.
She sued him for $30 million for damages.
The suit eventually "cost him his salary from the film".
''That Championship Season'' may have indirectly led to another debacle for Mitchum several months later. In a February 1983 ''
Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'' interview, he made several racist, anti-Semitic and sexist statements, including, when asked if
the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...
occurred, responded "so the Jews say."
Following the widespread negative response, he apologized a month later, saying that his statements were "prankish" and "foreign to my principle". He claimed that the problem had begun when he recited a racist monologue from his role in ''That Championship Season,'' the writer believing the words to be his own. Mitchum, who claimed that he had only reluctantly agreed to the interview, then decided to "string... along" the writer with even more incendiary statements.
Mitchum expanded to television work with the 1983
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...
''
The Winds of War''. The big-budget
Herman Wouk
Herman Wouk ( ; May 27, 1915 – May 17, 2019) was an American author best known for historical fiction such as ''The Caine Mutiny'' (1951) for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction.
His other major works include ''The Winds of War'' and ...
story aired on
ABC, starring Mitchum as naval officer "Pug" Henry and
Victoria Tennant as Pamela Tudsbury, and examined the events leading up to
America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
's involvement in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. He returned to the role in 1988's ''
War and Remembrance'',
which continued the story through the end of the war.
In 1984, Mitchum entered the
Betty Ford Center
The Betty Ford Center (BFC) is a non-profit, residential treatment center for persons with substance dependence in Rancho Mirage, California. It offers inpatient, outpatient, and residential day treatment for alcohol and other drug addictions, as ...
in Palm Springs, California for treatment of alcoholism.
He played George Hazard's father-in-law in the 1985 miniseries ''
North and South North and South may refer to:
Literature
* ''North and South'' (Gaskell novel), an 1854 novel by Elizabeth Gaskell
* ''North and South'' (trilogy), a series of novels by John Jakes (1982–1987)
** ''North and South'' (Jakes novel), first novel ...
'', which also aired on ABC.
Mitchum starred opposite
Wilford Brimley in the 1986 made-for-TV movie ''Thompson's Run''. A hardened con (Mitchum), being transferred from a federal penitentiary to a Texas institution to finish a life sentence as a habitual criminal, is freed at gunpoint by his niece (played by
Kathleen York). The cop (Brimley) who was transferring him, and has been the con's lifelong friend and adversary for over 30 years, vows to catch the twosome.
In 1987, Mitchum was the guest host on ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...
'', where he played private eye Philip Marlowe for the last time in the parody sketch, "Death Be Not Deadly." The show ran a short comedy film he made (written and directed by his daughter, Trina) called ''Out of Gas'', a mock sequel to ''Out of the Past'' (
Jane Greer reprised her role from the original film). He also was in
Richard Donner's 1988 comedy ''
Scrooged
''Scrooged'' is a 1988 American Christmas fantasy comedy film directed by Richard Donner and written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue. Based on the 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol'' by Charles Dickens, ''Scrooged'' is a modern retellin ...
''.
In 1991, Mitchum was given a lifetime achievement award from the
National Board of Review of Motion Pictures; in the same year, he received the
Telegatto award and, in 1992, the
Cecil B. DeMille Award from the
Golden Globe Awards
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
.
Mitchum continued to appear in films until the mid-1990s, such as
Jim Jarmusch
James Robert Jarmusch (; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films including ''Stranger Than Paradise'' (1984), '' Down by Law'' (19 ...
's ''
Dead Man
''Dead Man'' is a 1995 American acid western film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, Gabriel Byrne, Mili Avital, ...
'', and he narrated the Western ''
Tombstone''. In contrast to his role as the antagonist in the original, he played the protagonist police detective in
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...
's remake of ''
Cape Fear'', but the actor gradually slowed his workload. His last film appearance was a small but pivotal role in the television biographical film, ''James Dean: Race with Destiny'', playing ''
Giant'' director
George Stevens. Mitchum's last starring role was in the 1995 Norwegian movie ''
Pakten''.
Music
One of the lesser-known aspects of Mitchum's career was his foray into music as a singer. Critic Greg Adams writes, "Unlike most celebrity vocalists, Robert Mitchum actually had musical talent." Mitchum's voice was often used instead of that of a professional singer when his character sang in his films. Notable productions featuring Mitchum's own singing voice included ''Rachel and the Stranger'', ''River of No Return'', and ''The Night of the Hunter''. After hearing traditional
calypso music
Calypso is a style of Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to the mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles and Venezuela by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to Wes ...
and meeting artists such as
Mighty Sparrow and
Lord Invader while filming ''Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison'' in the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...
islands of
Tobago
Tobago () is an island and ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trinidad and about off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. It also lies to the southeast of Grenada. The offic ...
, he recorded ''Calypso – is like so ...'' in March 1957. On the album, released through
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of not ...
, he emulated the calypso sound and style, even adopting the style's unique pronunciations and slang. A year later, he recorded a song he had written for ''Thunder Road'', titled "
The Ballad of Thunder Road
"The Ballad of Thunder Road" is a song performed and co-written by actor Robert Mitchum in 1958, with music by composer Jack Marshall. It was the theme song of the movie '' Thunder Road''. The song made the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 twice, in 1958 an ...
". The
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...
-style song became a modest hit for Mitchum, reaching number 69 on the
''Billboard'' Pop Singles chart. The song was included as a bonus track on a successful reissue of ''Calypso ...'' and helped market the film to a wider audience.
Although Mitchum continued to use his singing voice in his film work, he waited until 1967 to record his follow-up record, ''That Man, Robert Mitchum, Sings''. The album, released by
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...
-based
Monument Records, took him further into
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
, and featured songs similar to "The Ballad of Thunder Road". "Little Old Wine Drinker Me", the first single, was a top-10 hit at country radio, reaching number nine there, and crossed over onto mainstream radio, where it peaked at number 96. Its follow-up, "You Deserve Each Other", also charted on the
''Billboard'' Country Singles chart. He sang the title song to the Western ''
Young Billy Young
''Young Billy Young'' is a 1969 Western film in Deluxe Color starring Robert Mitchum and featuring Angie Dickinson, Robert Walker Jr. (in the titular role), David Carradine, Jack Kelly (who plays a villain dressed like his character in the te ...
'', made in 1969.
Albums
Singles
Personal life and death
Mitchum's sons,
James and
Christopher
Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or " Anointed", and φέρε� ...
, were actors, and his daughter, Petrine Day Mitchum, a writer. His grandchildren,
Bentley Mitchum
Bentley Mitchum (born February 22, 1967) is an American actor who has appeared in about 40 films and TV series, including Sundance grand jury prize winner ''Ruby in Paradise'', ''The Man in the Moon'', ''The Wonder Years'', ''Conviction'', '' Su ...
and Carrie Mitchum, are actors, as was his younger brother,
John, who died in 2001. Another grandson, Kian, is a successful model.
Mitchum was a
Republican who campaigned for
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for president ...
in the
1964 United States presidential election, and considered him to be the only honest politician. According to 2012 interview with his son Chris, conducted by
Breitbart News, Mitchum also supported
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
and
George H. W. Bush in 1992.
A lifelong heavy smoker, Mitchum died on July 1, 1997, five weeks before his 80th birthday, in
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning " Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West ...
, from complications of lung cancer and
emphysema
Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alv ...
.
His body was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea, though there is a plot marker in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Delaware. He was survived by his wife of 57 years, Dorothy Mitchum (May 2, 1919 – April 12, 2014,
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning " Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West ...
, aged 94).
Reception, acting style and legacy
Mitchum is regarded by some critics as one of the finest actors of the
Golden Age of Hollywood.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
called him "the soul of
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...
". Mitchum, however, was self-effacing; in an interview with
Barry Norman
Barry Leslie Norman (21 August 1933 – 30 June 2017) was a British film critic, television presenter and journalist. He presented the BBC's cinema review programme, '' Film...'', from 1972 to 1998.
Early life
Born at St Thomas’s Hospital ...
for the
BBC about his contribution to cinema, Mitchum stopped Norman in mid-flow and in his typical nonchalant style, said, "Look, I have two kinds of acting. One on a horse and one off a horse. That's it." He had also succeeded in annoying some of his fellow actors by voicing his puzzlement at those who viewed the profession as challenging and hard work. He is quoted as having said in the Norman interview that acting was actually very simple and that his job was to "show up on time, know his lines, hit his marks, and go home". Mitchum had a habit of marking most of his appearances in the script with the letters "n.a.r.", which meant "no action required", and also possessed a photographic memory that allowed him to remember lines with relative ease. He was also known for his profiency with accents. Dismissive of method acting, when asked by
George Peppard if he had studied it during filming of ''
Home from the Hill'', Mitchum jokingly responded that he had studied the Smirnoff method.
Mitchum's subtle and understated acting style often garnered him criticism of sleepwalking through his performances. The directors who worked with him however had nothing but praise for him.
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play with his future ...
, who directed him in ''The Night of the Hunter'', considered Mitchum to be one of the best actors in the world and believed that he would have been the greatest Macbeth.
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...
felt that Mitchum was on the same pedestal of actors like
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...
,
Richard Burton and
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage ...
.
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name."
A ...
praised Mitchum for being a hard worker, labeling the actor a "fraud" for pretending to not care about acting.
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
,
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the " Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "'' Do ...
,
Michael Madsen and
Mark Rylance
Sir David Mark Rylance Waters (born 18 January 1960) is a British actor, playwright and theatre director. He is known for his roles on stage and screen having received numerous awards including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Laurence ...
have cited Mitchum as one of their favorite actors.
His close friend and co-star on four movies,
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a British actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
During her international film career, Kerr won a ...
, commented on his acting abilities: "He makes acting seem like it's absolutely real. There's no acting to it at all. It's like falling off a log for him."
Jane Greer, his co-star in ''
Out of the Past'' and ''
The Big Steal'', said of him: "Bob would never be caught acting. He just is."
AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars lists Mitchum as the 23rd-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema. AFI also recognized his performances as the menacing rapist Max Cady and Reverend Harry Powell as the 28th and 29th greatest screen villains of all time as part of
AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains. He provided the voice of the famous
American Beef Council commercials that touted "Beef ... it's what's for dinner", from 1992 until his death.
A "Mitchum's Steakhouse" operated in
Trappe, Maryland,
"Mitchum's Steakhouse"
, mitchumsteakhouse.com; retrieved October 10, 2012. where Mitchum and his family lived from 1959 to 1965.
Documentaries
* 2017 : ''James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...
/Robert Mitchum: The Two Faces of America'' directed by Gregory Monro
*
Filmography
References
Citations
General sources
* Mitchum, John. ''Them Ornery Mitchum Boys: The Adventures of Robert and John Mitchum''. Pacifica, California: Creatures at Large, 1989. .
* Olson, James and Randy Roberts. ''John Wayne: American''. Lincoln, Nebraska: Bison Books, 1997. .
* O'Steen, Sam. ''Cut to the Chase: Forty-Five Years of Editing America's Favorite Movies''. Los Angeles: Michael Wiese Productions, 2002. .
* Roberts, Jerry. ''Mitchum: In His Own Words''. New York: Limelight Editions, 2000. .
* Server, Lee. ''Robert Mitchum: "Baby, I Don't Care"''. New York: St Martin's Press, 2001. .
* Sound, Owen. ''TCM Film Guide: Leading Men: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actors of the Studio Era''. San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books, 2006. .
* Tomkies, Mike. ''The Robert Mitchum Story: "It Sure Beats Working"''. New York: Ballantine Books, 1972. .
External links
*
*
Profile
at Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...
Photographs and literature
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchum, Robert
1917 births
1997 deaths
20th Century Studios contract players
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20th-century American memoirists
20th-century American male singers
20th-century American singers
American country singer-songwriters
American male composers
American male film actors
American male poets
American Methodists
American baritones
American people of English descent
American people of Irish descent
American people of Norwegian descent
American people of Scotch-Irish descent
American people of Scottish descent
California Republicans
Capitol Records artists
Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners
Civilian Conservation Corps people
Combat medics
Connecticut Republicans
Deaths from emphysema
Deaths from lung cancer in California
Haaren High School alumni
Male actors from Bridgeport, Connecticut
Male Western (genre) film actors
Military personnel from Bridgeport, Connecticut
Military personnel from Connecticut
Mitchum family
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Overturned convictions in the United States
People from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
RKO Pictures contract players
United States Army personnel of World War II
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