Film criticRoger Ebert called Mitchum his favorite movie star and the soul of film noir: "With his deep, laconic voice and his long face and those famous weary eyes, he was the kind of guy you'd picture in a saloon at closing time, waiting for someone to walk in through the door and break his heart."[2]David Thomson wrote: "Since the war, no American actor has made more first-class films, in so many different moods."[3]
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was born inBridgeport, Connecticut, on August 6, 1917, into aMethodist family ofScots-Irish, Native American, andNorwegian descent.[4][5][6] His father, James Thomas Mitchum, a shipyard and railroad worker, was of Scots-Irish and Native American descent,[4][6][7][note 1] and his mother, Ann Harriet Gunderson, was a Norwegian immigrant andsea captain's daughter.[6][7] His older sister, Annette (known asJulie Mitchum during her acting career),[10] was born in 1914.[11] James was crushed to death in a railyard accident inCharleston, South Carolina, in February 1919.[12] Ann was pregnant at the time, and was awarded a government pension. She returned toConnecticut after staying for some time in her husband's hometown ofLane, South Carolina. Her third child,John, was born in September 1919.[12][note 2]
When all of the children were old enough to attend school, Ann found employment as alinotype operator for theBridgeport Post.[14] She married Lieutenant Hugh "The Major" Cunningham Morris, a formerRoyal Naval Reserve officer. They had a daughter, Carol Morris, bornc. 1928 on the family farm inDelaware.[15]
As a child, Mitchum was known as a prankster, often involved in fistfights and mischief.[16][17] In 1926, his mother sent him and his younger brother to live with her parents on a farm nearWoodside, Delaware.[4][18] He attended Felton High School,[19] where he was expelled for mischief.[20] During his years at the Felton school, he ran away from home for the first time at age 11.[21][22]
In 1929, Mitchum and his younger brother were sent toPhiladelphia to live with their older sister, Julie,[23] who had started her career as a performer in vaudeville acts on theEast Coast.[24] The following year, he and the rest of the family moved to New York City with Julie, sharing an apartment inManhattan'sHell's Kitchen with her and her husband.[23][25] Mitchum attendedHaaren High School[26] but was eventually expelled.[27]
Mitchum left home at age 14[28] and traveled throughout the country,hopping freight cars[29] and taking a number of jobs, including ditch digging, fruit picking, and dishwashing.[16][30] In the summer of 1933, he was arrested for vagrancy inSavannah, Georgia and put in a localchain gang.[16][31][32][note 3] By Mitchum's account, he escaped and hitchhiked toRising Sun, Delaware, where his family had moved.[16][33] That fall, at age 16, while recovering from injuries that nearly cost him a leg, he met 14-year-old Dorothy Spence, whom he would later marry.[31][34][35]
Mitchum worked for theCivilian Conservation Corps for a few months, digging ditches and planting trees, before going back on the road in July 1934.[16][36] He headed forLong Beach, California, where his older sister had moved with her husband.[37][38] The rest of the family soon also arrived and moved in with Julie.[39] For the next three years, Mitchum continued traveling across the country and taking various jobs.[40] He participated in 27 professional boxing matches but retired from the ring after a fight that broke his nose and left a scar on his left eye.[41][42][note 4]
Robert and Dorothy Mitchum (1948)Mitchum with his sons (1946)
By 1937, Mitchum had settled inLong Beach, California.[43][44][45] His older sister,Julie, tried to return to show business and became a member of the Players Guild, a local theater group.[46] Often accompanying her home after her rehearsals, he took an interest in the group's productions and became acquainted with her colleagues.[43][47] With his mother's encouragement,[48] Mitchum joined the Players Guild and made his stage debut in August 1937.[49][50] He continued appearing in their productions[51][52] and also wrote two children's plays.[53][54] After Julie began working as a cabaret singer, he started writing lyrics for her and other performers.[55] In 1939, he wrote and composed an oratorio that was produced and directed byOrson Welles and performed at a benefit for Jewish refugees.[41][56]
In late 1939, Mitchum was hired by astrologerCarroll Righter as an assistant for an Eastern Seaboard tour.[57][58][59][note 5] He returned to Delaware to marry Dorothy Spence in 1940 during this trip and then moved back to California with her.[62][63] He quit his work as a writer for cabaret acts after a promised payment failed to materialize.[64] Intending to provide a steady income for his family after his wife became pregnant, Mitchum took a job as a sheet metal worker at theLockheed Aircraft Corporation duringWorld War II.[65][66] He acted part-time for a while, and his last stage appearance before his entrance into films was in 1941.[67][68][note 6] The noise of the machinery at Lockheed damaged his hearing.[69] Assigned to a graveyard shift, he suffered from chronic insomnia and went temporarily blind. Told by his doctors that his illness was caused by job-related anxieties, he left Lockheed.[16][70][71]
On May 25, 1944, Mitchum signed a seven-year contract with RKO at an initial salary of $350 per week, effective June 1.David O. Selznick'sVanguard Films bought a piece of the contract.[91] Mitchum's first film for RKO wasGirl Rush (1944), a comedy starringBrown and Carney.[92] He was groomed for B-Western stardom in two Zane Grey adaptations,Nevada (1944)[93] andWest of the Pecos (1945),[94] with the former marking his first time receiving star billing.[95] Both films did well at the box office[96] and received positive reviews from critics.[94]
Following the filming of the two Westerns, RKO lent Mitchum to independent producer Lester Cowan for a prominent supporting actor role inThe Story of G.I. Joe (1945), directed byWilliam A. Wellman.[97] He portrayed a war-weary officer based on CaptainHenry T. Waskow, who remains resolute despite the troubles he faces.[98] The film, which followed the life of an ordinary soldier through the eyes of journalistErnie Pyle, played byBurgess Meredith, became an instant critical and commercial success.[99][100] GeneralDwight D. Eisenhower called it the greatest war picture he had ever seen.[101] Before its release, Mitchum was drafted into theUnited States Army, serving atFort MacArthur, California, as a medic.[102]The Story of G.I. Joe was nominated for fourAcademy Awards,[103] including Mitchum's only nomination for an Academy Award, forBest Supporting Actor.[104] The film established Mitchum as a star,[99] and nearly three decades later,Andrew Sarris described his performance as "extraordinarily haunting" inThe Village Voice.[105]
Mitchum ultimately became best known for his work in film noir.[38] He was cast as the second lead in two noirs in 1946. On a loan-out to MGM, he costarred withKatharine Hepburn andRobert Taylor inVincente Minnelli'sUndercurrent, playing a troubled, sensitive man entangled in the affairs of his tycoon brother and his brother's suspicious wife.[108] At RKO, he appeared inJohn Brahm'sThe Locket, playing a bitter ex-boyfriend toLaraine Day'sfemme fatale.[109] The latter, noted for its use of multi-layered flashbacks, has become acult classic.[110]
Mitchum's career took a significant turn in 1947.[111] He was loaned toWarner Bros. forRaoul Walsh'sPursued, costarringTeresa Wright, playing a character who attempts to recall his past and find those responsible for killing his family. It was his first high-budget Western[112] and is generally considered the first noir Western in American cinema.[113][114][115] Edward Dmytryk'sCrossfire, costarringRobert Young andRobert Ryan, featured Mitchum as a member of a group of returned World War II soldiers embroiled in a murder investigation for an act committed by ananti-semite in their ranks.[116] With a modest budget,[117] the picture became RKO's most profitable film of 1947[116] and earned fiveAcademy Award nominations.[118]Desire Me, a loan-out to MGM, costarringGreer Garson, was Mitchum's least successful film of the year. A troubled production and box office disaster,[119][120] it is often cited as the first major Hollywood film released without a credited director.[121]
Following the success ofPursued andCrossfire, Mitchum was signed to a new seven-year contract with RKO and David O. Selznick,[122] which immediately increased his salary from $1,500 to $3,000 per week.[123] He rounded out 1947 withOut of the Past (also known asBuild My Gallows High),[124] landing his first starring role in a major RKO production.[125] Directed byJacques Tourneur, costarringJane Greer andKirk Douglas, and featuring the cinematography ofNicholas Musuraca, the picture cast Mitchum as a small-town gas-station owner and former private investigator whose unfinished business with a gambler and a femme fatale comes back to haunt him.[126] RKO leaders, who were initially unimpressed with the finished film, were surprised to see it become a moderate success at the box office.[125] Mitchum received generally favorable reviews for his performance, withThe New York Times'Bosley Crowther finding him "magnificently cheeky and self-assured."[126] The film's reception solidified his status as a leading man at his home studio.[125] Today,Out of the Past is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all film noirs,[127][128][129] featuring Mitchum in his signature role as the genre's fatalistic anti-hero.[130][131][132]
On September 1, 1948, during the rise of his career, Mitchum was arrested for possession ofmarijuana with actressLila Leeds.[133] While RKO could have cited the morals clause and canceled his contract, the studio chose to stand by him.[134] He served for 50 days, split between the Los Angeles County Jail and a Castaic, California, prison farm, and was released on March 30, 1949.[135]Life photographers were permitted to take photos of him mopping up in his prison uniform.[136] He later told reporters that jail was "like Palm Springs, but without the riff-raff."[130][137][note 7] 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.[139][140]
Despite Mitchum's legal troubles, his popularity was not harmed.[131][141] His upcoming film,Rachel and the Stranger, was rushed into release to take advantage of the publicity surrounding the arrest and became one of RKO's top grossers of 1948.[134][142] Costarring withLoretta Young andWilliam Holden, he played a mountain man competing for the hand of the indentured servant and wife of a recent widower.[142] That same year, he appeared inRobert Wise's noir WesternBlood on the Moon withBarbara Bel Geddes, playing a cowboy caught in a conflict between cattle owners and homesteaders.[143] His performance received rave reviews, with critics noting his screen image as a quiet yet menacing drifter and pointing out that his presence enhanced the film's quality.[144]
Mitchum starred in three films in 1949.The Red Pony, the film adaptation ofJohn Steinbeck'snovella, directed byLewis Milestone and costarringMyrna Loy, was his first color film. A loan-out toRepublic Pictures, it featured him as a trusted cowhand to a ranching family.[145] Back at RKO inThe Big Steal, an earlyDon Siegel film, he returned to film noir in a reunion with Jane Greer, playing an army lieutenant who chases a thief with the help of the thief's fiancée.[146] It was a box office success.[147] He was cast against type in the romantic comedyHoliday Affair oppositeJanet Leigh.[148] Although the film failed at the box office at the time,[147] it is now identified as a Christmas classic with annual showings on television.[148]
By the end of the 1940s, Mitchum had become RKO's biggest star.[141][149] Before the filming ofHoliday Affair, RKO studio headHoward Hughes bought Selznick's share of his contract for $400,000.[148][150]
Mitchum appeared in a string of film noirs in the early 1950s. InWhere Danger Lives (1950), he played a doctor who comes between a mentally unbalancedFaith Domergue and a cuckoldedClaude Rains. The film received mixed reviews from critics.[151] He andAva Gardner played star-crossed lovers inMy Forbidden Past (1951), a box office flop.[152] The script was so disappointing that he publicly complained about it during the making of the film.[153] The next three films he starred in were all troubled productions.His Kind of Woman (1951) starred Mitchum as a down-on-his-luck gambler lured to a Mexican resort by mobsters[154] and paired him for the first time withJane Russell, RKO's top female star at the time.[155]Richard Fleischer was brought on by Howard Hughes for extensive reshooting ofJohn Farrow's original cut.[156]The Racket (1951), a noir remake of the1928 silent crime drama of the same name, featured him as a police captain fighting corruption in his precinct.[157] Four other directors contributed to the project alongside the creditedJohn Cromwell.[158]Macao (1952) reunited him with Russell, casting him as a victim of mistaken identity at an exotic resort casino.[159] DirectorJosef von Sternberg was forced off the set by Hughes and replaced byNicholas Ray.[160] WhileThe Racket was one of RKO's most successful films of 1951,[161] bothHis Kind of Woman andMacao cost so much that they lost money.[162]
In 1953, Mitchum starred inOtto Preminger'sAngel Face,[note 8] the first of his three films withJean Simmons. He played an ambulance driver who allows a murderously insane heiress to fatally seduce him. The initial reviews were mixed,[169] but the film is now recognized as a noir classic.[170][171]Jean-Luc Godard named it as one of the best ten American sound pictures.[172] In a retrospective review in 2010,Richard Brody wrote inThe New Yorker that "the ever-cool Mitchum radiates heat without warmth."[170]
In exchange for Hayward's appearance inThe Lusty Men, Mitchum was loaned to20th Century Fox forWhite Witch Doctor (1953) opposite Hayward,[173] playing a hunter who falls in love with a nurse in Africa. Although directorHenry Hathaway was impressed by Mitchum's performance, the critics were not.[174] Back at RKO, Mitchum appeared in the studio's first3-D production,Second Chance (also 1953), playing a boxer whose girlfriend is trailed by a mobster in Mexico.[175] The film, directed byRudolph Maté and costarringLinda Darnell andJack Palance, was a box office success[176] and received fairly positive reviews.[177] However, Mitchum had not liked the script[177] and was increasingly dissatisfied with the projects assigned to him by RKO.[178]
In 1954, Mitchum reteamed with Simmons in the romantic comedyShe Couldn't Say No, his last film released by RKO.[179][note 9] It was often considered the studio's failed attempt to revive thescrewball genre.[182][183] That same year, he was loaned out for two films. At 20th Century Fox, he costarred withMarilyn Monroe in Preminger's WesternRiver of No Return,[184] which was a box office hit.[185] In William A. Wellman's psychological dramaTrack of the Cat forWayne/Fellows Productions,John Wayne's independent production company, he played the bullying brother of Teresa Wright andTab Hunter.[186][187] Mitchum recalled the film, which was shot in the deep snow atMount Rainier, as his toughest location shooting experience.[188] The film was not a success on release, which Wellman described in his autobiography as "a flop artistically, financially, and Wellmanly."[189] However, it is now recognized as a unique masterpiece by some critics, noted for its color-drained visual style, the story that evokesEugene O'Neill andCarl Theodor Dreyer, and Mitchum's menacing performance.[54][190][191]
Mitchum left RKO after his contract expired on August 15, 1954.[192][193]
As a freelancer, Mitchum appeared in three films in 1955. The first wasStanley Kramer's melodramaNot as a Stranger costarringOlivia de Havilland andFrank Sinatra, in which he starred as an idealistic young doctor who marries an older nurse only to question his morality many years later.[194] The picture was one of the ten highest-grossing films of the year,[195] but critical reactions were mixed, withLeslie Halliwell pointing out that all of the actors were too old for their characters.[194]
Mitchum's second film in 1955 wasThe Night of the Hunter,Charles Laughton's only film as a director. Based on a novel byDavis Grubb, the noir thriller starred Mitchum as a serial killer posing as a preacher to find money hidden by his cellmate in the man's home.[196] A commercial failure on release,[197] the film is now widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.[198][199][200] Mitchum's performance asPreacher Harry Powell is considered by many one of the best of his career,[196][197][201][202][203][204] and the image of him with the words "HATE" and "LOVE" tattooed on his knuckles has left an enduring impact on popular culture, frequently referenced in various media.[205] In a 1985 review for theChicago Reader,Dave Kehr described the Preacher as "the role that most fully exploits his [Mitchum's] ferocious sexuality."[206]Roger Ebert wrote in theChicago Sun-Times in 1996, "Nobody who has seenThe Night of the Hunter has forgotten it, or Mitchum's voice coiling down those basement stairs: 'Chillll... dren?'"[204]
Before accepting the lead in the WesternMan with the Gun, his final release of 1955,[207][208] Mitchum made headlines for having been fired from Blood Alley (1955) at the request of director William A. Wellman.[209] Reportedly, he had thrown the film's transportation manager into San Francisco Bay, a story he denied.[209][210][note 10] Producer John Wayne eventually took the role himself.[213]
On March 8, 1955, Mitchum formed DRM Productions, named after his and his wife's initials, and signed a five-film deal with United Artists; four ultimately were produced.[214][215] The first wasBandido, in which he played an American adventurer who sides with the rebels and is attracted to the wife of a gunrunner working for the army during theMexican Revolution.[216] A commercial success,[217] it was his second film released in 1956, following the poorly received color noirForeign Intrigue.[218]
Mitchum made two films back to back inTrinidad and Tobago that were released in 1957.John Huston's World War II dramaHeaven Knows, Mr. Allison cast him as a Marine corporal stranded on a Pacific Island with a nun, played byDeborah Kerr, as his sole companion, untilJapanese soldiers arrive and establish a base. In this character study, they struggle with the elements, the garrison, and their growing feelings for one another.[219] It was the first of his four films with Kerr, his favorite leading lady.[220] Their performances and chemistry were praised by critics, many of whom highlighted the tenderness he brought to his character.[219] The film was nominated for twoAcademy Awards, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.[221] For his role, Mitchum was nominated for aBAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor.[222] InRobert Parrish'sFire Down Below, he andJack Lemmon played two tramp boat owners in the Caribbean whose friendship is challenged when passengerRita Hayworth arrives on the scene. The film received mixed reviews[223] and failed at the box office.[224]
Mitchum appeared in one more film in 1957,Dick Powell's World War II submarine filmThe Enemy Below, in which he played the captain of a US Navy destroyer who matches wits with a wily GermanU-boat skipper, portrayed byCurt Jurgens.[225] The following year, he starred in his second DRM production,Thunder Road. The film was loosely based on an incident in which a driver transporting moonshine was said to have fatally crashed onKingston Pike inKnoxville, Tennessee, somewhere between Bearden Hill and Morrell Road. According toMetro Pulse writer Jack Renfro, the incident occurred in 1952 and may have been witnessed byJames Agee, who passed the story on to Mitchum.[226][additional citation(s) needed] He produced, co-wrote the screenplay for,[227] and is rumored to have directed much of the film,[226][228] which featured his sonJames playing his younger brother.[227][note 11] He also co-wrote the theme song, "The Ballad of Thunder Road," withDon Raye.[234][235][236] The film was frequently shown in drive-in and third-house theaters in the 1960s[227] and has since earned the reputation as the definitive road movie,[232][237] with a particularly significant following in the South.[238] According toGeoff Andrew in his review forTime Out,Thunder Road stands out for "a stunningly laconic performance from Mitchum, white-hot night-time road scenes, and an affectionate but unsentimental vision of backwoods America."[239]
Mitchum followedThunder Road with his second film directed by Dick Powell,The Hunters (1958), in which he played a flying ace who is smitten with the wife of a pilot under his command during the Korean War.[240] He was initially offered the role of ColonelDean Hess in another Korean War drama,Battle Hymn (1957), but the casting choice was vetoed by Hess himself, who cited Mitchum's marijuana scandal.[241] In 1959, Mitchum appeared inRobert Aldrich's thrillerThe Angry Hills as an American war correspondent entrusted with a list ofGreek resistance leaders during World War II,[242] before starring in his third DRM production,The Wonderful Country. OppositeJulie London, he portrayed an American expatriate gunslinger in Mexico who returns to the States for an arms deal and falls for the wife of an army major. Largely ignored by audiences and critics at the time, the film is now more highly regarded. Mitchum's performance is considered by some critics one of his best and most overlooked.[243]
Mitchum starred in four films in 1960. In Vincente Minnelli's melodramaHome from the Hill, oppositeEleanor Parker, he played the intimidating, philandering patriarch of a powerful Texan family. The film opened to positive reviews,[244] and modern critics have cited it as one of Minnelli's masterpieces and highly praised Mitchum's performance.[245][246] He and Kerr were reunited forFred Zinnemann'sThe Sundowners, playing an Australian husband and wife struggling in the sheep industry during the Depression.[247][note 12] The film was hailed for its freshness and warmth[247] and received fiveAcademy Awards nominations.[249] Mitchum's performance was universally acclaimed,[250] withVariety commenting that he "projects a great deal of feeling with what appears to be a minimum of effort."[247]The Night Fighters (also known asA Terrible Beauty), his last DRM production, cast him as anIRA member who becomes disillusioned with the organization during World War II.[251] He was teamed with former leading ladies Kerr and Simmons, as well as Cary Grant, forStanley Donen's romantic comedy The Grass Is Greener, playing an American millionaire who seduces a British countess.[252] WhileThe Night Fighters[251] andThe Grass Is Greener[253] were commercial and critical failures, Mitchum earned the year's National Board of Review award for Best Actor for his performances inHome from the Hill andThe Sundowners.[254]
After moving to a farm inTalbot County, Maryland, with his family in 1959, Mitchum developed a new passion for quarter horse breeding and, for the next several years, gradually became indifferent to selecting his films,[255] also losing interest in his work as a producer.[256] He renamed DRM Productions as Talbot Productions after his new home county.[257] He stated that it had since become only a "co-production" company and that he had never really produced any of his own films again.[258]
Mitchum turned down John Huston's WesternThe Misfits (1961), claiming that he did not like the script and had found Huston too demanding during their last collaboration,Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.[259] Instead, he starred asArch Hall Sr. inThe Last Time I Saw Archie (1961), a service comedy directed byJack Webb. While he received some positive reviews for his comedic performance,[260] the film went unnoticed at the box office.[261] He would often call it his favorite film, pointing out that he was paid $400,000 for just four weeks' work and had time off to go home for Christmas and New Year's.[262]
In 1962, Mitchum costarred withGregory Peck inCape Fear, playing an ex-convict seeking revenge on the attorney who testified against him. His performance brought him further renown for playing cold, predatory characters.[263] However, the film itself received mixed reviews, with some critics citing its lack of engaging storytelling;[263] it also failed at the box office.[264]Bosley Crowther ofThe New York Times stated that Mitchum delivered the "cheekiest, wickedest arrogance and the most relentless aura of sadism that he has ever managed to generate" while noting the disgust and regret provoked by the film itself.[265]Jonathan Rosenbaum commented in 2006 that the film's "only classic credentials are a terrifying performance by Robert Mitchum and aBernard Herrmann score."[266] Mitchum followedCape Fear withThe Longest Day, joining the international ensemble cast of the epic war film about theD-Day landings in Normandy. He portrayed GeneralNorman Cota, rallying demoralized troops and blasting a path fromOmaha Beach. The film opened to generally positive reviews,[267] was nominated for fiveAcademy Awards, winning two,[268] and went on to become the highest-grossing film in the domestic market among 1962 releases.[269] Mitchum's performance was highlighted by critics.[270]
Mitchum's next five films received mostly negative reviews. He was considered miscast as an indecisive lawyer in Robert Wise's romantic dramaTwo for the Seesaw (1962), oppositeShirley MacLaine.[271] Two years after turning downThe Misfits, he appeared in a cameo in Huston'sThe List of Adrian Messenger (1963), regarded as one of the director's weaker efforts.[272]Rampage (1963), an adventure film shot in Hawaii that he made for a family vacation, starred him oppositeElsa Martinelli andJack Hawkins as a big-game trapper vying for the affections of a hunter's girlfriend during an expedition to capture a tiger-leopard hybrid. It was viewed as either absurd or dull by critics.[273]Guy Hamilton's courtroom dramaMan in the Middle (1964) cast him as a defense attorney, with his performance perceived as lethargic.[274] He was reunited with MacLaine as one of her all-star husbands in the comedyWhat a Way to Go!. It was one of the ten highest-grossing films of the year,[275] but critics found it disjointed and overlong.[276]
In 1965, Mitchum starred inMister Moses, oppositeCarroll Baker, as a diamond smuggler in Africa who is mistaken for a modern-day Moses and trusted by a tribe to lead them to a promised land.[277] Mitchum, usually reluctant to participate in publicity events, undertook an extensive tour to promote the film at distributor United Artists' request,[278] stating that he believed it was "a pretty good picture."[279] The reviews were fairly positive, with critics noting his casual charm.[277]
Following the release ofMister Moses, Mitchum revealed in interviews that he might leave Maryland with his family.[279] While he enjoyed the privacy the farm provided, the challenging weather conditions and his wife's feelings of isolation eventually prompted their return to Los Angeles,[280][281] a move he recalled as the right decision given his film commitments.[282] During this time, he went on twoUSO tours to Vietnam.[283]
Mitchum returned to the Western genre with two releases in 1967. While the epicThe Way West with Kirk Douglas andRichard Widmark turned out to be a critical and commercial disappointment,[284][285]El Dorado with John Wayne was a major success.[286][287] The film, considered a quasi-remake of directorHoward Hawks'sRio Bravo (1959),[288] cast Mitchum as a drunken sheriff who, together with his gunslinger friend, helps a rancher fight a corrupt land baron.[289] At the time of filming, rumors about Mitchum's professional attitude, Wayne's health, and Hawks's age raised doubts about the film's prospects.[290] However, it became a box office hit domestically and internationally.[286]The Hollywood Reporter called it Hawks's best film sinceRio Bravo.[287]The New York Times'Howard Thompson described Mitchum's performance as "simply wonderful,"[291] and theLos Angeles Times'Kevin Thomas wrote, "Mitchum delivered one of the loveliest hangover sequences on record."[292]
Over the next two years, Mitchum appeared in six films that received mixed to poor reviews. The WesternVilla Rides (1968) cast him alongsideYul Brynner'sPancho Villa as a soldier of fortune, a portrayal that critics felt suffered from a weak script.[293] Edward Dmytryk's World War II epicAnzio (1968) starred him as a cynical war correspondent, with the directing and acting considered uninspired by many.[294] He turned downThe Wild Bunch (1969), stating that he did not want to work with directorSam Peckinpah.[295] Instead, he costarred with Dean Martin in Henry Hathaway's5 Card Stud (1968), again playing a homicidal preacher. The reviews of his performance were generally favorable, but the film was deemed formulaic.[296][297]Joseph Losey'sSecret Ceremony (1968), starringElizabeth Taylor andMia Farrow and featuring him in a guest appearance as an incestuous stepfather, polarized critics.[298] Mitchum rounded out the decade with two Westerns directed byBurt Kennedy.Young Billy Young (1969) withAngie Dickinson was coldly received,[299] whileThe Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969) withGeorge Kennedy was praised by some for its balance of drama and comedy.[300]
Mitchum made a departure from his typical screen persona with the 1970David Lean filmRyan's Daughter, in which he starred as Charles Shaughnessy, a mild-mannered schoolmaster inWorld War I–era Ireland.[301] At the time of filming, Mitchum was considering retiring from acting and was also concerned about the film's demanding schedule.[302][303] He initially turned down the script but eventually accepted the role after screenwriterRobert Bolt approached him again.[303][304][note 13] Though the film was nominated for four Academy Awards (winning two)[301] and Mitchum was much publicized as a contender for aBest Actor nomination, he was not nominated.[307][308]George C. Scott won the award for his performance inPatton,[308] a project Mitchum had rejected.[309] Mitchum said thatPatton andDirty Harry, another picture he turned down, were movies he would not do for any amount of money because he disagreed with the morality of the scripts.[310]
Mitchum starred in the 1983miniseriesThe Winds of War, based on aHerman Woukbook of the same title. The big-budget production aired onABC, starring Mitchum as naval officer "Pug" Henry andVictoria Tennant as Pamela Tudsbury, and examined the events leading up toAmerica's involvement inWorld War II. It was watched by 140 million people over seven days and became the most-watched miniseries up to that point.[317][318] He returned to the role in the 1988 sequel miniseriesWar and Remembrance,[38] which continued the story through the end of the war.[319]
In 1984, Mitchum entered theBetty Ford Center in Palm Springs, California, for treatment of alcoholism.[320]
He played George Hazard's father-in-law in the 1985 miniseriesNorth and South, which also aired on ABC.[321]
Mitchum starred oppositeWilford Brimley in the 1986 made-for-TV movieThompson's Run.[322]
In 1987, Mitchum was the guest host onSaturday Night Live, 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, Petrine) calledOut of Gas, a mock sequel toOut of the Past (Jane Greer reprised her role from the original film).[323][324] He also was inRichard Donner's 1988 comedyScrooged.[325]
Mitchum continued to appear in films until the mid-1990s, such asJim Jarmusch'sDead Man,[331] and he narrated the WesternTombstone.[332] Though he portrayed the antagonist in the original, he played the protagonist police detective inMartin Scorsese's remake ofCape Fear,[333] but the actor gradually slowed his workload. His last film appearance was a small but pivotal role in the television biographical filmJames Dean: Race with Destiny, playingGiant directorGeorge Stevens.[331] Mitchum's last starring role was in the 1995 Norwegian moviePakten.[38][334]
Album cover of Mitchum's calypso record,Calypso – is like so ...
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."[335]Frank Sinatra said of Mitchum, "For anyone who's not a professional musician, he knows more about music, from Bach to Brubeck, than any man I've ever known."[336]
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 byNashville-basedMonument Records, took him further into country music and featured songs similar to "The Ballad of Thunder Road".[342][343] "Little Old Wine Drinker Me", the first single, was a top-10 hit on country radio, reaching number nine there, and crossed over into mainstream radio, where it peaked at number 96.[344] Its follow-up, "You Deserve Each Other", also charted on theBillboard Country Singles chart.[344] Mitchum was nominated for anAcademy of Country Music Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist in 1968.[345]
In the fall of 1933, at the age of 16, Mitchum met his future wife, 14-year-old Dorothy Spence, at a swimming hole nearCamden, Delaware.[31][35][346] She was a schoolmate of his younger brother,John, whom she had briefly dated.[346][347][note 15] Mitchum immediately fell for her,[349] and the two had begun a serious relationship by the time he left for California in 1934.[350] Meanwhile, she continued attending school in Delaware and then went to college in Philadelphia.[347]
Mitchum married Dorothy on March 16, 1940, in the kitchen of a Methodist parson inDover, Delaware.[347][351] He brought her to Los Angeles to settle down,[352] where he took a job at theLockheed Aircraft Corporation before finding work as a film actor in June 1942.[353][354][note 16] The couple had three children: sons,James (born May 8, 1941-September 20, 2025)[67] andChristopher (born October 16, 1943),[86] both actors; and a daughter, Petrine (born March 3, 1952),[357][358] a writer.[35][63]
A lifelong heavy smoker, Mitchum died in his sleep at 5 a.m. on July 1, 1997, at his home inSanta Barbara, California, from complications of lung cancer andemphysema.[63][375][376] His wife of 57 years, Dorothy, was by his side.[376][377]
Mitchum's body was cremated and, on July 6, his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean off the coast near his home.[378][379] The private ceremony was attended by only his family members and his longtime friendJane Russell.[368][379] The cenotaph was placed in his memory in his wife's family plot at the Odd Fellows Cemetery inCamden, Delaware.[380] Mitchum's wife, Dorothy, died on April 23, 2014, at age 94.[35][347] In accordance with the couple's wishes, her ashes were also scattered at sea so that they could be symbolically reunited atEaster Island.[347][381]
At the 1982 premiere forThat Championship Season, an intoxicated Mitchum assaulted a female reporter and threw a basketball that he was holding (a prop from the film) at a female photographer fromTime magazine, causing a neck injury and knocking out two of her teeth.[382][383] She sued him for $30 million in damages.[383] The suit eventually "cost him his salary from the film".[382]
Mitchum's role inThat Championship Season may have indirectly contributed to another incident several months later. In a February 1983Esquire interview, he made statements that some construed as racist, antisemitic, and sexist. When asked ifthe Holocaust had occurred, Mitchum responded, "so the Jews say."[382][384] 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 purportedly racist monologue from his role inThat Championship Season and the reporter believed that the words were Mitchum's. He claimed that he had only reluctantly agreed to the interview and then proceeded to "string... along" the reporter with his statements.[384]
Mitchum is regarded by some critics as one of the finest actors of theGolden Age of Hollywood.David Thomson hailed Mitchum as one of the three "most important actors in film history" along withCary Grant andBarbara Stanwyck.[385] Appraising Mitchum's career, Thomson wrote: "Since the war, no American actor has made more first-class films, in so many different moods."[3]Roger Ebert wrote:
Robert Mitchum was my favorite movie star because he represented, for me, the impenetrable mystery of the movies. He knew the inside story. With his deep, laconic voice and his long face and those famous weary eyes, he was the kind of guy you'd picture in a saloon at closing time, waiting for someone to walk in through the door and break his heart.
Krog Street Tunnel mural of Mitchum in Atlanta, Georgia
Mitchum, however, was self-effacing; in an interview withBarry Norman for theBBC 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.[386][387][better source needed]He possessed a photographic memory that allowed him to remember lines with relative ease,[388][389][390][391] and was also known for his proficiency with accents.[336][392][393]
DirectorRobert Wise recalled that during the shooting ofBlood on the Moon, Mitchum would mark his script with the letters "NAR," which meant "no action required." He told Wise that he did not need a line and would give Wise a look instead.[394] Dismissive ofMethod acting, when asked byGeorge Peppard if he had studied it during filming ofHome from the Hill, Mitchum jokingly responded that he had studied the "Smirnoff method".[395]
This is not a tough job. You read a script. If you like the part and the money is O.K., you do it. Then you remember your lines. You show up on time. You do what the director tells you to do. When you finish, you rest and then go on to the next part. That's it.
Mitchum's subtle and understated acting style sometimes garnered him criticism of sleepwalking through his performances in the early stage of his career.[397] In his contemporary review ofOut of the Past,James Agee commented that Mitchum's "curious languor" in love scenes suggested "Bing Crosby supersaturated with barbiturates."[398][399] The review ofWhere Danger Lives in theMonthly Film Bulletin in 1951 said, "Robert Mitchum performs somnambulistically."[400] David Thomson noticed that Mitchum "began to attract respectable attention" around the late 1950s.[401] Writing for theVillage Voice in 1973,Andrew Sarris pointed out that Mitchum, with his stoic presence on the screen that was "mistaken for a stone face without feelings," had been "grossly maligned as an actor," while he was actually "reborn in every movie, recreated in every relationship."[105]
Mitchum had a solid reputation among the directors who worked with him.William A. Wellman thought Mitchum should have won theAcademy Award forThe Story of G.I. Joe and called him "one of the finest, most solid and real actors" in the world.[402]Raoul Walsh recalled that Mitchum had impressed him as being "one of the finest natural actors" he had ever met.[403] Charles Laughton, who directed him inThe Night of the Hunter, considered him to be one of the best actors in the world and believed that he would have been the greatest Macbeth.[336]John Huston felt that Mitchum was on the same pedestal of actors such asMarlon Brando,Richard Burton andLaurence Olivier.[404]Vincente Minnelli wrote that few actors he had worked with brought "so much of themselves to a picture," and none did it "with such total lack of affectation" as he did.[405]Howard Hawks praised Mitchum for being a hard worker, labeling the actor a "fraud" for pretending to not care about acting.[406][407]David Lean said of him: "He is a master of stillness. Other actors act. Mitchum is. He has true delicacy and expressiveness, but his forte is his indelible identity. Simply by being there, Mitchum can make almost any other actor look like a hole in the screen."[408]
Jane Greer, his co-star inOut of the Past andThe Big Steal, said of him: "Bob would never be caught acting. He just is."[409]
Mitchum provided the voice of the famousAmerican Beef Council commercials that touted "Beef ... it's what's for dinner", from 1992 until his death.[417][418]
A "Mitchum's Steakhouse" operated inTrappe, Maryland,[419] where Mitchum and his family lived from 1959 to 1965.[420]
On December 10, 2022, a historical marker commemorating Mitchum was unveiled in his father's hometown ofLane, South Carolina.[421]
^Mitchum talked about his chain gang experience in the 1962Saturday Evening Post interview: "I had hopped a freight train with about seventeen other kids and headed South. In my pocket I had thirty-eight dollars – all I had in the world. When we reached Savannah, I was cold and hungry. So I dropped off to get something to eat. The big fuzz grabbed me. 'For what?' I asked. He grinned. 'Vagrancy – we don't like Yankee bums around here.' When I told him I had thirty-eight dollars, he just called me a so-and-so wise guy and belted me with his club and ran me in."[16]
^Later, when asked by a casting office if he had considered having his nose surgically fixed, Mitchum replied, "It's already been fixed, by about four left hooks."[32]
^ Some sources report that Mitchum once worked as a ghostwriter for Righter.[16][60][61] However, in a 1991 interview, Mitchum denied such rumors, saying that he had never done any writing for Righter.[57]
^Mitchum's first child was born on the opening night of a local theater production he appeared in.[67][68]
^According to the AFI Catalog,Angel Face had previews in 1952 and was released in 1953.[168]
^The film was not the last film Mitchum made for RKO, but the last that was released.[179] It had been completed in 1952, right beforeAngel Face, but Hughes shelved it for a long time before releasing it in the United Kingdom in 1953 and in the United States in 1954.[180][181]
^ Crew membersAndrew V. McLaglen andSam O'Steen had provided various versions of the incident. McLaglen recalled that while Mitchum did have a conflict with the transportation manager, the press story that he threw him into the water was not true. Mitchum then made insulting remarks towards Wellman, andRobert Fellows, Wayne's production partner, "picked up on an opportunity" to cast Wayne instead.[211] O'Steen said that 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. He walked off the set on the third day of filming, claiming that he could not work with Wellman.[212]
^According to Mitchum[229] and his son James,[230]Elvis Presley was to have played the lead, but his manager,Colonel Tom Parker, wanted him to focus on musicals, and Mitchum went on to star himself. However, some other sources say it was the part of Mitchum's character's brother that Presley was considered for.[61][226][231][232] Presley's friendGeorge Klein recalled that Mitchum, who wrote the film's story, thought he and Presley could do the film together, and Presley was very excited about it. (Klein did not specify which role was intended for Presley.)[233]
^ Although entitled to top billing, Mitchum ceded it to Kerr at her request. He stated that he had accepted the role only because Kerr would be his costar.[248]
^When Bolt called again, Mitchum said that he could not take the film because he planned to commit suicide. Bolt told him that he could do so after the film was finished and that he would personally pay for his burial.[303][304][305] Mitchum later recalled the phone call, "I'd just finished a film and I needed time to sit around and lick my wounds.... When I asked him [Bolt] why he didn't get someone else, he said they'd been through all the actors and still wanted me."[306]
^Mitchum had been living in Santa Barbara, California since 1978[327] and the ceremony was to be held in New York. The award eventually went toLauren Bacall instead.[326]
^John later quipped, "I made the mistake of introducing her [Dorothy] to Brother Robert."[348]
^In the early years of their marriage, Dorothy worked as a secretary at an insurance company.[355] She quit her job shortly before the birth of their second child in 1943.[356]
Mitchum, John (1989).Them Ornery Mitchum Boys: The Adventures of Robert and John Mitchum. Pacifica, California: Creatures at Large.ISBN978-0-940064-07-2.
O'Steen, Sam; O'Steen, Bobbie (2001).Cut to the Chase: Forty-Five Years of Editing America's Favorite Movies. Los Angeles, California: Michael Wiese Productions.ISBN978-0-941188-37-1.
Wilson, Scott (2016).Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons (3rd ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina:McFarland & Company.ISBN978-0-7864-7992-4.
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