He possessed the same special brand of rebel/misfit sensitivity andcharm that made superstars out ofJohn Garfield and (later)James Dean andMontgomery Clift. In the war-torn1940s, Robert Walker represented MGM's fresh, instinctive breed ofup-and-coming talent. His boyish good looks combined with an attractivevulnerability came across the screen with such beauty, power andnaturalness. He went quite far in his short life; however, the manytortured souls he played so brilliantly closely mirrored the actorhimself and the demons that haunted his own being wasted no time intaking him down a self-destructive path for which there was no return.

Walker was born Robert Hudson Walker in 1918 in SaltLake City, Utah, the youngest of four sons of Zella (McQuarrie) and Horace Hudson Walker, a news editor for the local paper. He was of English and Scottish descent. His maternal aunt, Hortense (McQuarrie) Odlum, was the first female president of Bonwit Teller. His parents separatedwhile he was quite young and the anxiety and depression built up overthis loss marred his early school years, which were marked by acts ofbelligerent aggression and temper tantrums, resulting in his beingexpelled from school several times. To control his behavioral problems,a positive activity was sought that could help him develop confidenceand on which he could focus his energies. It came in the form ofacting. Following a lead in a school play at the San Diego Army andNavy Academy at Carlsbad-by-the-Sea, California, Walker entered anacting contest at the Pasadena Playhouse and won a top performanceprize. A well-to-do aunt paid for his tuition at the American Academyof Dramatic Art (AADA) in 1938, and he was on his way.

Things started off quite promisingly. While there he met fellow studentPhyllis Isley who went on to playElizabeth Barrett Browning tohisRobert Browning in aproduction of "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" (Phyllis was laterrenamedJennifer Jones). Thecouple fell in love and both quit the academy in order to save moneyand marry, but they found little work other than some small parts at aGreenwich Village theater. They eventually found a radio job togetherin Tulsa, Oklahoma, and married on January 2, 1939, honeymooning inHollywood in order to secure more acting parts. Other than some radiojobs and bit parts in films, the move didn't pan out. The couplereturned to New York and started a family. SonsRobert Walker Jr. (born 1940) andMichael Walker (born 1941) wouldboth become actors in their own right. Following their births Jenniferreturned to auditioning and caught the eye of producerDavid O. Selznick, who took animmediate interest in her and signed her to a contract. Selznick wasalso instrumental in securing a contract for Robert over at MGM.Stardom would be theirs as a result of this Selznick association, butat quite a cost to Robert.

Robert gained immediate attention in his first important MGM role as ashy, ill-fated sailor inBataan (1943),but was miscast as a scientist in theGreer Garson biopicMadame Curie (1943). Hollywoodnotice would come in the form of his sweet, sad-sack title role in theservice comedySee Here, Private Hargrove (1944),the story of a cub reporter who is drafted into the army. The rolebrought out all the touching, fascinating qualities of Robert. In themeantime, Jennifer became so caught up in her obsessive relationshipwith mentor Selznick that she broke off with Robert. The actor wasdevastated and abruptly turned to heavy drinking. He would nevercompletely recover from this loss. The first of many skirmishes withthe law came about when he was arrested on a hit-and-run charge. Inanother self-destructive act, he agreed to appear with his estrangedwife in the Selznick filmSince You Went Away (1944).Although he suffered great anguish during the filming, the movie waspraised by critics. He played a young soldier who dies before the endof the last reel, and audiences identified with him in both histroubled on- and off-screen roles. Another vivid part that showed offWalker's star quality came opposite the equally troubledJudy Garland inThe Clock (1945), a simple romanticstory of two lost souls, a soldier and a girl, who accidentally meetwhile he is on furlough.

The tumultuous state of Walker's not-so-private life began to seriouslyaffect his screen career in the late 1940s. In the musicalTill the Clouds Roll By (1946)he played composerJerome Kern but waseclipsed by the musical numbers and flurry of special guests. He wasthird billed behindKatharine HepburnandPaul Henreid, who portrayed pianistClara Schumann and mentally unstablecomposerRobert Schumann, inSong of Love (1947). Robert playedfamed composer and friendJohannes Brahms. Following a lead partas a love-struck window dresser inOne Touch of Venus (1948),which focused more onAva Gardner's creativevision of loveliness, he impulsively marriedBarbara Ford, the daughter of fameddirectorJohn Ford. The marriage endedin divorce after just five months, following more erratic outbursts,including arrests for drunkenness. By this time Jennifer had marriedSelznick, and this pushed Robert over the brink. He was committed to asanatorium and not released until the middle of 1949.

After his recovery and release, he was back to work with top roles inthe comedyPlease Believe Me (1950)oppositeDeborah Kerr and the westernVengeance Valley (1951) starringBurt Lancaster. Robert happened to beloaned out to Warner Bros. when he was handed the most memorable filmrole of his career, that of the charming psychopath who attempts totrade murder favors withFarley GrangerinAlfred Hitchcock's classicthrillerMishiranu jôkyaku (1951).Hailed by the critics, Robert was mesmerizing in the part and part ofthe Hollywood elite once again. He had begun filming Paramount'sマイ・サン・ジョン／赤い疑惑 (1952), which includedHelen Hayes,Van Heflin andDean Jagger in the cast, when tragedyoccurred.

Robert had just finished principal photography and was making himselfavailable for re-shoots for directorLeo McCarey when, on the night of August 28,1951, his housekeeper found him in an extremely agitated state. Failingto calm him down, she panicked and called his psychiatrist, who, uponarrival, administered a dose of sodium amytal, a sedative, which Walkerhad taken in the past. Unfortunately, he had been drinking as well andsuffered an acute allergic reaction to the drug. Robert stoppedbreathing, and all efforts to resuscitate him failed. His death cutshort the career of a man destined to become one of the mostcharismatic actors in film. As for life imitating art, perhaps Robert'sagonies are what brought out the magnificence of his acting.