Robert Mitchum

Robert Mitchum
Mitchum in 1949
Born
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum

(1917-08-06)August 6, 1917
DiedJuly 1, 1997(1997-07-01) (aged 79)
Resting placeCremated; Ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean
Occupations
  • Actor
  • singer
Years active1937–1995
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Dorothy Spence
(m. 1940)
Children3, including James and Christopher Mitchum
Relatives
Signature

Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He is known for his antihero roles and film noir appearances. He received nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984 and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1992. Mitchum is rated number 23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male stars of classic American cinema.[1]

Mitchum rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for The Story of G.I. Joe (1945). His best-known films include Out of the Past (1947), Angel Face (1953), River of No Return (1954), The Night of the Hunter (1955), Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), Thunder Road (1958), The Sundowners (1960), Cape Fear (1962), El Dorado (1966), Ryan's Daughter (1970), The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), and Farewell, My Lovely (1975). 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).

Film critic Roger 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]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference afistars was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Ebert, Roger (July 13, 1997). "Darkness and Light". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  3. ^ Thomson 2014, p. 719.