Robert Downey Sr.

Robert Downey Sr.
Downey in April 2016
Born
Robert John Elias Jr.

(1936-06-24)June 24, 1936
New York City, U.S.
DiedJuly 7, 2021(2021-07-07) (aged 85)
New York City, U.S.
Occupations
  • Director
  • writer
  • actor
Years active1953–2011
Spouses
  • Elsie Ann Ford
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1962; div. 1975)​
    [1]
  • Laura Ernst
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1991; died 1994)​
  • Rosemary Rogers
    ​
    (m. 1998)​
Children2, including Robert Jr.

Robert John Downey Sr. (né Elias Jr.; June 24, 1936 – July 7, 2021) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He was known for writing and directing his underground film Putney Swope (1969), a satire on the New York Madison Avenue advertising world. According to film scholar Wheeler Winston Dixon, Downey's films during the 1960s were "strictly take-no-prisoners affairs, with minimal budgets and outrageous satire, effectively pushing forward the countercultural agenda of the day."[2] He was the father of American actor Robert Downey Jr.

  1. ^ Finn, Natalie (September 26, 2014). "Robert Downey Jr.'s Mother Dies: Read His Moving, Candid Tribute to Elsie Ann Downey". E!. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  2. ^ Wheeler Winston Dixon, Rutgers University Press, July 11, 2007, Film Talk: Directors at Work, Retrieved November 10, 2014 (see page xi Introduction paragraph 3), ISBN 978-0-8135-4077-1