Robert Mitchum

Although he respected Robert De Niro's talent, Mitchum was not pleased with the young Method actor's habit of staying in character all day as studio chief Monroe Stahr during the shooting of The Last Tycoon (1976). Mitchum nicknamed De Niro "Kid Monroe" and made many jokes about him with older actors on the set such as Ray Milland and Dana Andrews.

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Mitchum was a great fan of Elvis Presley's early music and wanted Presley to appear alongside him in Thunder Road (1958). Unfortunately, Tom Parker's demands regarding Presley's salary could not be met on this independent production, which Mitchum financed.

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Mitchum reportedly turned down the lead role of General George S. Patton in Patton (1970) because he believed his indifference would ruin the film. In an interview with Robert Osborne for Turner Classic Movies, Mitchum said he knew the film could be great because of the script, but that the studio would want to focus on the battles and tanks rolling across the screen rather than on the character of Patton. Mitchum believed the film would be mediocre if he were in the role; what was needed was a passionate actor, such as George C. Scott, whom Mitchum suggested to the producers, who would fight to keep the focus on Patton.

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Mitchum was cremated by his wife Dorothy Mitchum and his neighbor Jane Russell, and his ashes were scattered at sea. At Mitchum's insistence, no memorial service was held.

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Mitchum was cast by Howard Hughes in Holiday Affair (1949) because Hughes thought Mitchum needed to soften his image after his marijuana conviction and prison sentence.

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While shooting El Dorado (1966), Mitchum was amused by co-star John Wayne's attempts to play his on-screen persona to the hilt in real life. He recalled that Wayne wore ten-inch lifts to increase his height and had the roof of his car raised so he could drive while wearing his Stetson.

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Mitchum met the girl who would become his wife when they were teenagers.

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Mitchum is regarded as one of the most underrated actors of the Golden Age.

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Mitchum had a photographic memory. He could glance at a page and memorize all his lines instantly, and as a result he rarely rehearsed.

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Mitchum ultimately turned down the role in The Defiant Ones (1958) that went to Tony Curtis. As one of the real-life veterans of a Southern chain gang, Mitchum did not believe the premise of a black man and a white man chained to each other and said such a thing would never happen in the South. Over the years this reason became so distorted that many people now believe Mitchum turned down the role because he did not want to be chained to a black man, which is completely untrue. Curtis repeated the false story in his autobiography, but later backed down after Mitchum's real reason was explained to him.

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Mitchum's arrest for marijuana possession in the late 1940s was one of the first times a major actor was imprisoned for that crime. According to Lee Server's 2001 biography "Robert Mitchum: Baby I Don't Care," he was still smoking marijuana in his old age.

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On 'Angel Face' Mitchum was told to slap Jean Simmons in the face and did so while holding himself back. Director Otto Preminger was not satisfied with the result and wanted him to do the same thing again without holding back. Mitchum turned and gave her a good slap across the face, asking whether that was hard enough.

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Mitchum initially wanted to be a writer.

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When Mitchum closed his office in 1981, he fired his secretary Reva Frederick. She later sued Mitchum, claiming he owed her a pension dating from 1961. There was no documentation to support the claim, and when evidence was discovered that she had stolen millions of dollars from Mitchum over the years, she dropped her lawsuit. Under the "deal" she agreed not to sue. During these events Miss Frederick suffered a stroke and never fully recovered.

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Katherine Hepburn once shouted at Mitchum: "You can't act! You know you can't act, and if you weren't handsome you'd never have taken a single photograph! I'm tired of working with people who have nothing to offer!" Mitchum's only response was to shrug.

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In 1959 the Mitchums left Hollywood and moved to a farm they bought on the Maryland shore of the Chesapeake Bay near the town of Trappe. In 1965 the family returned to Hollywood, largely at the urging of his wife Dorothy Mitchum, and moved into a modest ivy-covered mansion in Bel Air. Mitchum also bought a 76-acre farm near Los Angeles, mostly to house his growing collection of quarter horses.

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Mitchum once said that the murderous villain Reverend Harry Powell, whom he played in Night of the Hunter (1955), was his favorite role.

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The American Film Institute ranked Robert Mitchum as the 23rd greatest male screen legend on its list of the 50 Greatest Screen Legends.

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Mitchum was one of four actors—along with Jack Nicholson, Bette Davis and Faye Dunaway—to have two villains on the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains list: Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962) at No. 28 and Reverend Harry Powell in Night of the Hunter (1955) at No. 29.

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Concerned about the quality of his recent films, Mitchum seriously considered retiring from acting in 1968. After a year-long break spent mostly traveling across America, visiting old friends and staying in motels, he was persuaded to return to the screen in Ryan's Daughter (1970).

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After being drafted, Mitchum served briefly in the United States Army during World War II from April 12 to October 11, 1945, with service number 39 744 068. According to Lee Server's 2001 biography "Robert Mitchum: Baby I Don't Care," Mitchum said he worked in the induction section and inspected recruits' genitals for venereal disease (a "pecker checker"). An iconoclast who never wanted to join the army, he nevertheless served honorably and was discharged as a Private First Class, receiving the World War II Victory Medal.

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Despite numerous affairs during the marriage, Mitchum stayed with his wife Dorothy Mitchum for nearly 60 years.

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Robert DeNiro, the star of The Last Tycoon (1976), named Mitchum one of his favorite actors.

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Charles Laughton described Mitchum as one of the best actors in the world.

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In 1984 Mitchum underwent treatment for alcoholism at the Betty Ford Center.

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5 Card Stud (1968), a showdown between Hollywood's two gods of indifference, produced no spark on screen or off. Dean Martin kept watching television in his trailer after filming wrapped and delivered his lines as if he had memorized them phonetically. The only excitement came when a huge camera collapsed and nearly crushed Mitchum; the star simply stepped aside indifferently as thousands of dollars' worth of equipment shattered around him.

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In August 1987, while filming of War and Remembrance (1988) was on hiatus, Mitchum replaced his friend John Huston as the aging millionaire in Mr. North (1988) after the emphysema-stricken Huston was hospitalized with pneumonia. In October 1987 Mitchum replaced Edward Woodward, who was recovering from a heart attack, in a special two-part episode of The Equalizer (1985).

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Mitchum died one day before his The Big Sleep (1978) co-star James Stewart.

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Director Howard Hawks, famous for his own "indifference" toward acting, confronted Mitchum on the set of El Dorado and told him, "You pretend not to care, but you really work very hard." Mitchum replied, "Don't tell anybody."

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Mitchum long hated the tough-guy actors Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.

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Mitchum was a gifted storyteller and poet, and he was skilled at imitating other people's voices.

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Entertainment Weekly named Mitchum the 61st Greatest Movie Star of all time.

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Mitchum was reportedly fired from Blood Alley (1955) after an argument with a crew member whom he was drunk and allegedly threw into a nearby river; Mitchum always denied the accusation.

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Michael Madsen described Mitchum as his "role model" and the inspiration for his accepting acting as a profession.

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Mitchum's vocal support for the Vietnam War did not hurt his appeal among American youth, and a 1968 poll of young people named him the coolest celebrity. Mitchum said they must have missed his recent films.

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After two weeks of shooting on Tombstone (1993), the studio fired writer-director Kevin Jarre and hired George P. Cosmatos. With Kurt Russell's input, Cosmatos cut some scenes for the actors and replaced them with new action scenes, weakening a well-written screenplay. Some of the cuts involved the character of the old man Ike. Because Mitchum had already signed his contract, they had him dub the role instead.

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Many critics were not convinced that the 65-year-old Mitchum could win World War II in The Winds of War (1983). When the producers made the sequel War and Remembrance (1988), they worried that the 70-year-old Mitchum would be even less convincing and considered replacing him with James Coburn. In the end they decided they would lose more from Mitchum's formidable on-screen presence and charisma than they would gain from fewer wrinkles.

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Gene Hackman turned down the role of the drug-smuggling cop Popeye Doyle in The French Connection (1971) because he found the story offensive.

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During the filming of The Winds of War (1983), Mitchum's health was poor and talk of retirement came up once again. Despite suffering from serious pneumonia, he shot Maria's Lovers (1984).

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President Dwight D. Eisenhower would never allow any Mitchum film to be screened at the White House because of the actor's marijuana possession conviction.

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For his role as the Reverend Harry Powell in Night of the Hunter (1955), he ranked 71st on Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

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He was mentioned in Elton John's song "One More Arrow."

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In the 1950s he was chosen by Howard Hughes to appear in a series of films Hughes produced. Hughes regarded Mitchum as a "friend" but, as a paranoid recluse, barely met the actor. Mitchum was half-annoyed and half-amused by the "crazy old man" and clearly saw that the powerful on-screen actor was acting as Hughes's proxy in romancing young starlets.

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In "Big Mac," the third MASH episode of the season, Mitchum is said to be the actor who briefly appears at the end of the episode as Douglas MacArthur getting into a jeep. He salutes Klinger, who is wearing a Statue of Liberty costume. The role is not listed in the credits, and it was never confirmed whether it was Mitchum or another actor who closely resembled him.

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He turned down the lead in Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece The Wild Bunch (1969), which went to Peckinpah's old friend William Holden, and made 5 Card Stud (1968) instead. His excuse was that both were westerns.

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Although Hoppy Serves a Writ is generally considered his first film (even though The Human Comedy premiered before it), Mitchum's actual first feature was another Hopalong Cassidy film, Border Patrol, which was made earlier but released after Hoppy Serves a Writ.

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Beginning with his second screen role, he appeared alongside William Boyd in seven films in the Hopalong Cassidy series, all in 1943 and mostly in villainous roles.

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He was a close friend of Richard Egan and served as a pallbearer at his funeral in 1987.

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He replaced Burt Lancaster in Maria's Lovers (1984) after the older actor was forced to undergo emergency quadruple heart bypass surgery.

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He carefully maintained an air of indifference, always lazily insisting that he made films only to make love, make a little money and earn a living, and that he cared nothing for art. This was probably true of some of the films he chose for the money, but certain directors and films, including his work with Charles Laughton, John Huston and Howard Hawks, seemed to interest him secretly.

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According to Mitchum biographer John Belton, during the filming of Undercurrent (1946) Katharine Hepburn told Mitchum: "You know you can't act, and if you weren't handsome you'd never have gotten a photograph taken. I'm tired of playing with people who have nothing to offer."

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He was the father of James Mitchum, Christopher Mitchum and Trina Mitchum.

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Before he began acting, he worked as a nightclub bouncer, a ditch digger, a professional boxer and a film columnist.

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Robert's father, James Thomas Mitchum, was born in Lane, Williamsburg, South Carolina. James was of English descent. Robert's mother, Ann Harriet (Gunderson), was Norwegian, from Kristiania, Oslo, Norway. Robert is sometimes described as having Native American ancestry on his father's side. It is not clear whether these ancestors were ever verified or documented.

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At 60, Mitchum impressed England's legendary hellraiser Oliver Reed on the set of The Big Sleep (1978) by drinking a bottle of gin every 55 minutes.

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In 1989, at a ceremony in Beverly Hills, California, he was honored with the People's Choice Award for War and Remembrance (1988), presented backstage by Charlton Heston.

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He founded his own production company in order to make Thunder Road, which he wrote himself.

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He was known for being very supportive of young actors, offering advice that would help their careers.

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He was the grandfather of actors Bentley Mitchum (who went on to high school with Mike Johansen) and Price Mitchum, actress Carrie Mitchum and male model Kian Mitchum.

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At the age of 16 he was sentenced to a week in jail as part of a chain gang, but he escaped.

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He became good friends with the legendary animal trainer Ralph Helfer's famous African lion Zamba during the filming of Rampage (1963).

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On August 6, 2021, he was honored with a day of his filmography at Turner Classic Movies' Summer Under the Stars event.

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He always tried to give the impression that he did not take acting seriously; 'movies bore me, especially my own' was a typical line of his.

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As of November 2013, Mitchum remained the subject of a documentary by Bruce Weber that was shown at the Venice Film Festival in August 2013 and was still ongoing some 20 years later.

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He is named in the Velvet Underground song "New Age" (from the 1970 album "Loaded").

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He was pleased with the finished Ryan's Daughter, but when critics attacked it he said he would quit acting, though he continued.

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He appeared in four Oscar Best Picture nominees: The Human Comedy (1943) (without taking a leading role), Crossfire (1947), The Sundowners (1960) and The Longest Day (1962).

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On January 25, 1984, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6240 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

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He was persuaded by his manager Antonio Consentino, a fierce Republican, to campaign for George H. W. Bush in the 1992 presidential election. He also narrated the President's biographical film for the Republican National Convention and attended a fundraiser held at Bob Hope's home in Hollywood.

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In January 2024, he was honored as Star of the Month on Turner Classic Movies.

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He visited troops in Vietnam and took part in many missions with them.

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In 1992, he spoke at the Republican National Convention.

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He, Burt Lancaster and Rod Steiger were among those considered for a role in the film Patton.

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Mitchum refused to be interviewed for George Eells's biography of the actor.

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Robert Mitchum was the great-great-grandfather of Allexanne Mitchum, Cappy Van Dien and Grace Van Dien.

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Biography: "American National Biography." Supplement 1, pp. 414-416. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

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Robert Mitchum was the inspiration for the Kurt Busiek Astro City character "Steeljack."

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In Variety's Production Pulse section of 28 August 1985, it was announced that filming on "The Conspiracy" began on 26 August 1985 in Yugoslavia. The director was Michael Anderson, together with stars Christopher Walken, Robert Mitchum, Paul Scofield, Alice Krige and others. There is no evidence that the film was completed or released.

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On the 29 April 1971 episode of The Dick Cavett Show (1968), Robert Mitchum described an episode of temporary blindness. According to Mitchum, at the start of the Second World War he was working for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. He suffered from insomnia and went temporarily blind. Mitchum's doctor said there was nothing physically wrong with him. It was said that his blindness stemmed from his hatred of his job. Mitchum therefore left his job.

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Robert Mitchum was said to have been a candidate for the role of Samson in the film Samson and Delilah (1949).

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Robert Mitchum was the brother of John Mitchum and Julie Mitchum.

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In August 2024, the same month as his birth, Robert Mitchum was honored as Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month.

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Around the time the counterculture movement emerged, Mitchum had developed hawkish views on the Vietnam War and was accused of making racist and antisemitic statements to the press.

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Robert Mitchum was the great-great-grandfather of Wyatt Mitchum.

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