Robert Mitchum

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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.<ref name="afistars"/>

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."<ref name = "ebert">Template:Cite web</ref> David Thomson wrote: "Since the war, no American actor has made more first-class films, in so many different moods."Template:Sfn

Early life

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Mitchum in 1946

Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on August 6, 1917, into a Methodist family of Scots-Irish, Native American, and Norwegian descent.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref name="LAT2001">Template:Cite news</ref> His father, James Thomas Mitchum, a shipyard and railroad worker, was of Scots-Irish and Native American descent,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref name="LAT2001"/>Template:Refn and his mother, Ann Harriet Gunderson, was a Norwegian immigrant and sea captain's daughter.Template:Sfn<ref name="LAT2001"/> His older sister, Annette (known as Julie Mitchum during her acting career),Template:Sfn was born in 1914.Template:Sfn James was crushed to death in a railyard accident in Charleston, South Carolina, in February 1919.Template:Sfn Ann was pregnant at the time, and was awarded a government pension. She returned to Connecticut after staying for some time in her husband's hometown of Lane, South Carolina. Her third child, John, was born in September 1919.Template:Sfn Template:Refn

When all of the children were old enough to attend school, Ann found employment as a linotype operator for the Bridgeport Post.Template:Sfn She married Lieutenant Hugh "The Major" Cunningham Morris, a former Royal Naval Reserve officer. They had a daughter, Carol Morris, born Template:Circa on the family farm in Delaware.Template:Sfn

As a child, Mitchum was known as a prankster, often involved in fistfights and mischief.<ref name="SatEvePost"/>Template:Sfn In 1926, his mother sent him and his younger brother to live with her parents on a farm near Woodside, Delaware.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He attended Felton High School,Template:Sfn where he was expelled for mischief.Template:Sfn During his years at the Felton school, he ran away from home for the first time at age 11.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

In 1929, Mitchum and his younger brother were sent to Philadelphia to live with their older sister, Julie,Template:Sfn who had started her career as a performer in vaudeville acts on the East Coast.Template:Sfn The following year, he and the rest of the family moved to New York with Julie, sharing an apartment in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen with her and her husband.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Mitchum attended Haaren High School Template:Sfn but was eventually expelled.Template:Sfn

Mitchum left home at age 14Template:Sfn and traveled throughout the country, hopping freight cars Template:Sfn and taking a number of jobs, including ditch digging, fruit picking, and dishwashing.<ref name="SatEvePost"/>Template:Sfn In the summer of 1933, he was arrested for vagrancy in Savannah, Georgia and put in a local chain gang.<ref name="SatEvePost">Template:Cite magazine</ref>Template:Sfn<ref name="LAT1994">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Refn By Mitchum's account, he escaped and hitchhiked to Rising Sun, Delaware, where his family had moved.<ref name="SatEvePost"/>Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref name="variety"/>

Mitchum worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps for a few months, digging ditches and planting trees, before going back on the road in July 1934.Template:Sfn<ref name="SatEvePost"/> He headed for Long Beach, California, where his older sister had moved with her husband.Template:Sfn<ref name="Biography">Template:Cite web</ref> The rest of the family soon also arrived and moved in with Julie.Template:Sfn For the next three years, Mitchum continued traveling across the country and taking various jobs.Template:Sfn 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.<ref name="time1968">Template:Cite magazine</ref>Template:Sfn Template:Refn

Acting career

Getting established

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Robert and Dorothy Mitchum (1948)

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Mitchum with his sons (1946)

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Dorothy and Robert Mitchum (1955)

By 1937, Mitchum had settled in Long Beach, California.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His older sister, Julie, tried to return to show business and became a member of the Players Guild, a local theater group.Template:Sfn Often accompanying her home after her rehearsals, he took an interest in the group's productions and became acquainted with her colleagues.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn With his mother's encouragement,Template:Sfn Mitchum joined the Players Guild and made his stage debut in August 1937.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He continued appearing in their productionsTemplate:Sfn Template:Sfn and also wrote two children's plays.Template:Sfn<ref name="parkinson2016">Template:Cite web</ref> After Julie began working as a cabaret singer, he started writing lyrics for her and other performers.Template:Sfn In 1939, he wrote and composed an oratorio that was presented at a Jewish-refugee-benefit show, produced and directed by Orson Welles.<ref name="time1968"/>Template:Sfn

In late 1939, Mitchum was hired by astrologer Carroll Righter as an assistant for an Eastern Seaboard tour.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn He returned to Delaware to marry Dorothy Spence in 1940 during this trip and then moved back to California with her.Template:Sfn<ref name="ap"/> He quit his work as a writer for cabaret acts after a promised payment failed to materialize.Template:Sfn Intending to provide a steady income for his family after his wife became pregnant, Mitchum took a job as a sheet metal worker at the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation during World War II.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He acted part-time for a while, and his last stage appearance before his entrance into films was in 1941.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn The noise of the machinery at Lockheed damaged his hearing.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.Template:Sfn<ref name="SatEvePost"/><ref name="thomas1993">Template:Cite news</ref>

Mitchum then sought work as a film actor.Template:Sfn An agent he knew from his work in theater got him an interview with Harry Sherman, the producer of United Artists' Hopalong Cassidy Western film series, which starred William Boyd.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In June 1942, Mitchum began his film career with a part as a minor villain in Border Patrol, the first of seven Hopalong Cassidy films he made that were released in 1943.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn That year, he appeared in a total of 19 films.Template:Sfn His first non-Western was Follow the Band, a musical at Universal,Template:Sfn and he went uncredited as a soldier in The Human Comedy, a major MGM picture starring Mickey Rooney.Template:Sfn Other films in which he played supporting parts included a Laurel and Hardy comedy, The Dancing Masters,Template:Sfn and two war films starring Randolph Scott, Corvette K-225Template:Sfn and Gung Ho!.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Harry Cohn offered him a studio contract after viewing his performance in Columbia's musical Doughboys in Ireland. Mitchum, however, declined the offer.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Mitchum's first important role was in When Strangers Marry, a thriller directed by William Castle and released by Monogram in 1944.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Opposite Dean Jagger and Kim Hunter, he played a salesman who helps his former girlfriend solve a murder mystery. Mitchum received positive reviews for his performance, and in retrospect, the film is considered a fine example of B movies.Template:Sfn That same year, he was cast in a small role in the war film Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, starring Van Johnson and Robert Walker and featuring Spencer Tracy in a guest performance.Template:Sfn Director Mervyn LeRoy was impressed by Mitchum's talent and recommended him to RKO.Template:Sfn

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's Vanguard Films bought a piece of the contract.Template:Sfn Mitchum's first film for RKO was Girl Rush (1944), a comedy starring Brown and Carney.Template:Sfn He was groomed for B-Western stardom in two Zane Grey adaptations, Nevada (1944)Template:Sfn and West of the Pecos (1945),Template:Sfn with the former marking his first time receiving star billing.Template:Sfn Both films did well at the box officeTemplate:Sfn and received positive reviews from critics.Template:Sfn

Following the filming of the two Westerns, RKO lent Mitchum to independent producer Lester Cowan for a prominent supporting actor role in The Story of G.I. Joe (1945), directed by William A. Wellman.Template:Sfn He portrayed a war-weary officer based on Captain Henry T. Waskow, who remains resolute despite the troubles he faces.<ref>Template:AFI film</ref> The film, which followed the life of an ordinary soldier through the eyes of journalist Ernie Pyle, played by Burgess Meredith, became an instant critical and commercial success.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> General Dwight D. Eisenhower called it the greatest war picture he had ever seen.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Before its release, Mitchum was drafted into the United States Army, serving at Fort MacArthur, California, as a medic.Template:Sfn The Story of G.I. Joe was nominated for four Academy Awards,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> including Mitchum's only nomination for an Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actor.<ref name="champlin1997">Template:Cite news</ref> The film established Mitchum as a star,Template:Sfn and nearly three decades later, Andrew Sarris described his performance as "extraordinarily haunting" in The Village Voice.<ref name="sarris">Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1946, Mitchum appeared in Till the End of Time, Edward Dmytryk's box office hit about returning Marine veterans, with Dorothy McGuire and Guy Madison,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn before migrating to a genre that came to define his career and screen persona: film noir.<ref name="Biography"/>

Film noir

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Mitchum in his film noir days

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With Jane Greer in Out of the Past (1947)

Mitchum ultimately became best known for his work in film noir.<ref name="Biography"/> He was cast as the second lead in two noirs in 1946. On a loan-out to MGM, he costarred with Katharine Hepburn and Robert Taylor in Vincente Minnelli's Undercurrent, playing a troubled, sensitive man entangled in the affairs of his tycoon brother and his brother's suspicious wife.Template:Sfn At RKO, he appeared in John Brahm's The Locket, playing a bitter ex-boyfriend to Laraine Day's femme fatale.Template:Sfn The latter, noted for its use of multi-layered flashbacks, has become a cult classic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mitchum's career took a significant turn in 1947.Template:Sfn He was loaned to Warner Bros. for Raoul Walsh's Pursued, costarring Teresa Wright, playing a character who attempts to recall his past and find those responsible for killing his family. It was his first high-budget WesternTemplate:Sfn and is generally considered the first noir Western in American cinema.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Edward Dmytryk's Crossfire, costarring Robert Young and Robert 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 an anti-semite in their ranks.Template:Sfn With a modest budget,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the picture became RKO's most profitable film of 1947Template:Sfn and earned five Academy Award nominations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Desire Me, a loan-out to MGM, costarring Greer Garson, was Mitchum's least successful film of the year. A troubled production and box office disaster,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> it is often cited as the first major Hollywood film released without a credited director.<ref>Template:AFI film</ref>

Following the success of Pursued and Crossfire, Mitchum was signed to a new seven-year contract with RKO and David O. Selznick,Template:Sfn which immediately increased his salary from $1,500 to $3,000 per week.Template:Sfn He rounded out 1947 with Out of the Past (also known as Build My Gallows High),<ref>Template:AFI film</ref> landing his first starring role in a major RKO production.Template:Sfn Directed by Jacques Tourneur, costarring Jane Greer and Kirk Douglas, and featuring the cinematography of Nicholas 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.Template:Sfn RKO leaders, who were initially unimpressed with the finished film, were surprised to see it become a moderate success at the box office.Template:Sfn Mitchum received generally favorable reviews for his performance, with The New York TimesTemplate:' Bosley Crowther finding him "magnificently cheeky and self-assured."Template:Sfn The film's reception solidified his status as a leading man at his home studio.Template:Sfn Today, Out of the Past is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all film noirs,<ref name="ebertootp">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="phipps">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="tcmootp">Template:Cite web</ref> featuring Mitchum in his signature role as the genre's fatalistic anti-hero.<ref name="schickel1997">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="ross2016"/><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

On September 1, 1948, during the rise of his career, Mitchum was arrested for possession of marijuana with actress Lila Leeds.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> While RKO could have cited the morals clause and canceled his contract, the studio chose to stand by him.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn Life photographers were permitted to take photos of him mopping up in his prison uniform.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> He later told reporters that jail was "like Palm Springs, but without the riff-raff."Template:Sfn<ref name="schickel1997"/>Template:Refn 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn

Despite Mitchum's legal troubles, his popularity was not harmed.Template:Sfn<ref name="ross2016">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.Template:Sfn<ref name="afirachel">Template:AFI film</ref> Costarring with Loretta Young and William Holden, he played a mountain man competing for the hand of the indentured servant and wife of a recent widower.<ref name="afirachel"/> That same year, he appeared in Robert Wise's noir Western Blood on the Moon with Barbara Bel Geddes, playing a cowboy caught in a conflict between cattle owners and homesteaders.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template:Sfn

Mitchum starred in three films in 1949. The Red Pony, the film adaptation of John Steinbeck's novella, directed by Lewis Milestone and costarring Myrna Loy, was his first color film. A loan-out to Republic Pictures, it featured him as a trusted cowhand to a ranching family.Template:Sfn Back at RKO in The Big Steal, an early Don 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.Template:Sfn It was a box office success.Template:Sfn He was cast against type in the romantic comedy Holiday Affair opposite Janet Leigh.<ref name="hatcm"/> Although the film failed at the box office at the time,Template:Sfn it is now identified as a Christmas classic with annual showings on television.<ref name="hatcm">Template:Cite web</ref>

By the end of the 1940s, Mitchum had become RKO's biggest star.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Before the filming of Holiday Affair, RKO studio head Howard Hughes bought Selznick's share of his contract for $400,000.Template:Sfn<ref name="hatcm"/>

Mainstream stardom in the 1950s and 1960s

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Mitchum with Jane Russell in His Kind of Woman (1951)

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Mitchum with his wife Dorothy (1955)

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Mitchum with Deborah Kerr in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

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Mitchum in The Sundowners (1960)

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Mitchum as Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962)

Mitchum appeared in a string of film noirs in the early 1950s. In Where Danger Lives (1950), he played a doctor who comes between a mentally unbalanced Faith Domergue and a cuckolded Claude Rains. The film received mixed reviews from critics.Template:Sfn He and Ava Gardner played star-crossed lovers in My Forbidden Past (1951), a box office flop.Template:Sfn The script was so disappointing that he publicly complained about it during the making of the film.Template:Sfn 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<ref>Template:AFI film</ref> and paired him for the first time with Jane Russell, RKO's top female star at the time.Template:Sfn Richard Fleischer was brought on by Howard Hughes for extensive reshooting of John Farrow's original cut.Template:Sfn The Racket (1951), a noir remake of the 1928 silent crime drama of the same name, featured him as a police captain fighting corruption in his precinct.Template:Sfn Four other directors contributed to the project alongside the credited John Cromwell.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> Macao (1952) reunited him with Russell, casting him as a victim of mistaken identity at an exotic resort casino.Template:Sfn Director Josef von Sternberg was forced off the set by Hughes and replaced by Nicholas Ray.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> While The Racket was one of RKO's most successful films of 1951,Template:Sfn both His Kind of Woman and Macao cost so much that they lost money.Template:Sfn

Following the Korean War drama One Minute to Zero (1952) with Ann Blyth,<ref>Template:AFI film</ref> which was one of RKO's biggest pictures of the year,Template:Sfn Mitchum returned to the Western genre. He starred as a veteran rodeo champion in The Lusty Men (also 1952), directed by Nicholas Ray and costarring Susan Hayward and Arthur Kennedy.Template:Sfn His performance was lauded by critics, with Variety and The Hollywood Reporter calling it his best to date.Template:Sfn Manny Farber wrote in The Nation, "Mitchum is the most convincing cowboy I've seen in horse opry, meeting every situation with the lonely, distant calm of a master cliché-dodger."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1953, Mitchum starred in Otto Preminger's Angel Face,Template:Refn the first of his three films with Jean Simmons. He played an ambulance driver who allows a murderously insane heiress to fatally seduce him. The initial reviews were mixed,Template:Sfn but the film is now recognized as a noir classic.<ref name="brody2010"/>Template:Sfn Jean-Luc Godard named it as one of the best ten American sound pictures.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a retrospective review in 2010, Richard Brody wrote in The New Yorker that "the ever-cool Mitchum radiates heat without warmth."<ref name="brody2010">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In exchange for Hayward's appearance in The Lusty Men, Mitchum was loaned to 20th Century Fox for White Witch Doctor (1953) opposite Hayward,Template:Sfn playing a hunter who falls in love with a nurse in Africa. Although director Henry Hathaway was impressed by Mitchum's performance, the critics were not.Template:Sfn Back at RKO, Mitchum appeared in the studio's first 3-D production, Second Chance (also 1953), playing a boxer whose girlfriend is trailed by a mobster in Mexico.Template:Sfn The film, directed by Rudolph Maté and costarring Linda Darnell and Jack Palance, was a box office success<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and received fairly positive reviews.Template:Sfn However, Mitchum had not liked the scriptTemplate:Sfn and was increasingly dissatisfied with the projects assigned to him by RKO.Template:Sfn

In 1954, Mitchum reteamed with Simmons in the romantic comedy She Couldn't Say No, his last film released by RKO.<ref name="afiscsn">Template:AFI film</ref>Template:Refn It was often considered the studio's failed attempt to revive the screwball genre.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That same year, he was loaned out for two films. At 20th Century Fox, he costarred with Marilyn Monroe in Preminger's Western River of No Return,Template:Sfn which was a box office hit.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In William A. Wellman's psychological drama Track of the Cat for Wayne/Fellows Productions, John Wayne's independent production company, he played the bullying brother of Teresa Wright and Tab Hunter.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Mitchum recalled the film, which was shot in the deep snow at Mount Rainier, as his toughest location shooting experience.Template:Sfn The film was not a success on release, which Wellman described in his autobiography as "a flop artistically, financially, and Wellmanly."Template:Sfn However, it is now recognized as a unique masterpiece by some critics, noted for its color-drained visual style, the story that evokes Eugene O'Neill and Carl Theodor Dreyer, and Mitchum's menacing performance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="parkinson2016"/>

Mitchum left RKO after his contract expired on August 15, 1954.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

As a freelancer, Mitchum appeared in three films in 1955. The first was Stanley Kramer's melodrama Not as a Stranger costarring Olivia de Havilland and Frank Sinatra, in which he starred as an idealistic young doctor who marries an older nurse only to question his morality many years later.Template:Sfn The picture was one of the ten highest-grossing films of the year,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but critical reactions were mixed, with Leslie Halliwell pointing out that all of the actors were too old for their characters.Template:Sfn

Mitchum's second film in 1955 was The Night of the Hunter, Charles Laughton's only film as a director. Based on a novel by Davis 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.Template:Sfn A commercial failure on release,<ref name="malcolm1999"/> the film is now widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mitchum's performance as Preacher Harry Powell is considered by many one of the best of his career,Template:Sfn<ref name="bfinoh">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="malcolm1999">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ebert1996">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template:Sfn In a 1985 review for the Chicago Reader, Dave Kehr described the Preacher as "the role that most fully exploits his [Mitchum's] ferocious sexuality."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times in 1996, "Nobody who has seen The Night of the Hunter has forgotten it, or Mitchum's voice coiling down those basement stairs: 'ChillllTemplate:Nbsp... dren?'"<ref name="ebert1996"/>

Before accepting the lead in the Western Man with the Gun, his final release of 1955,<ref>Template:AFI film</ref>Template:Sfn Mitchum made headlines for having been fired from Blood Alley (1955) at the request of director William A. Wellman.Template:Sfn Reportedly, he had thrown the film's transportation manager into San Francisco Bay, a story he denied.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn Producer John Wayne eventually took the role himself.Template:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The first was Bandido, 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 the Mexican Revolution.Template:Sfn A commercial success,Template:Sfn it was his second film released in 1956, following the poorly received color noir Foreign Intrigue.Template:Sfn

Mitchum made two films back to back in Trinidad and Tobago that were released in 1957. John Huston's World War II drama Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison cast him as a Marine corporal stranded on a Pacific Island with a nun, played by Deborah Kerr, as his sole companion, until Japanese soldiers arrive and establish a base. In this character study, they struggle with the elements, the garrison, and their growing feelings for one another.Template:Sfn It was the first of his four films with Kerr, his favorite leading lady.Template:Sfn Their performances and chemistry were praised by critics, many of whom highlighted the tenderness he brought to his character.Template:Sfn The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For his role, Mitchum was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor.<ref name="bafta">Template:Cite web</ref> In Robert Parrish's Fire Down Below, he and Jack Lemmon played two tramp boat owners in the Caribbean whose friendship is challenged when passenger Rita Hayworth arrives on the scene. The film received mixed reviewsTemplate:Sfn and failed at the box office.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Mitchum appeared in one more film in 1957, Dick Powell's World War II submarine film The Enemy Below, in which he played the captain of a US Navy destroyer who matches wits with a wily German U-boat skipper, portrayed by Curt Jurgens.Template:Sfn 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 on Kingston Pike in Knoxville, Tennessee, somewhere between Bearden Hill and Morrell Road. According to Metro Pulse writer Jack Renfro, the incident occurred in 1952 and may have been witnessed by James Agee, who passed the story on to Mitchum.Template:Sfn Template:Additional citation needed He produced, co-wrote the screenplay for,Template:Sfn and is rumored to have directed much of the film,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn which featured his son James playing his younger brother.Template:Sfn Template:Refn He also co-wrote the theme song, "The Ballad of Thunder Road," with Don Raye.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The film was frequently shown in drive-in and third-house theaters in the 1960sTemplate:Sfn and has since earned the reputation as the definitive road movie,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="tcmtr"/> with a particularly significant following in the South.Template:Sfn According to Geoff Andrew in his review for Time 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."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Mitchum followed Thunder 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.<ref>Template:AFI film</ref> He was initially offered the role of Colonel Dean Hess in another Korean War drama, Battle Hymn (1957), but the casting choice was vetoed by Hess himself, who cited Mitchum's marijuana scandal.Template:Sfn In 1959, Mitchum appeared in Robert Aldrich's thriller The Angry Hills as an American war correspondent entrusted with a list of Greek resistance leaders during World War II,<ref>Template:AFI film</ref> before starring in his third DRM production, The Wonderful Country. Opposite Julie 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mitchum starred in four films in 1960. In Vincente Minnelli's melodrama Home from the Hill, opposite Eleanor Parker, he played the intimidating, philandering patriarch of a powerful Texan family. The film opened to positive reviews,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and modern critics have cited it as one of Minnelli's masterpieces and highly praised Mitchum's performance.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He and Kerr were reunited for Fred Zinnemann's The Sundowners, playing an Australian husband and wife struggling in the sheep industry during the Depression.Template:Sfn Template:Refn The film was hailed for its freshness and warmthTemplate:Sfn and received five Academy Awards nominations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mitchum's performance was universally acclaimed,Template:Sfn with Variety commenting that he "projects a great deal of feeling with what appears to be a minimum of effort."Template:Sfn The Night Fighters (also known as A Terrible Beauty), his last DRM production, cast him as an IRA member who becomes disillusioned with the organization during World War II.<ref name="tcmnf">Template:Cite web</ref> He was teamed with former leading ladies Kerr and Simmons, as well as Cary Grant, for Stanley Donen's romantic comedy The Grass Is Greener, playing an American millionaire who seduces a British countess.Template:Sfn While The Night Fighters<ref name="tcmnf"/> and The Grass Is GreenerTemplate:Sfn were commercial and critical failures, Mitchum earned the year's National Board of Review award for Best Actor for his performances in Home from the Hill and The Sundowners.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

After moving to a farm in Talbot 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,Template:Sfn also losing interest in his work as a producer.Template:Sfn He renamed DRM Productions as Talbot Productions after his new home county.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn

Mitchum turned down John Huston's Western The Misfits (1961), claiming that he did not like the script and had found Huston too demanding during their last collaboration, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.Template:Sfn Instead, he starred as Arch Hall Sr. in The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961), a service comedy directed by Jack Webb. While he received some positive reviews for his comedic performance,Template:Sfn the film went unnoticed at the box office.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.Template:Sfn

In 1962, Mitchum costarred with Gregory Peck in Cape 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.Template:Sfn However, the film itself received mixed reviews, with some critics citing its lack of engaging storytelling;Template:Sfn it also failed at the box office.Template:Sfn Bosley Crowther of The 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jonathan Rosenbaum commented in 2006 that the film's "only classic credentials are a terrifying performance by Robert Mitchum and a Bernard Herrmann score."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mitchum followed Cape Fear with The Longest Day, joining the international ensemble cast of the epic war film about the D-Day landings in Normandy. He portrayed General Norman Cota, rallying demoralized troops and blasting a path from Omaha Beach. The film opened to generally positive reviews,<ref>Template:AFI film</ref> was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and went on to become the highest-grossing film in the domestic market among 1962 releases.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Mitchum's performance was highlighted by critics.Template:Sfn

Mitchum's next five films received mostly negative reviews. He was considered miscast as an indecisive lawyer in Robert Wise's romantic drama Two for the Seesaw (1962), opposite Shirley MacLaine.Template:Sfn Two years after turning down The Misfits, he appeared in a cameo in Huston's The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), regarded as one of the director's weaker efforts.Template:Sfn Rampage (1963), an adventure film shot in Hawaii that he made for a family vacation, starred him opposite Elsa Martinelli and Jack 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.Template:Sfn Guy Hamilton's courtroom drama Man in the Middle (1964) cast him as a defense attorney, with his performance perceived as lethargic.Template:Sfn He was reunited with MacLaine as one of her all-star husbands in the comedy What a Way to Go!. It was one of the ten highest-grossing films of the year,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but critics found it disjointed and overlong.Template:Sfn

In 1965, Mitchum starred in Mister Moses, opposite Carroll 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.Template:Sfn Mitchum, usually reluctant to participate in publicity events, undertook an extensive tour to promote the film at distributor United Artists' request,Template:Sfn stating that he believed it was "a pretty good picture."Template:Sfn The reviews were fairly positive, with critics noting his casual charm.Template:Sfn

Following the release of Mister Moses, Mitchum revealed in interviews that he might leave Maryland with his family.Template:Sfn 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,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn a move he recalled as the right decision given his film commitments.Template:Sfn During this time, he went on two USO tours to Vietnam.Template:Sfn

Mitchum returned to the Western genre with two releases in 1967. While the epic The Way West with Kirk Douglas and Richard Widmark turned out to be a critical and commercial disappointment,<ref>Template:AFI film</ref>Template:Sfn El Dorado with John Wayne was a major success.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The film, considered a quasi-remake of director Howard Hawks's Rio Bravo (1959),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> cast Mitchum as a drunken sheriff who, together with his gunslinger friend, helps a rancher fight a corrupt land baron.<ref>Template:AFI film</ref> 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.Template:Sfn However, it became a box office hit domestically and internationally.Template:Sfn The Hollywood Reporter called it Hawks's best film since Rio Bravo.Template:Sfn The New York TimesTemplate:' Howard Thompson described Mitchum's performance as "simply wonderful,"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the Los Angeles TimesTemplate:' Kevin Thomas wrote, "Mitchum delivered one of the loveliest hangover sequences on record."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Over the next two years, Mitchum appeared in six films that received mixed to poor reviews. The Western Villa Rides (1968) cast him alongside Yul Brynner's Pancho Villa as a soldier of fortune, a portrayal that critics felt suffered from a weak script.Template:Sfn Edward Dmytryk's World War II epic Anzio (1968) starred him as a cynical war correspondent, with the directing and acting considered uninspired by many.Template:Sfn He turned down The Wild Bunch (1969), stating that he did not want to work with director Sam Peckinpah.Template:Sfn Instead, he costarred with Dean Martin in Henry Hathaway's 5 Card Stud (1968), again playing a homicidal preacher. The reviews of his performance were generally favorable, but the film was deemed formulaic.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Joseph Losey's Secret Ceremony (1968), starring Elizabeth Taylor and Mia Farrow and featuring him in a guest appearance as an incestuous stepfather, polarized critics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mitchum rounded out the decade with two Westerns directed by Burt Kennedy. Young Billy Young (1969) with Angie Dickinson was coldly received,Template:Sfn while The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969) with George Kennedy was praised by some for its balance of drama and comedy.Template:Sfn

1970s

File:Robert Mitchum 1976 (cropped).jpg

Mitchum in October 1976

Mitchum made a departure from his typical screen persona with the 1970 David Lean film Ryan's Daughter, in which he starred as Charles Shaughnessy, a mild-mannered schoolmaster in World War I–era Ireland.Template:Sfn At the time of filming, Mitchum was considering retiring from acting and was also concerned about the film's demanding schedule.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He initially turned down the script but eventually accepted the role after screenwriter Robert Bolt approached him again.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Refn Though the film was nominated for four Academy Awards (winning two)Template:Sfn and Mitchum was much publicized as a contender for a Best Actor nomination, he was not nominated.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn George C. Scott won the award for his powerful performance in Patton,Template:Sfn a project Mitchum had rejected.Template:Sfn Mitchum said that Patton and Dirty 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.Template:Sfn

The 1970s featured Mitchum mainly in crime dramas, to mixed result. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) had the actor playing an aging Boston hoodlum caught between the Feds and his criminal friends.Template:Sfn Sydney Pollack's The Yakuza (1974) transplanted the typical film noir story arc to the Japanese underworld.Template:Sfn Mitchum's stint as an aging Philip Marlowe in the Raymond Chandler adaptation Farewell, My Lovely (1975) (a remake of 1944's Murder, My Sweet) was sufficiently well received by audiences and criticsTemplate:Sfn for him to reprise the role in 1978's The Big Sleep, a remake of the 1946 film of the same title.Template:Sfn

Mitchum also appeared in 1976's Midway about the crucial World War II naval battle.Template:Sfn

Later work

In 1982, Mitchum played Coach Delaney in the film adaptation of playwright/actor Jason Miller's 1973 Pulitzer Prize-winning play That Championship Season.Template:Sfn

Mitchum starred in the 1983 miniseries The Winds of War, based on a Herman Wouk book of the same title. The big-budget production aired on ABC, starring Mitchum as naval officer "Pug" Henry and Victoria Tennant as Pamela Tudsbury, and examined the events leading up to America's involvement in World War II. It was watched by 140 million people over seven days and became the most-watched miniseries up to that point.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn He returned to the role in the 1988 sequel miniseries War and Remembrance,<ref name="Biography"/> which continued the story through the end of the war.Template:Sfn

In 1984, Mitchum entered the Betty Ford Center in Palm Springs, California, for treatment of alcoholism.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

He played George Hazard's father-in-law in the 1985 miniseries North and South, which also aired on ABC.Template:Sfn

File:Robert Mitchum Cannes.jpg

Mitchum at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival

Mitchum starred opposite Wilford Brimley in the 1986 made-for-TV movie Thompson's Run.Template:Sfn

In 1987, Mitchum was the guest host on Saturday 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) called Out of Gas, a mock sequel to Out of the Past (Jane Greer reprised her role from the original film).Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He also was in Richard Donner's 1988 comedy Scrooged.Template:Sfn

In 1991, Mitchum was set to receive a lifetime achievement award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. He rejected it, however, after learning that he would have to pay for his own transport and accommodations and accept it in person.Template:Sfn Template:Refn That same year, he received the Telegatto awardTemplate:Sfn and, in 1992 the Cecil B. DeMille Award from the Golden Globe Awards.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="goldenglobes">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Biography"/>

Mitchum continued to appear in films until the mid-1990s, such as Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man,Template:Sfn and he narrated the Western Tombstone.Template:Sfn Though he portrayed the antagonist in the original, he played the protagonist police detective in Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear,Template:Sfn but the actor gradually slowed his workload. His last film appearance was a small but pivotal role in the television biographical film James Dean: Race with Destiny, playing Giant director George Stevens.Template:Sfn Mitchum's last starring role was in the 1995 Norwegian movie Pakten.Template:Sfn<ref name="Biography"/>

Music

File:MitchumCalypso.jpg

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."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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."<ref name="lawrenson"/>

Mitchum's voice was often used instead of that of a professional singer when his character sang in his films. Notable productions featuring Mitchum's own singing voice included Pursued, Rachel and the Stranger, One Minute to Zero, The Night of the Hunter, The Sundowners, and Maria's Lovers.Template:Sfn He sang the title song to Young Billy Young and River of No Return.Template:Sfn

Mitchum recorded two albums. After hearing traditional calypso music and meeting artists such as Mighty Sparrow and Lord Melody while filming Fire Down Below and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison in the Caribbean islands of Tobago, he recorded Calypso – is like so ....Template:Sfn On the album, released through Capitol Records in March 1957,Template:Sfn he emulated the calypso sound and style, even adopting the style's unique pronunciations and slang.<ref name="cilsam"/> A year later, he recorded "The Ballad of Thunder Road", a song he had written for the film Thunder Road.Template:Sfn The country-style song became a modest hit for Mitchum, reaching number 62 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in September 1958.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The song was included as a bonus track on a successful reissue of Calypso ...<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="cilsam">Template:Cite web</ref>

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 by Nashville-based Monument Records, took him further into country music and featured songs similar to "The Ballad of Thunder Road".Template:Sfn Template:Sfn "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.Template:Sfn Its follow-up, "You Deserve Each Other", also charted on the Billboard Country Singles chart.Template:Sfn Mitchum was nominated for an Academy of Country Music Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist in 1968.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Albums

Year	Album	U.S. Country	Label
1957	Calypso—is like so ...	—	Capitol
1967	That Man Robert Mitchum ... Sings	35Template:Citation needed	Monument

Singles

Year	Single	Chart positions		Album
Year	Single	U.S. Country	U.S.	Album
1958	"The Ballad of Thunder Road"	—	62Template:Sfn	That Man Robert Mitchum ... Sings
1962	"The Ballad of Thunder Road" (re-release)	—	65Template:Sfn
1967	"Little Old Wine Drinker Me"	9Template:Sfn	96Template:Sfn
1967	"You Deserve Each Other"	55Template:Sfn	—

Personal life

Marriage and family

In the fall of 1933, at the age of 16, Mitchum met his future wife, 14-year-old Dorothy Spence, at a swimming hole near Camden, Delaware.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref name="variety"/> She was a schoolmate of his younger brother, John, whom she had briefly dated.Template:Sfn<ref name="sbi2014"/>Template:Refn Mitchum immediately fell for her,Template:Sfn and the two had begun a serious relationship by the time he left for California in 1934.Template:Sfn Meanwhile, she continued attending school in Delaware and then went to college in Philadelphia.<ref name="sbi2014"/>

Mitchum married Dorothy on March 16, 1940, in the kitchen of a Methodist parson in Dover, Delaware.Template:Sfn<ref name="sbi2014"/> He brought her to Los Angeles to settle down,Template:Sfn where he took a job at the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation before finding work as a film actor in June 1942.Template:Sfn<ref name="variety1997">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Refn The couple had three children: sons, James (born May 8, 1941)Template:Sfn and Christopher (born October 16, 1943),Template:Sfn both actors; and a daughter, Petrine (born March 3, 1952),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn a writer.<ref name="ap">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="variety"/>

Despite his reported affairs with other women, including author Edna O'Brien<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and actresses Lucille Ball,Template:Sfn Ava Gardner,Template:Sfn Jean Simmons,Template:Sfn Shirley MacLaine,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Sarah Miles,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mitchum and wife Dorothy remained together until his death in 1997.<ref name="ap"/><ref name="variety"/> He told journalist Don Short in a 1977 interview: "Not as though there has been anyone else in my life except Dorothy. There's not one of 'em—and I've met the best of 'em—worth lighting a candle for alongside her."Template:Sfn

Mitchum's grandson Bentley Mitchum is an actor.Template:Sfn His great-granddaughter Grace Van Dien is an actress.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Friendships

Mitchum's close friends included Jane Russell, his neighbor in Santa Barbara, California;Template:Sfn and Deborah Kerr, his favorite co-star.Template:Sfn

Political views

Mitchum was a Republican who campaigned for Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election.<ref>Knap, Ted (Scripps Howard). "Goldwater Leading in Citizen Groups; More—And More Varied—Than LBJ's". The Pittsburgh Press. October 22, 1964. p. 17. Retrieved December 14, 2022.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mitchum supported Ronald Reagan in 1980 Template:Sfn and George H. W. Bush in 1992, narrating a promotional film for the latter that played at the Republican National Convention.Template:Sfn

Religion

Although he was born into a Methodist family and later married by a Methodist parson, Mitchum was non-religious.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Death

A lifelong heavy smoker, Mitchum died in his sleep at 5 a.m. on July 1, 1997, at his home in Santa Barbara, California, from complications of lung cancer and emphysema.<ref name="ap"/><ref name="NYTObit">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn His wife of 57 years, Dorothy, was by his side.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mitchum's body was cremated and, on July 6, his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean off the coast near his home.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn The private ceremony was attended by only his family members and his longtime friend Jane Russell.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The cenotaph was placed in his memory in his wife's family plot at the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Camden, Delaware.Template:Sfn Mitchum's wife, Dorothy, died on April 23, 2014, at age 94.<ref name="variety">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="sbi2014">Template:Cite web</ref> In accordance with the couple's wishes, her ashes were also scattered at sea so that they could be symbolically reunited at Easter Island.<ref name="sbi2014"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Controversies

At the 1982 premiere for That 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 from Time magazine, causing a neck injury and knocking out two of her teeth.<ref name="swaggering life">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="being sued">Template:Cite web</ref> She sued him for $30 million in damages.<ref name="being sued" /> The suit eventually "cost him his salary from the film".<ref name="swaggering life" />

Mitchum's role in That Championship Season may have indirectly contributed to another incident several months later. In a February 1983 Esquire interview, he made statements that some construed as racist, antisemitic, and sexist. When asked if the Holocaust had occurred, Mitchum responded, "so the Jews say."<ref name="swaggering life" /><ref name="says he is sorry">Template:Cite web</ref> 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 in That 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.<ref name="says he is sorry" />

Reception, acting style, and legacy

Mitchum is regarded by some critics as one of the finest actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood. David Thomson hailed Mitchum as one of the three "most important actors in film history" along with Cary Grant and Barbara Stanwyck.Template:Sfn Appraising Mitchum's career, Thomson wrote: "Since the war, no American actor has made more first-class films, in so many different moods."Template:Sfn 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.
Mitchum was the soul of film noir.<ref name = "ebert"/>

File:Estoria Street Tunnel graffiti 13.jpg

Krog Street Tunnel mural of Mitchum in Atlanta, Georgia

Mitchum, however, was self-effacing; in an interview with Barry Norman for the BBC 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.<ref>": Mad, bad and dangerous to know." Template:Webarchive Byronic. Retrieved: October 10, 2012.</ref><ref>"Pin-up: Robert Mitchum." Template:Webarchive lucyterberg.co, October 22, 2011. Retrieved: October 10, 2012.</ref>Template:Better source needed He possessed a photographic memory that allowed him to remember lines with relative ease,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn and was also known for his proficiency with accents.<ref name="lawrenson"/>Template:Sfn<ref name="ebert2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Director Robert Wise recalled that during the shooting of Blood 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Dismissive of Method acting, when asked by George Peppard if he had studied it during filming of Home from the Hill, Mitchum jokingly responded that he had studied the "Smirnoff method".Template:Sfn

Template:Quote box

Mitchum's subtle and understated acting style sometimes garnered him criticism of sleepwalking through his performances in the early stage of his career.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In his contemporary review of Out of the Past, James Agee commented that Mitchum's "curious languor" in love scenes suggested "Bing Crosby supersaturated with barbiturates."<ref name="tcmootp2">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The review of Where Danger Lives in the Monthly Film Bulletin in 1951 said, "Robert Mitchum performs somnambulistically."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> David Thomson noticed that Mitchum "began to attract respectable attention" around the late 1950s.Template:Sfn Writing for the Village 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."<ref name="sarris"/>

Mitchum had a solid reputation among the directors who worked with him. William A. Wellman thought Mitchum should have won the Academy Award for The Story of G.I. Joe and called him "one of the finest, most solid and real actors" in the world.Template:Sfn Raoul Walsh recalled that Mitchum had impressed him as being "one of the finest natural actors" he had ever met.Template:Sfn Charles Laughton, who directed him in The 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.<ref name="lawrenson">Template:Cite news</ref> John Huston felt that Mitchum was on the same pedestal of actors such as Marlon Brando, Richard Burton and Laurence Olivier.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn Howard Hawks praised Mitchum for being a hard worker, labeling the actor a "fraud" for pretending to not care about acting.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn 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."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Jane Greer, his co-star in Out of the Past and The Big Steal, said of him: "Bob would never be caught acting. He just is."Template:Sfn

Robert De Niro,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Clint Eastwood,Template:Sfn Michael Madsen,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Mark Rylance<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> have cited Mitchum as one of their favorite actors.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars ranked Mitchum as the 23rd-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema.<ref name="afistars">Template:Cite web</ref> AFI also recognized Max Cady and Reverend Harry Powell as the 28th and 29th greatest screen villains of all time in AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

For his contribution to the film industry, Mitchum has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6240 Hollywood Boulevard.<ref name="wof">Template:Cite web</ref> He was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 2013.<ref name="hall_western">Template:Cite web</ref>

Mitchum provided the voice of the famous American Beef Council commercials that touted "Beef ... it's what's for dinner", from 1992 until his death.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A "Mitchum's Steakhouse" operated in Trappe, Maryland,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> where Mitchum and his family lived from 1959 to 1965.Template:Sfn

On December 10, 2022, a historical marker commemorating Mitchum was unveiled in his father's hometown of Lane, South Carolina.<ref name="kn2022">Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

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Notes

Template:Reflist

References