97 Facts About Robert Mitchum

Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American actor.

Robert Mitchum is known for his antihero roles and film noir appearances.

Robert Mitchum received nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award.

Robert Mitchum received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984 and the Golden Globe Cecil B DeMille Award in 1992.

Robert Mitchum is known for his television role as US Navy Captain Victor "Pug" Henry in the epic miniseries The Winds of War and sequel War and Remembrance.

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.

Robert Mitchum's father, James Thomas Mitchum, a shipyard and railroad worker, was of Scots-Irish and Native American descent, and his mother, Ann Harriet Gunderson, was a Norwegian immigrant and sea captain's daughter.

Robert Mitchum's older sister, Annette, was born in 1914.

Robert Mitchum returned to Connecticut after staying for some time in her husband's hometown of Lane, South Carolina.

Robert Mitchum's third child, John, was born in September 1919.

Robert Mitchum married Lieutenant Hugh "The Major" Cunningham Morris, a former Royal Naval Reserve officer.

Robert Mitchum attended Felton High School, where he was expelled for mischief.

Robert Mitchum left home at age 14 and traveled throughout the country, hopping freight cars and taking a number of jobs, including ditch digging, fruit picking, and dishwashing.

Robert 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.

Robert Mitchum headed for Long Beach, California, where his older sister had moved with her husband.

Robert Mitchum 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.

Robert Mitchum continued appearing in their productions and wrote two children's plays.

In late 1939, Robert Mitchum was hired by astrologer Carroll Righter as an assistant for an Eastern Seaboard tour.

Robert Mitchum returned to Delaware to marry Dorothy Spence in 1940 during this trip and then moved back to California with her.

Robert Mitchum quit his work as a writer for cabaret acts after a promised payment failed to materialize.

Robert Mitchum acted part-time for a while, and his last stage appearance before his entrance into films was in 1941.

In June 1942, Robert 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.

Robert Mitchum received positive reviews for his performance, and in retrospect, the film is considered a fine example of B movies.

On May 25,1944, Robert Mitchum signed a seven-year contract with RKO at an initial salary of $350 per week, effective June 1.

Robert Mitchum portrayed a war-weary officer based on Captain Henry T Waskow, who remains resolute despite the troubles he faces.

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

Robert Mitchum ultimately became best known for his work in film noir.

Robert Mitchum was cast as the second lead in two noirs in 1946.

Robert Mitchum rounded out 1947 with Out of the Past, landing his first starring role in a major RKO production.

On September 1,1948, during the rise of his career, Robert Mitchum was arrested for possession of marijuana with actress Lila Leeds.

Robert Mitchum's 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.

Robert Mitchum's 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.

Robert Mitchum was cast against type in the romantic comedy Holiday Affair opposite Janet Leigh.

Robert Mitchum appeared in a string of film noirs in the early 1950s.

Robert Mitchum starred as a veteran rodeo champion in The Lusty Men, directed by Nicholas Ray and costarring Susan Hayward and Arthur Kennedy.

Robert Mitchum's performance was lauded by critics, with Variety and The Hollywood Reporter calling it his best to date.

In 1953, Robert Mitchum starred in Otto Preminger's Angel Face, the first of his three films with Jean Simmons.

Robert Mitchum played an ambulance driver who allows a murderously insane heiress to fatally seduce him.

In exchange for Hayward's appearance in The Lusty Men, Robert Mitchum was loaned to 20th Century Fox for White Witch Doctor opposite Hayward, playing a hunter who falls in love with a nurse in Africa.

Back at RKO, Robert Mitchum appeared in the studio's first 3-D production, Second Chance, playing a boxer whose girlfriend is trailed by a mobster in Mexico.

However, Robert Mitchum had not liked the script and was increasingly dissatisfied with the projects assigned to him by RKO.

In 1954, Robert Mitchum reteamed with Simmons in the romantic comedy She Couldn't Say No, his last film released by RKO.

Robert Mitchum recalled the film, which was shot in the deep snow at Mount Rainier, as his toughest location shooting experience.

Robert Mitchum left RKO after his contract expired on August 15,1954.

On March 8,1955, Robert 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.

Robert Mitchum made two films back to back in Trinidad and Tobago that were released in 1957.

Robert Mitchum produced, co-wrote the screenplay for, and is rumored to have directed much of the film, which featured his son James playing his younger brother.

Robert Mitchum co-wrote the theme song, "The Ballad of Thunder Road," with Don Raye.

Robert Mitchum was initially offered the role of Colonel Dean Hess in another Korean War drama, Battle Hymn, but the casting choice was vetoed by Hess himself, who cited Mitchum's marijuana scandal.

Robert Mitchum's performance is considered by some critics one of his best and most overlooked.

Robert Mitchum renamed DRM Productions as Talbot Productions after his new home county.

Robert Mitchum stated that it had since become only a "co-production" company and that he had never really produced any of his own films again.

Robert Mitchum turned down John Huston's Western The Misfits, claiming that he did not like the script and had found Huston too demanding during their last collaboration, Heaven Knows, Mr Allison.

In 1962, Robert Mitchum costarred with Gregory Peck in Cape Fear, playing an ex-convict seeking revenge on the attorney who testified against him.

Robert Mitchum portrayed General Norman Cota, rallying demoralized troops and blasting a path from Omaha Beach.

Robert Mitchum was considered miscast as an indecisive lawyer in Robert Wise's romantic drama Two for the Seesaw, opposite Shirley MacLaine.

In 1965, Robert 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.

Robert Mitchum returned to the Western genre with two releases in 1967.

Robert Mitchum turned down The Wild Bunch, stating that he did not want to work with director Sam Peckinpah.

Robert Mitchum rounded out the decade with two Westerns directed by Burt Kennedy.

At the time of filming, Robert Mitchum was considering retiring from acting and was concerned about the film's demanding schedule.

Robert Mitchum initially turned down the script but eventually accepted the role after screenwriter Robert Bolt approached him again.

Robert 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.

Robert Mitchum appeared in 1976's Midway about the crucial World War II naval battle.

Robert Mitchum starred in the 1983 miniseries The Winds of War, based on a Herman Wouk book of the same title.

Robert Mitchum returned to the role in the 1988 sequel miniseries War and Remembrance, which continued the story through the end of the war.

In 1984, Robert Mitchum entered the Betty Ford Center in Palm Springs, California, for treatment of alcoholism.

Robert Mitchum played George Hazard's father-in-law in the 1985 miniseries North and South, which aired on ABC.

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

In 1991, Robert Mitchum was set to receive a lifetime achievement award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.

Robert Mitchum rejected it after learning that he would have to pay for his own transport and accommodations and accept it in person.

Robert Mitchum has appeared in films until the mid-1990s, such as Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, and he narrated the Western Tombstone.

Robert Mitchum's last film appearance was a small but pivotal role in the television biographical film James Dean: Race with Destiny, playing Giant director George Stevens.

Robert Mitchum's last starring role was in the 1995 Norwegian movie Pakten.

One of the lesser-known aspects of Robert Mitchum's career was his foray into music as a singer.

Robert Mitchum's voice was often used instead of that of a professional singer when his character sang in his films.

Notable productions featuring Robert 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.

Robert Mitchum sang the title song to Young Billy Young and River of No Return.

The country-style song became a modest hit for Robert Mitchum, reaching number 62 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in September 1958.

Robert Mitchum was nominated for an Academy of Country Music Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist in 1968.

Robert Mitchum was a schoolmate of his younger brother, John, whom she had briefly dated.

Robert Mitchum immediately fell for her, and the two had begun a serious relationship by the time he left for California in 1934.

Robert Mitchum married Dorothy on March 16,1940, in the kitchen of a Methodist parson in Dover, Delaware.

Robert Mitchum brought her to Los Angeles to settle down, where he took a job at the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation before finding work as a film actor in June 1942.

Robert Mitchum was a Republican who campaigned for Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election.

At the 1982 premiere for That Championship Season, an intoxicated Robert Mitchum assaulted a female reporter and threw a basketball that he was holding at a female photographer from Time magazine, causing a neck injury and knocking out two of her teeth.

Robert Mitchum is regarded by some critics as one of the finest actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Robert Mitchum was my favorite movie star because he represented, for me, the impenetrable mystery of the movies.

Robert Mitchum possessed a photographic memory that allowed him to remember lines with relative ease, and was known for his proficiency with accents.

Dismissive of Method acting, when asked by George Peppard if he had studied it during filming of Home from the Hill, Robert Mitchum jokingly responded that he had studied the "Smirnoff method".

Robert Mitchum had a solid reputation among the directors who worked with him.

Raoul Walsh recalled that Robert Mitchum had impressed him as being "one of the finest natural actors" he had ever met.

John Huston felt that Robert Mitchum was on the same pedestal of actors such as Marlon Brando, Richard Burton and Laurence Olivier.

Howard Hawks praised Robert Mitchum for being a hard worker, labeling the actor a "fraud" for pretending to not care about acting.

Robert Mitchum has true delicacy and expressiveness, but his forte is his indelible identity.

Simply by being there, Robert Mitchum can make almost any other actor look like a hole in the screen.

On December 10,2022, a historical marker commemorating Robert Mitchum was unveiled in his father's hometown of Lane, South Carolina.