Biography
Friends and Family
Julie Mitchum
[Sister]
::
John Mitchum
[Brother]
Trivia and Quotes
Quotes
 "Where are the real artists? Today it`s four-barreled carburettors and that`s it." (1967) He sure don`t bring much brains to the party, that kid. - On Steve McQueen
I only read the reviews of my films if they`re amusing. Six books have been written about me but I`ve only met two of the authors. They get my name and birthplace wrong in the first paragraph. From there it`s all downhill.
The Rin Tin Tin method is good enough for me. That dog never worried about motivation or concepts and all that junk." (1968)
When asked what he looked for in a script before accepting a job, he said, "Days off."
[on Sarah Miles] She`s a monster. If you think she`s not strong, you`d better pay attention.
[on working with Faye Dunaway] When I got here I walked in thinking I was a star and then I found I was supposed to do everything the way she says. Listen, I`m not going to take any temperamental whims from anyone, I just take a long walk and cool off. If I didn`t do that, I know I`d wind up dumping her on her derrière.
"I never will believe there is such a thing as a great actor." (1948)
How the hell did I get into this picture anyway? I kept reading in the papers that I was going to do it, but when they sent me the script I just tossed it on the heap with the rest of them. But somehow, one Monday morning, here I was. How the hell do these things happen to a man?" - On The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969)
I got a great life out of the movies. I`ve been all over the world and met the most fantastic people. I don`t really deserve all I`ve gotten. It`s a privileged life, and I know it.
I know production values are better, but are the scripts, are the pictures? The thing is, it`s a hell of a lot more work, and I don`t see overall where the films are any better, really?
I often regret my good reviews, because there is no point in doing something I know to be inferior and then I find I have come off the best in the film. Wouldn`t you find that worrying?
Just after we shot Secret Ceremony (1968), lesbianism came in ... I`m no damned good as a lesbian.
People make too much of acting. You are not helping anyone like being a doctor or even a musician. In the final analysis, you have exalted no one but yourself.
Sometimes, I think I ought to go back and do at least one thing really well. But again, indolence will probably cause me to hesitate about finding a place to start. Part of that indolence perhaps is due to shyness because I`m a natural hermit. I`ve been in constant motion of escape all my life. I never really found the right corner to hide in.
These kids only want to talk about acting method and motivation; in my day all we talked about was screwing and overtime.
Up there on the screen you`re thirty feet wide, your eyeball is six feet high, but it doesn`t mean that you really amount to anything or have anything important to say.
"Stars today are just masturbation images." (1983)
Asked his opinion of Method actors Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson: "They are all small."
How do I keep fit? I lay down a lot.
I came back from the war and ugly heroes were in.
I kept the same suit for six years - and the same dialog. We just changed the title of the picture and the leading lady
I`ve survived because I work cheap and don`t take up too much time.
When asked why in his mid-sixties he took on the arduous task of starring in an 18-hour mini-series "The Winds of War" (1983) (mini): "It promised a year of free lunches."
You know what the average Robert Mitchum fan is? He`s full of warts and dandruff and he`s probably got a hernia too, but he sees me up there on the screen and he thinks if that bum can make it, I can be president.
Young actors love me. They think if that big slob can make it, there`s a chance for us.
[Regarding three-time co-star Deborah Kerr] "The best, my favorite... Life would be kind if I could live it with Deborah around".
Asked his opinion of the Vietnam War in 1968: "If they won`t listen to reason over there, just kill `em. Nuke `em all."
Every two or three years, I knock off for a while. That way I`m always the new girl in the whorehouse.
I have two acting styles: with and without a horse.
I never changed anything, except my socks and my underwear. And I never did anything to glorify myself or improve my lot. I took what came and did the best I could with it.
John Wayne had four inch lifts in his shoes. He had the overheads on his boat accommodated to fit him. He had a special roof put in his station wagon. The son of a bitch, they probably buried him in his goddamn lifts.
Not that I`m a complete whore, understand. There are movies I won`t do for any amount. I turned down Patton (1970) and I turned down Dirty Harry (1971). Movies that piss on the world. If I`ve got five bucks in my pocket, I don`t need to make money that f***ing way, daddy.
Sure I was glad to see John Wayne win the Oscar ... I`m always glad to see the fat lady win the Cadillac on TV, too.
There just isn`t any pleasing some people. The trick is to stop trying.
Years ago, I saved up a million dollars from acting, a lot of money in those days, and I spent it all on a horse farm in Tucson. Now when I go down there, I look at that place and I realize my whole acting career adds up to a million dollars worth of horse shit.
You`ve got to realize that a Steve McQueen performance lends itself to monotony.
"Listen. I got three expressions: looking left, looking right and looking straight ahead." (on his acting talents)
(on press stories) "They`re all true - booze, brawls, broads, all true. Make up some more if you want to."
I gave up being serious about making pictures around the time I made a film with Greer Garson and she took a hundred and twenty-five takes to say no.
I never take any notice of reviews - unless a critic has thought up some new way of describing me. That old one about my lizard eyes and anteater nose and the way I sleep my way through pictures is so hackneyed now.
I started out to be a sex fiend but couldn`t pass the physical.
I`ve still got the same attitude I had when I started. I haven`t changed anything but my underwear.
Movies bore me; especially my own.
People think I have an interesting walk. Hell, I`m just trying to hold my gut in.
The only difference between me and my fellow actors is that I`ve spent more time in jail.
When I drop dead and they rush to the drawer, there`s going to be nothing in it but a note saying `later`.
Trivia
He claimed his famous eyes were the result of a combination of injuries from his boxing days and chronic insomnia, which he suffered from throughout his life.
In 1959, the Mitchums moved out of Hollywood and into a farm they had bought on the Maryland shore of Chesapeake Bay, near the town of Trappe. In 1965, the family returned to Hollywood, largely at Dorothy`s insistence, and moved into a modest, ivy-covered mansion in Bel Air. Mitchum also purchased a 76-acre ranch near Los Angeles, mostly as a home for his growing collection of quarter horses.
Many critics were unconvinced by the 65-year-old Mitchum winning World War II in "The Winds of War" (1983) (mini). When the producers made a second series, "War and Remembrance" (1988) (mini), they worried that a 70-year-old Mitchum would be even less convincing and considered replacing him with James Coburn. Eventually however they decided that what they would gain in fewer wrinkles, they would lose in Mitchum`s formidable screen presence and charisma.
Mitchum was in poor health while filming "The Winds of War" (1983) (mini), and once again there was talk of retirement. He filmed Maria`s Lovers (1984) despite suffering from a solid case of pneumonia.
Presented with a People`s Choice Award backstage by Charlton Heston for "War and Remembrance" (1988) (mini) during the 1989 ceremony in Beverly Hills, California.
The 60-year-old Mitchum impressed Oliver Reed, Britain`s legendary hellraiser, by drinking a whole bottle of gin in 55 minutes on the set of The Big Sleep (1978).
Turned down Gene Hackman`s role as drug-busting cop Popeye Doyle in The French Connection (1971) because he found the story offensive.
While filming El Dorado (1966) Mitchum was amused by co-star John Wayne`s attempts to play his screen persona to the hilt in real life. He recalled that Wayne wore 4-inch lifts to increase his height and had the roof of his car raised so he could drive wearing his Stetson.
5 Card Stud (1968), the showdown between Hollywood`s two deities of indifference, produced no sparks on or off the screen. Dean Martin remained in his trailer watching television after filming was completed, and delivered his lines as though he had memorized them phonetically. The only excitement came when a massive camera collapsed and nearly hammered Mitchum into the ground. Instead, the star moved casually aside while thousands of dollars worth of equipment smashed around him.
He had a longstanding dislike of fellow tough guy actors Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.
His mother was Norwegian and his father was Scots-Irish on his father`s side and Native American Blackfoot on his mother`s side
President Dwight D. Eisenhower would never allow any of Mitchum`s movies to be played in the White House, due to the actor`s convictions for drugs.
Replaced Burt Lancaster in Maria`s Lovers (1984) after the elder actor was forced to undergo emergency quadruple heart bypass surgery.
Though respectful of Robert De Niro`s talent, Mitchum was amused by the young Method actor`s habit of remaining in character all day as film studio chief Monroe Stahr during the filming of The Last Tycoon (1976). Mitchum gave De Niro the nickname "Kid Monroe", and made many jokes about him with the older actors on the set like Ray Milland and Dana Andrews.
Turned down Burt Lancaster`s role as an aging gangster in Atlantic City (1980). Mitchum had just had a face-lift and told the producers he was only playing forty-five.
Turned down the leading role in Sam Peckinpah`s masterpiece The Wild Bunch (1969), which went to his old friend William Holden, and made 5 Card Stud (1968). His excuse was they were both westerns.
Was supposed to play Old Man Clanton in Tombstone (1993), but his back gave out on the first day of filming. Mitchum narrated the film instead.
He seriously considered retiring from acting in 1968 due to concerns over the quality of his recent movies. After a year`s absence, during which he spent much of the time driving around America visiting old friends and staying in motels, he was lured back to star in Ryan`s Daughter (1970).
He was a huge fan of Elvis Presley`s early music, and wanted Presley to star with him in Thunder Road (1958). Unfortunately, Tom Parker`s demands for Presley`s salary could not be met in this independent production, which Mitchum was financing himself.
He was fired from Blood Alley (1955), allegedly for alcoholism, something he later denied.
He was persuaded by his manager Antonio Consentino, a die-hard Republican, to campaign for George Bush in the 1992 presidential election. He also narrated a biographical film of the President for the Republican National Convention, and attended a fund-raiser at Bob Hope`s house in Hollywood.
His arrest for marijuana possession in the late 1940s was one of the first times a major actor had been jailed for this crime. According to Lee Server`s 2001 biography, "Robert Mitchum: Baby I Don`t Care," he was still smoking pot into his old age.
His performance as Rev. Harry Powell in The Night of the Hunter (1955) is ranked #71 on Premiere Magazine`s 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
In 1981, he fired his secretary, Reva Frederick, when he closed his office. Mitchum was subsequently sued as she claimed he owed her a pension back-dated to 1961. There was no paperwork to support this claim, and she dropped her suit when evidence was discovered that she had stolen millions of dollars from Mitchum over the years. As part of the "deal," he agreed not to prosecute. During the course of these events, Ms. Fredrick suffered a stroke from which she never fully recovered.
Mitchum once said that the character, Reverend Harry Powell, the character villain whom he played in The Night of the Hunter (1955), was his favorite role.
Visited his son Christopher Mitchum on the set of Rio Lobo (1970). Director Howard Hawks asked the elder Mitchum to reprise his El Dorado (1966) role as a drunken sheriff, but Mitchum claimed he was now retired. John Wayne responded, "Mitch has been retiring ever since the first day I met him."
Was the defendant in FTC (Federal Taxation Commissioner) v Mitchum (1965), a famous taxation case in Australia, in relation to income earned in Australia while working there on the film _The Sundowners_.
Addressed the Republican National Convention in 1992.
Although he had numerous affairs throughout his marriage, he remained with Dorothy for nearly sixty years.
Died one day before his The Big Sleep (1978) co-star James Stewart.
During a break in filming "War and Remembrance" (1988) (mini) in August 1987, Mitchum replaced his friend John Huston as an aging millionaire in Mr. North (1988) after Huston, who suffered from emphysema, was hospitalized with pneumonia. In October 1987, Mitchum filled in for Edward Woodward, who was recovering from a heart attack, in a special two-part episode of "The Equalizer" (1985).
He was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea by Dorothy and neighbor Jane Russell. At Mitchum`s insistence, no memorial service was held.
He was of Scottish, Norwegian, Irish, and possibly Native-American descent.
His driving license from 1950 gave his height as 6` even, one inch less that was always reported.
His vocal support for the Vietnam War failed to affect his appeal with American youth, and in 1968, a poll of teenagers declared him the coolest celebrity. Mitchum responded that they must have missed his recent films.
Referenced by name in the song "The Fun Machine Took a Sh-t and Died" by Queens of the Stone Age.
Turned down Tony Curtis` role in The Defiant Ones (1958). Mitchum, a real-life veteran of a Southern chain gang, claimed to disbelieve the premise that a black and white man would be chained together. He said such a thing would never happen in the South. Over the years, this reason was corrupted to the point where many people now believe Mitchum turned down the role because he didn`t want to be chained to a black man, an absolute falsehood.
Because Charles Laughton had a personal dislike for children, Mitchum actually directed his child co-stars for the whole shoot of The Night of the Hunter (1955).
Briefly served in the United States Army during World War II, under service number 39 744 068, from April 12, 1945, to October 11, 1945, after he was drafted. According to Lee Server`s 2001 biography, "Robert Mitchum: Baby I Don`t Care," Mitchum said he served as a medic at an induction department, checking recruits` genitals for venereal disease (a "pecker checker"). Always the iconoclast, although he did not want to join the military, he served honorably and was discharged as a Private First Class and received the World War II Victory Medal.
Carefully maintained a facade of indifference, always lazily insisting that he made movies just so he could get laid, score some pot, and make money, and cared nothing about art. This is surely true of some films, which he likely picked to make money, but certain directors and films seemed to secretly pique his interest, including his work with Charles Laughton, John Huston, and Howard Hawks.
He got into trouble for some anti-semitic remarks he made in an interview promoting "The Winds of War" (1983) (mini) at his home in 1983. Although these were apparently in jest, as he had close Jewish friends, he refused to apologize, undoubtedly because that would spoil his "bad boy" image.
In 1947, he and Gary Gray recorded the songs from "Rachel and the Stranger" for Delta records` soundtrack album. In 1968, he recorded another album, entitled "That Man Robert Mitchum ... Sings". It included the track, "Little Old Wine Drinker Me", which later became a hit for Dean Martin. In 1998, these songs were released on CD as "Robert Mitchum Sings."
In the 1950s, Mitchum was selected by Howard Hughes to appear in a series of films he was producing. Hughes considered Mitchum a "friend," but (as a paranoid recluse) hardly met the actor. Mitchum was half-way put-off and half-way amused by the "crazy, old man" and clearly saw that he was a surrogate for Hughes as the strapping actor "romanced" young starlets on screen.
Sidelines: Played the saxophone and wrote poetry.
Treated for alcoholism at the Betty Ford Center in 1984.
Turned down the lead role of Gen. George S. Patton Jr. in Patton (1970), allegedly because he believed he would ruin the film due to his indifference. During a Turner Classic Movies interview with Robert Osborne, Mitchum said that he knew the movie could be a great one due to the script, but that the studio would want to concentrate on battles and tanks moving around on screen rather than on the character of Patton. Mitchum believed that with himself in the role, the movie would turn out mediocre; what was needed was a passionate actor who would fight his corner to keep the focus on Patton, an actor like George C. Scott, whom Mitchum recommended to the producers.
Was one of four actors (with Jack Nicholson, Bette Davis, and Faye Dunaway) to have two villainous roles ranked in the American Film Institute`s 100 years of The Greatest Heroes and Villains, as Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962) at #28 and as Reverend Harry Powell in The Night of the Hunter (1955) at #29.
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