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I always think of him as an old man... even when I think of him in his early movies. Strange. Mitchum was busy busy busy in the 1950s. He had headlined two motion pictures released earlier that year (River of No Return with Marilyn Monroe and She Couldn't Say No with Jean Simmons) and he had one more coming in the winter (Track of the Cat with Teresa Wright). The following year would bring the world his (arguably) greatest triumph, the utterly brilliant thriller The Night of the Hunter though he's maybe better remembered for being the original Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962). If you haven't seen either, do so.
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He died when I was 13, so I remember him as the big scary guy in the corner with this incredible voice that I didn't want to get near. But now that I'm older I can appreciate where it all came from.I'm not related but I relate. As a kid I didn't like Mitchum. I had only really seen him in the television miniseries The Winds of War and I didn't 'get' him. I didn't understand his style of acting and he freaked me out: too detached, stiffly masculine, gruff, sinister (?) ...not any of the things I responded to in male leads. In the 80s when I fell in love with movies I was all about William Hurt, Harrison Ford and --when it came to old movies on TV --Gene Kelly and James Dean. Here's a couple more 50s images for you...
In the first image Simone Sylva surprises Mitchum in Cannes with her ample bust (what is it with Cannes & boobs? Please to explain... anyone) and in the second, also taken in 1954 though I'm not sure where, Mitchum sits with Night of the Hunter author Davis Grubb.
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8 comments:
Have you seen Pursued? That's the only film of his I've seen so far. It's great.
Robert Mitchum is my favorite actor... Thanks Nathaniel for this post.
Robert Mitchum was fantastic in "Heaven knows, Mr. Allison" with Deborah Kerr... What do you think Nathaniel?
Damn, that G.I. Joe gene does produce masculine AND feminine type of pretty.
TOP 5 Mitchum
1 - Out of the Past
2 - Night of The Hunter
3 - Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
4 - Secret Ceremony
5 - Cape Fear
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that post was mine, cal roth
I can't stop staring at that poster for Indiscretion of an American Wife. It's so colorful... *drools*
Scarily charismatic and with a fantastic range. He could very well be my favourite actor. Night of the Hunter is his best, of course, but I'm also very fond of Out of the Past, The Big Steal (his reteaming with Jane Greer, underappreciated - Hitchcockian and lots of fun), Holiday Affair and the second (and marginally better) of the two phenomenal adaptations of Raymond Chandler's Farewell My Lovely.
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