Mitchum, Robert (Robert Charles Duran Mitchum), 1917–97, American film actor, b. Bridgeport, Conn. He found extra work and bit parts in early 1940s movies, and first achieved wide notice for his supporting role in The Story of G. I. Joe (1945). Mitchum became known for tough-guy roles in dramas where his easy nonchalance and sleepy-eyed handsomeness made him an ideal noir hero—or villain. He appeared in more than 125 films, starring in such movies as Out of the Past (1947), The Night of the Hunter (1955), The Sundowners (1960), Cape Fear (1962 and 1991), Ryan's Daughter (1971), Farewell, My Lovely (1975), The Big Sleep (1978), That Championship Season (1982), and Dead Man (1995). Late in his career Mitchum also became a television star with his performances in two World War II miniseries, The Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988).

Bibliography

See his autobiography (1975), and Mitchum in His Own Words (2000); biographies by G. Eells (1984), D. Downing (1985), J. Mitchum (1989), J. Roberts (1992), and L. Server (2001); A. H. Marill, The Films of Robert Mitchum (1995).

Mitchum, Robert (Charles Duran)

(born Aug. 6, 1917, Bridgeport, Conn., U.S.—died July 1, 1997, Santa Barbara county, Calif.) U.S. film actor. Expelled from high school in New York City, he spent his teenage years wandering the country and working odd jobs. After joining an acting company in California, he made his screen debut in 1943, acting in several Hopalong Cassidy westerns. He won praise for his role in The Story of G.I. Joe (1945). With his trademark sleepy-eyed, tough-guy appearance, he usually played loners and villains, in movies (many of them B movies that have grown in critical esteem over time) such as Out of the Past (1947), The Lusty Men (1952), The Night of the Hunter (1955), Thunder Road (1958), Cape Fear (1962), The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), and Farewell, My Lovely (1975). In his later years, he starred in the television miniseries Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988–89).