Robert Mitchum was the pioneering “bad boy” of Hollywood. Could anybody ever be able to forget about him? In my perspective, Robert Mitchum was cool long before it was cool to be cool…
Robert Mitchum was an outstanding actor who was chilling when he played the adversary, inspiring when he played the hero, and first-rate in every role he portrayed.
In my opinion, he is unquestionably one of the most famous actors in the history of cinema, right up there with other legendary actors like Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, John Wayne, and Burt Lancaster.
I vividly remember that Mitchum had the most piercing eyes; it seemed as if he could look right through you with those eyes. However, Mitchum was not just a really great actor; in addition, he was also a musician who had some success with his recordings.
However, Mitchum also has a hidden aspect that only a select few people were aware of. A tormented and troubled mind that had been through a lot of scandals and tragedies was hiding under his beautiful features and attractive persona.
In 1917, Robert Mitchum was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, into a typical working-class family.
He was one of those people who literally built our nation; his father, James Thomas Mitchum, was of Irish ancestry and worked on the railroad and shipyard. Ann Gunderson, a name that sounds Scandinavian, was Robert’s mother; she was an immigrant from Norway.
Sadly, a tragic event would rock Robert’s peaceful childhood. Robert’s father passed away in a strange accident when he was just 18 months old. While working at a railyard in Charleston, South Carolina, the father Mitchum was cruelly crushed to death by two boxcars.
Ann had to raise Robert and his siblings on her alone for a very long time after her husband passed away. After that, however, his mother wed Major Hugh Cunningham Morris, a former Royal Naval Reserve. The British officer adopted Robert as his own son.
But neither his mother nor his stepfather could keep Mitchum under control.
At the age of 12, he was sent to live with his grandparents in Felton, Delaware because he was a wild teenager. As a result of his frequent disagreements with the school’s administration, Mitchum was also expelled from various high schools. He even even got into a confrontation with the principal of his school.
He ended up living with his grandparents in Delaware. Robert met Dorothy, his true love, when he moved to Delaware.
The pair wed in 1940 and had a long-lasting marriage.
During the year 1970, when Mitchum was working on the movie “Ryan Daughter,” he went through a serious and difficult personal crisis. It got to the point that Mitchum wanted to take his own life, and he had every intention of doing so when the film was through shooting.
When Mitchum’s buddy, the screenwriter Robert Bolt, found out about the concerning intentions, he attempted to convince Mitchum to reconsider his decision. His plan was to put up a fierce resistance and use a “tough love” approach. In essence, Bolt advised his buddy to “go ahead” with whatever he was about to do, but first he needed to honor his commitment and complete the film.
Additionally, Bolt made the offer to pay for Mitchum’s funeral expenses. Thankfully, Bolt’s strategy seemed to be successful, and praise be to God, Mitchum changed his mind.
Therefore, in spite of the fact that the audience had a great deal of affection for Robert Mitchum and had the opportunity to get to know him via the wonderful interpretations he provided, the famous antihero hid a great deal of information and battled bravely against his internal struggle.
In the late 1990s, the effects of Mitchum’s hard-partying lifestyle started to become apparent on his physical condition. On July 1, 1997, he died away, only a few days before he would have become 80 years old.
A lifelong chain smoker, Mitchum passed away in Santa Barbara, California, from the consequences of lung cancer and emphysema, both of which he developed as a result of his habit.
His ashes were scattered at sea once his corpse had been burned and disposed of. He was survived by his wife Dorothy Mitchum, whom he had been married to for 57 years, as well as his children James Day, Christopher Day, and Petrine Day. Dorothy passed away in 2014.
