Robert Ryan
Encyclopedia
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.
in 1932, having held the school's heavyweight boxing title all four years of his attendance. After graduation, the 6′ 4" Ryan found employment as a stoker on a ship, a WPA
worker, and a ranch hand in Montana
.
Ryan attempted to make a career in show business as a playwright
, but had to turn to acting to support himself. He studied acting in Hollywood and appeared on stage and in small film parts during the early 1940s.
In January 1944, after securing a contract guarantee from RKO Radio Pictures, Ryan enlisted in the United States Marine Corps
and served as a drill instructor at Camp Pendleton, in San Diego, California
. At Camp Pendleton, he befriended writer and future director Richard Brooks
, whose novel, The Brick Foxhole, he greatly admired. He also took up painting.
Ryan's breakthrough film role was as an anti-Semitic killer in Crossfire
(1947), a film noir
based on Brooks's novel. The role won Ryan his sole career Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor
. From then on, Ryan's specialty was tough/tender roles, finding particular expression in the films of directors such as Nicholas Ray
, Robert Wise
and Sam Fuller. In Ray's On Dangerous Ground
(1951) he portrayed a burnt-out city cop finding redemption while solving a rural murder. In Wise's The Set-Up
(1949), he played an over-the-hill boxer who is brutally punished for refusing to take a dive. Other important films were Anthony Mann
's western The Naked Spur
, Sam Fuller's uproarious Japanese set gangland thriller House of Bamboo
, Bad Day at Black Rock
, and the socially conscious heist movie Odds Against Tomorrow
. He also appeared in several all-star war films, including The Longest Day
(1962) and Battle of the Bulge
(1965), and The Dirty Dozen
. He also played John the Baptist
in MGM's Technicolor epic King of Kings (1961) and was the villainous Claggart in Peter Ustinov
's adaptation of Billy Budd
(1962).
In his later years, Ryan continued playing significant roles in major films. Most notable of these were The Dirty Dozen
, The Professionals (1966) and Sam Peckinpah
's highly influential brutal western The Wild Bunch
(1969).
Ryan appeared several times on the Broadway
stage. His credits there include Clash by Night
, Mr. President
and The Front Page
, the comedy drama about newspapermen. Among his rare stage appearances, Ryan starred opposite Katharine Hepburn
at the American Shakespeare Theatre
in Stratford, Connecticut where he played Antony to Hepburn's Cleopatra in the summer of 1960.
He appeared in many television series as a guest star, including the role of Franklin Hoppy-Hopp in the 1964 episode "Who Chopped Down the Cherry Tree?" on the NBC
medical drama
about psychiatry
, The Eleventh Hour
. Similarly, he guest starred as Lloyd Osment in the 1964 episode "Better Than a Dead Lion" in the ABC psychiatric series, Breaking Point. In 1964, Ryan appeared with Warren Oates
in the episode "No Comment" of CBS's short-lived drama about newspapers, The Reporter
, starring Harry Guardino
in the title role of journalist
Danny Taylor. Ryan appeared five times (1956–1959) on CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
and twice (1959 and 1961) on the Zane Grey spin-off
Frontier Justice
. He appeared three times (1962–1964) on the western Wagon Train
.
Democrat
who tirelessly supported civil rights
issues. Despite his military service, he also came to share the pacifist views of his wife Jessica, who was a Quaker.
In the late 1940s, as the House Committee on Unamerican Activities (HUAC) intensified its anti-communist attacks on Hollywood, he joined the short-lived Committee for the First Amendment
. Throughout the 1950s, he donated money and services to civic and religious organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union
, American Friends Service Committee
, and United World Federalists. In September 1959, he and Steve Allen
became founding co-chairs of The Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy
's Hollywood chapter.
By the mid-1960s, Ryan's political activities included efforts to fight racial discrimination. He served in the cultural division of the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King and, with Bill Cosby
, Robert Culp
, Sidney Poitier
, and other actors, helped organize the short-lived Artists Help All Blacks.
Ryan's film work often ran counter to the political causes he embraced. He was a pacifist who starred in war movies, westerns, and violent thrillers. He was an opponent of McCarthyism
who nevertheless served the anticommunist cause by playing a nefarious Communist agent in I Married a Communist
. Even in films like Crossfire
and Odds Against Tomorrow
, which ultimately promoted racial tolerance, he played bigoted bad guys. Ryan was often vocal about this dichotomy. At a screening of Odds Against Tomorrow
, he appeared before black and foreign press representatives to discuss "the problems of an actor like me playing the kind of character that in real life he finds totally despicable."
) and Timothy "Tim" Ryan, and one daughter, Lisa Ryan. He lived in Manhattan's famed Dakota Building at 72nd and Central Park West, and eventually sublet his apartment to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Robert and Jessica Ryan remained married until her death from cancer in 1972. He died from lung cancer
in New York City
the following year at age 63.
Early life and career
Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois, the first child of Timothy Ryan and his wife Mabel Bushnell Ryan. He graduated from Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
in 1932, having held the school's heavyweight boxing title all four years of his attendance. After graduation, the 6′ 4" Ryan found employment as a stoker on a ship, a WPA
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
worker, and a ranch hand in Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
.
Ryan attempted to make a career in show business as a playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, but had to turn to acting to support himself. He studied acting in Hollywood and appeared on stage and in small film parts during the early 1940s.
In January 1944, after securing a contract guarantee from RKO Radio Pictures, Ryan enlisted in the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
and served as a drill instructor at Camp Pendleton, in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. At Camp Pendleton, he befriended writer and future director Richard Brooks
Richard Brooks
Richard Brooks was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and occasional film producer.-Early life and career:...
, whose novel, The Brick Foxhole, he greatly admired. He also took up painting.
Ryan's breakthrough film role was as an anti-Semitic killer in Crossfire
Crossfire (film)
-External links:* review at DVD Savant by Glenn Erickson* film trailer at YouTube...
(1947), a film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
based on Brooks's novel. The role won Ryan his sole career Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
. From then on, Ryan's specialty was tough/tender roles, finding particular expression in the films of directors such as Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray
Nicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause....
, Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
and Sam Fuller. In Ray's On Dangerous Ground
On Dangerous Ground
On Dangerous Ground is a film noir directed by Nicholas Ray and produced by John Houseman. The screenplay was written by A. I. Bezzerides based on the novel Mad with Much Heart, by Gerald Butler...
(1951) he portrayed a burnt-out city cop finding redemption while solving a rural murder. In Wise's The Set-Up
The Set-Up (1949 film)
For 2011 Set Up see hereThe Set-Up is an American film noir boxing drama directed by Robert Wise and featuring Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter. The screenplay was adapted by Art Cohn from a 1928 poem written by Joseph Moncure March. The film is about the boxing underworld.-Plot:Stoker Thompson ...
(1949), he played an over-the-hill boxer who is brutally punished for refusing to take a dive. Other important films were Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann was an American actor and film director, most notably of film noirs and Westerns. As a director, he often collaborated with the cinematographer John Alton and with James Stewart in his Westerns.-Biography:...
's western The Naked Spur
The Naked Spur
The Naked Spur is a 1953 American western movie directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their third collaboration. The screenplay was written by Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay - a rare honor for a Western. The...
, Sam Fuller's uproarious Japanese set gangland thriller House of Bamboo
House of Bamboo
House of Bamboo is an American color film noir shot in CinemaScope format. The film was directed by Samuel Fuller.The film is a loose remake of The Street with No Name , by the same screenwriter and cinematographer as in the original.-Plot:In 1954, a military train guarded by American soldiers...
, Bad Day at Black Rock
Bad Day at Black Rock
Bad Day at Black Rock is a 1955 thriller film directed by John Sturges that combines elements of Westerns and film noir. It tells the story of a mysterious stranger who arrives at a tiny isolated town in a desert of the southwest United States in search of a man...
, and the socially conscious heist movie Odds Against Tomorrow
Odds Against Tomorrow
Odds Against Tomorrow is a 1959 film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise for HarBel Productions, a company founded by the film's star, Harry Belafonte. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel by William P. McGivern. As a blacklisted writer Polonsky...
. He also appeared in several all-star war films, including The Longest Day
The Longest Day (film)
The Longest Day is a 1962 war film based on the 1959 history book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, about "D-Day", the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II....
(1962) and Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge (film)
Battle of the Bulge is a widescreen war film produced in Spain that was released in 1965. It was directed by Ken Annakin. It starred Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Telly Savalas, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews and Charles Bronson...
(1965), and The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 film directed by Robert Aldrich and released by MGM. It was filmed in England and features an ensemble cast, including Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, and Robert Webber. The film is based on E. M...
. He also played John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
in MGM's Technicolor epic King of Kings (1961) and was the villainous Claggart in Peter Ustinov
Peter Ustinov
Peter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
's adaptation of Billy Budd
Billy Budd (film)
Billy Budd is a 1962 film produced, directed, and co-written by Peter Ustinov. Adapted from the stage play version of Herman Melville's short novel Billy Budd, it starred Terence Stamp as Billy Budd, Robert Ryan as John Claggart, and Ustinov as Captain Vere...
(1962).
In his later years, Ryan continued playing significant roles in major films. Most notable of these were The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 film directed by Robert Aldrich and released by MGM. It was filmed in England and features an ensemble cast, including Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, and Robert Webber. The film is based on E. M...
, The Professionals (1966) and Sam Peckinpah
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...
's highly influential brutal western The Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch is a 1969 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah about an aging outlaw gang on the Texas-Mexico border, trying to exist in the changing "modern" world of 1913...
(1969).
Ryan appeared several times on the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
stage. His credits there include Clash by Night
Clash by Night (Odets drama)
Clash by Night is a romantic triangle drama by Clifford Odets which premiered on Broadway in 1941 and was later adapted to film and television...
, Mr. President
Mr. President (musical)
Mr. President is a musical with a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse and lyrics and music by Irving Berlin.It focuses on U.S. President Stephen Decatur Henderson, who loses his bid for re-election following a disastrous trip to the Soviet Union...
and The Front Page
The Front Page
The Front Page is a hit Broadway comedy about tabloid newspaper reporters on the police beat, written by one-time Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur which was first produced in 1928.-Synopsis:...
, the comedy drama about newspapermen. Among his rare stage appearances, Ryan starred opposite Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
at the American Shakespeare Theatre
American Shakespeare Theatre
The American Shakespeare Theatre was a theater company based in Stratford, Connecticut, United States. It was formed in 1955 by Lawrence Langner, Lincoln Kirstein, and Joseph Verner Reed. Plays were produced at the Festival Theatre in Stratford from 1955 until the company ceased operations in...
in Stratford, Connecticut where he played Antony to Hepburn's Cleopatra in the summer of 1960.
He appeared in many television series as a guest star, including the role of Franklin Hoppy-Hopp in the 1964 episode "Who Chopped Down the Cherry Tree?" on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
medical drama
Medical drama
A medical drama is a television program, in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment.In the United States, most medical episodes are one hour long and, more often than not, are set in a hospital. Most current medical Dramatic programming go beyond the...
about psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
, The Eleventh Hour
The Eleventh Hour (1962 TV series)
The Eleventh Hour is an American medical drama about psychiatry starring Wendell Corey, Jack Ging, and Ralph Bellamy, which aired sixty-two new episodes plus selected rebroadcasts on NBC from October 3, 1962, to September 9, 1964.-Series premise:...
. Similarly, he guest starred as Lloyd Osment in the 1964 episode "Better Than a Dead Lion" in the ABC psychiatric series, Breaking Point. In 1964, Ryan appeared with Warren Oates
Warren Oates
Warren Mercer Oates was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah including The Wild Bunch and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia...
in the episode "No Comment" of CBS's short-lived drama about newspapers, The Reporter
The Reporter (TV series)
The Reporter is an American drama series that aired on CBS from September 25 to December 18, 1964. The series was created by Jerome Weidman and developed by executive producers Keefe Brasselle and John Simon.-Synopsis:...
, starring Harry Guardino
Harry Guardino
Harry Guardino was an American actor whose career spanned from the early 1950s to the early 1990s. In 1964, he was cast in a short-lived CBS series entitled The Reporter, a drama about a hard-hitting investigative journalist named Danny Taylor. His principal co-star was Gary Merrill as city...
in the title role of journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
Danny Taylor. Ryan appeared five times (1956–1959) on CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.-Overview:Zane Grey Theatre was created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace...
and twice (1959 and 1961) on the Zane Grey spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
Frontier Justice
Frontier Justice (TV series)
For the NBC western anthology, see Frontier .Frontier Justice is a CBS television Western anthology series which had thirty-one telecasts over the summers of 1958, 1959, and 1961. It was a repackaging of episodes from CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, and was hosted by Lew Ayres, Melvyn...
. He appeared three times (1962–1964) on the western Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
.
Politics
Ryan was a liberalLiberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
who tirelessly supported civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
issues. Despite his military service, he also came to share the pacifist views of his wife Jessica, who was a Quaker.
In the late 1940s, as the House Committee on Unamerican Activities (HUAC) intensified its anti-communist attacks on Hollywood, he joined the short-lived Committee for the First Amendment
Committee for the First Amendment
The Committee for the First Amendment was an action group formed in September 1947 by actors in support of the Hollywood Ten during the hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee...
. Throughout the 1950s, he donated money and services to civic and religious organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
, American Friends Service Committee
American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which works for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world...
, and United World Federalists. In September 1959, he and Steve Allen
Steve Allen
Steve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...
became founding co-chairs of The Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy
Sane
Sane is an English word meaning "of sound mind"; see Sanity.Sane or SANE may also refer to:* Sane Ancient Greek city* An archaeological site and a modern name of Sani, Greece*Sane, Mali...
's Hollywood chapter.
By the mid-1960s, Ryan's political activities included efforts to fight racial discrimination. He served in the cultural division of the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King and, with Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
, Robert Culp
Robert Culp
Robert Martin Culp was an American actor, scriptwriter, voice actor and director, widely known for his work in television. Culp first earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy , the espionage series in which he and co-star Bill Cosby played a pair of secret agents...
, Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
, and other actors, helped organize the short-lived Artists Help All Blacks.
Ryan's film work often ran counter to the political causes he embraced. He was a pacifist who starred in war movies, westerns, and violent thrillers. He was an opponent of McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
who nevertheless served the anticommunist cause by playing a nefarious Communist agent in I Married a Communist
I Married a Communist (film)
I Married a Communist is a 1949 film drama produced by RKO Radio Pictures. Due to audience resistance to the title, RKO re-released the film as The Woman on Pier 13 and Beautiful But Dangerous.-Plot:...
. Even in films like Crossfire
Crossfire (film)
-External links:* review at DVD Savant by Glenn Erickson* film trailer at YouTube...
and Odds Against Tomorrow
Odds Against Tomorrow
Odds Against Tomorrow is a 1959 film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise for HarBel Productions, a company founded by the film's star, Harry Belafonte. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel by William P. McGivern. As a blacklisted writer Polonsky...
, which ultimately promoted racial tolerance, he played bigoted bad guys. Ryan was often vocal about this dichotomy. At a screening of Odds Against Tomorrow
Odds Against Tomorrow
Odds Against Tomorrow is a 1959 film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise for HarBel Productions, a company founded by the film's star, Harry Belafonte. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel by William P. McGivern. As a blacklisted writer Polonsky...
, he appeared before black and foreign press representatives to discuss "the problems of an actor like me playing the kind of character that in real life he finds totally despicable."
Personal life
On March 11, 1939, he married Jessica Cadwalader. They had two sons, Cheyney (now a research fellow at Oxford University and a Professor of Philosophy and Law at the University of OregonUniversity of Oregon
-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...
) and Timothy "Tim" Ryan, and one daughter, Lisa Ryan. He lived in Manhattan's famed Dakota Building at 72nd and Central Park West, and eventually sublet his apartment to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Robert and Jessica Ryan remained married until her death from cancer in 1972. He died from lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
the following year at age 63.
Filmography
- Golden GlovesGolden Gloves (1940 film)-Cast:* Richard Denning as Bill Crane* Jeanne Cagney as Mary Parker* J. Carrol Naish as Joe Taggerty* Robert Paige as Wally Matson* William Frawley as Emory Balzar* Edward Brophy as Potsy Brill* Robert Ryan as Pete Wells* George Ernest as Joey Parker...
(1940) - BombardierBombardier (film)Bombardier is a 1943 film war drama about the training program for bombardiers of the United States Army Air Forces. The film stars Pat O'Brien and Randolph Scott. Bombardier was nominated for an Academy Award in 1944 for the special effects used in the film...
(1943) - The Sky's the Limit (1943 film) (1943)
- Tender Comrade (1943)
- Marine RaidersMarine Raiders (film)Marine Raiders is a 1944 RKO war film showing a fictional depiction of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion and 1st Marine Parachute Battalion on Guadalcanal, R&R in Australia, retraining in Camp Elliott and a fictional attack in the Solomon Islands. Produced by Robert Fellows, and directed by Harold D...
(1944) - The Woman on the BeachThe Woman on the BeachThe Woman on the Beach is a film noir directed by Jean Renoir, released by RKO Radio Pictures, and starring Robert Ryan, Joan Bennett, and Charles Bickford.-Overview:...
(1947) - CrossfireCrossfire (film)-External links:* review at DVD Savant by Glenn Erickson* film trailer at YouTube...
(1947) - Berlin ExpressBerlin ExpressBerlin Express is a black-and-white drama film directed by Jacques Tourneur. Thrown together by chance, a group of people search a city for a kidnapped peace activist. Set in Allied-occupied Germany, it was shot on location in post-World War II Frankfurt-am-Main and Berlin...
(1948) - The Boy with Green HairThe Boy with Green HairThe Boy with Green Hair is a 1948 American comedy-drama film directed by Joseph Losey. It stars Dean Stockwell as Peter, a young war orphan who is subject to ridicule after he awakens one morning to find his hair mysteriously turned green...
(1948) - Act of Violence (1948)
- CaughtCaught (film)Caught is an American dramatic film starring James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Robert Ryan, directed by Max Ophuls, and based on a novel by Libbie Block. Caught has been released on DVD in France and the UK....
(1949) - I Married a CommunistI Married a Communist (film)I Married a Communist is a 1949 film drama produced by RKO Radio Pictures. Due to audience resistance to the title, RKO re-released the film as The Woman on Pier 13 and Beautiful But Dangerous.-Plot:...
(1949) - The Set-UpThe Set-Up (1949 film)For 2011 Set Up see hereThe Set-Up is an American film noir boxing drama directed by Robert Wise and featuring Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter. The screenplay was adapted by Art Cohn from a 1928 poem written by Joseph Moncure March. The film is about the boxing underworld.-Plot:Stoker Thompson ...
(1949) - The Secret FuryThe Secret FuryThe Secret Fury is a 1950 American black-and-white drama film distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, directed by Mel Ferrer.-Plot:A wealthy classical pianist, Ellen, is accused of already being married when she attempts to take her wedding vows; the wedding guests are shocked...
(1950) - Born to Be BadBorn to Be Bad (1950 film)Born to Be Bad is a 1950 melodrama starring Joan Fontaine as a manipulative young woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. It was based on the novel All Kneeling by Anne Parrish.-Cast:*Joan Fontaine as Christabel Caine Carey...
(1950) - The RacketThe Racket (1951 film)The Racket is a 1951 remake of the the 1928 film The Racket. This film noir-style black-and-white film was directed by John Cromwell with uncredited directing help from Nicholas Ray and Mel Ferrer. The police crime drama is based on a popular Bartlett Cormack play. The Racket is a 1951 remake of...
(1951) - Flying LeathernecksFlying LeathernecksFlying Leathernecks is a 1951 action film directed by Nicholas Ray, produced by Edmund Grainger, and starring John Wayne and Robert Ryan. The movie details the exploits and personal battles of United States Marine Corps aviators during World War II...
(1951) - On Dangerous GroundOn Dangerous GroundOn Dangerous Ground is a film noir directed by Nicholas Ray and produced by John Houseman. The screenplay was written by A. I. Bezzerides based on the novel Mad with Much Heart, by Gerald Butler...
(1951) - Clash by NightClash by NightClash by Night is a black-and-white drama with some film noir aspects, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Marilyn Monroe and Robert Ryan. The movie was based on the play by Clifford Odets, adapted by writer Alfred Hayes...
(1952) - Beware, My LovelyBeware, My LovelyBeware, My Lovely is a suspense film produced by Collier Young/Ida Lupino's production company The Filmakers.-Plot:The film is set in 1919 or 1920 in an unnamed small town. A widow impulsively hires handyman to look after her house...
(1952) - City Beneath the Sea (1953)
- The Naked SpurThe Naked SpurThe Naked Spur is a 1953 American western movie directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their third collaboration. The screenplay was written by Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay - a rare honor for a Western. The...
(1953) - InfernoInferno (1953 film)Inferno is a 1953 American film noir drama/thriller directed by Roy Ward Baker, shot in Technicolor and shown in 3-D Dimension and stereophonic sound on prints for the few theaters equipped for that sound system in 1953.-Plot:...
(1953) - Alaska SeasAlaska SeasAlaska Seas is a 1954 crime drama film directed by Jerry Hopper and starring Robert Ryan and Brian Keith.-Plot:Matt Kelly is released from jail and skips town in his boat without paying outstanding storage fees. Back in his home town he is hired by his old friend Jim Kimmerly , the head of the...
(1954) - Bad Day at Black RockBad Day at Black RockBad Day at Black Rock is a 1955 thriller film directed by John Sturges that combines elements of Westerns and film noir. It tells the story of a mysterious stranger who arrives at a tiny isolated town in a desert of the southwest United States in search of a man...
(1955) - The Tall MenThe Tall Men (film)The Tall Men is a 1955 American western film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Clark Gable, Jane Russell, and Robert Ryan.The 20th Century Fox film was produced by William A. Bacher and William B. Hawks. Sydney Boehm and Frank S...
(1955) - House of BambooHouse of BambooHouse of Bamboo is an American color film noir shot in CinemaScope format. The film was directed by Samuel Fuller.The film is a loose remake of The Street with No Name , by the same screenwriter and cinematographer as in the original.-Plot:In 1954, a military train guarded by American soldiers...
(1955) - Escape to Burma (1955)
- The Proud OnesThe Proud OnesThe Proud Ones is a 1956 western film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Robert Ryan and Virginia Mayo.-Plot synopsis:Cass Silver , marshal of a small Kansas town, is expecting trouble with the arrival of the first Texas trail herds on the newly completed railroad...
(1956) - Back from EternityBack from EternityBack from Eternity is a 1956 drama film about a planeload of people stranded in the South American jungle and subsequently menaced by headhunters. It is a remake of an earlier 1939 film, Five Came Back, starred Chester Morris and Lucille Ball, also directed and produced by John Farrow...
(1956) - Men in WarMen in WarMen in War is a war film about the Korean War directed by Anthony Mann. It stars Robert Ryan and Aldo Ray as the leaders of a small detachment of American soldiers cut off and desperately trying to rejoin their division. The events of the film take place on one day; 6 September 1950...
(1957) - God's Little AcreGod's Little AcreGod's Little Acre is a 1933 novel by Erskine Caldwell, which was made into a film of the same name in 1958.The novel was so controversial that the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice attempted to censor it, leading to the author's arrest and trial for obscenity...
(1958) - LonelyheartsLonelyheartsLonelyhearts is a 1958 film noir drama film directed by Vincent J. Donehue. It is based on the play by Howard Teichmann and the 1933 novel Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West....
(1958) - Day of the OutlawDay of the OutlawDay of the Outlaw is a 1959 film starring Robert Ryan and Burl Ives. It was directed by André De Toth; this film being his last Western feature film. Parts of it were filmed on location in snowy Bend, Oregon.-Plot:...
(1959) - Odds Against TomorrowOdds Against TomorrowOdds Against Tomorrow is a 1959 film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise for HarBel Productions, a company founded by the film's star, Harry Belafonte. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel by William P. McGivern. As a blacklisted writer Polonsky...
(1959) - Ice PalaceIce PalaceAn ice palace is a castle-like structure made out of ice. The most earliest known may be Anna Ivanovna's palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.Ice Palace may also refer to:In Russia:* Ice Palace Saint Petersburg, an arena in St...
(1960) - King of Kings (1961)
- The Longest DayThe Longest Day (film)The Longest Day is a 1962 war film based on the 1959 history book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, about "D-Day", the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II....
(1962) - Billy BuddBilly Budd (film)Billy Budd is a 1962 film produced, directed, and co-written by Peter Ustinov. Adapted from the stage play version of Herman Melville's short novel Billy Budd, it starred Terence Stamp as Billy Budd, Robert Ryan as John Claggart, and Ustinov as Captain Vere...
(1962) - Battle of the BulgeBattle of the Bulge (film)Battle of the Bulge is a widescreen war film produced in Spain that was released in 1965. It was directed by Ken Annakin. It starred Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Telly Savalas, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews and Charles Bronson...
(1965) - The Dirty GameThe Dirty GameThe Dirty Game is a 1965 portmanteau spy film starring Henry Fonda and Robert Ryan.The original film had Robert Ryan linking four different spy stories, each helmed by a different director; original James Bond director Terence Young for the English sequences, Christian-Jaque for the French, Carlo...
(1965) - The Professionals (1966)
- The Dirty DozenThe Dirty DozenThe Dirty Dozen is a 1967 film directed by Robert Aldrich and released by MGM. It was filmed in England and features an ensemble cast, including Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, and Robert Webber. The film is based on E. M...
(1967) - Hour of the GunHour of the GunHour of the Gun is 1967 Western film starring James Garner and depicting Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday during their 1881 battles against Ike Clanton and his brothers in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the gunfight's aftermath in and around Tombstone, Arizona.The film is based on the non fiction...
(1967) - Custer of the WestCuster of the WestCuster of the West is a 1967 American Western film directed by Robert Siodmak. It tells a highly fictionalised version of the life and death of George Armstrong Custer. It was directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Robert Shaw as Custer, Robert Ryan and Mary Ure...
(1968) - AnzioAnzio (film)Anzio, also known as Lo Sbarco di Anzio or The Battle for Anzio, is a 1968 war film about Operation Shingle, the 1944 Allied seaborne assault on the Italian port of Anzio in World War II...
(1968) - Captain Nemo and the Underwater CityCaptain Nemo and the Underwater CityCaptain Nemo and the Underwater City is a 1969 British film, featuring the character Captain Nemo and some of the settings of Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It was written by Pip and Jane Baker and stars Robert Ryan as Nemo....
(1969) - The Wild BunchThe Wild BunchThe Wild Bunch is a 1969 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah about an aging outlaw gang on the Texas-Mexico border, trying to exist in the changing "modern" world of 1913...
(1969) - Lawman (1971)
- La Course du lièvre à travers les champs (1972)
- Lolly-Madonna XXXLolly-Madonna XXX- External links :*...
(1973) - The OutfitThe Outfit (1973 film)The Outfit is a 1973 film directed by John Flynn. It stars Robert Duvall, Karen Black, Joe Don Baker and Robert Ryan. The film is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Richard Stark and features a character modeled on Parker, who was introduced in The Hunter.- Plot :Released from prison In...
(1973) - Executive Action (1973)
- The Iceman ComethThe Iceman ComethThe Iceman Cometh is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1940 the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on 9 October 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling where it ran for 136 performances to close on 15 March 1947.-Characters:* Night Hawk-...
(1973) (as Larry Slade)