TCM Schedule for Friday, August 6, 2021 -- Summer Under the Stars: Robert Mitchum

[Staph]

Today's Star is birthday boy Robert Mitchum, born Robert Charles Duran Mitchum on August 6, 1917, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. From his IMDB mini-bio:

Robert Mitchum was an underrated American leading man of enormous ability, who sublimated his talents beneath an air of disinterest. He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ann Harriet (Gunderson), a Norwegian immigrant, and James Thomas Mitchum, a shipyard/railroad worker. His father died in a train accident when he was two, and Robert and his siblings (including brother John Mitchum, later also an actor) were raised by his mother and stepfather (a British army major) in Connecticut, New York, and Delaware. An early contempt for authority led to discipline problems, and Mitchum spent good portions of his teen years adventuring on the open road. He later claimed that on one of these trips, at the age of 14, he was charged with vagrancy and sentenced to a Georgia chain gang, from which he escaped. Working a wide variety of jobs (including ghostwriter for astrologist Carroll Righter), Mitchum discovered acting in a Long Beach, California, amateur theater company. He worked at Lockheed Aircraft, where job stress caused him to suffer temporary blindness. About this time he began to obtain small roles in films, appearing in dozens within a very brief time. In 1945, he was cast as Lt. Walker in Story of G.I. Joe (1945) and received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor. His star ascended rapidly, and he became an icon of 1940s film noir, though equally adept at westerns and romantic dramas. His apparently lazy style and seen-it-all demeanor proved highly attractive to men and women, and by the 1950s, he was a true superstar despite a brief prison term for marijuana usage in 1949, which seemed to enhance rather than diminish his "bad boy" appeal. Though seemingly dismissive of "art," he worked in tremendously artistically thoughtful projects such as Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1955) and even co-wrote and composed an oratorio produced at the Hollywood Bowl by Orson Welles. A master of accents and seemingly unconcerned about his star image, he played in both forgettable and unforgettable films with unswerving nonchalance, leading many to overlook the prodigious talent he can bring to a project that he finds compelling. He moved into television in the 1980s as his film opportunities diminished, winning new fans with The Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988). His sons James Mitchum and Christopher Mitchum are actors, as is his grandson Bentley Mitchum. His last film was James Dean: Race with Destiny (1997) with Casper Van Dien as James Dean.

Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1944)
1h 17m | Comedy | TV-PG
A young woman sublets a Marine's apartment not knowing he's handed out keys to several of his friends.
Director: Joe May
Cast: Simone Simon, James Ellison, William Terry

Because of Robert Mitchum's subsequent fame, this film was reissued under a different title, "And So They Were Married" with Mitchum receiving top billing, although he was originally billed eighth and his part was quite small.


7:30 AM -- The Big Steal (1949)
1h 11m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
Seduction and murder follow the theft of an Army payroll.
Director: Don Siegel
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix

The shooting schedule had to be rearranged to accommodate Robert Mitchum's 43 day stay in prison for marijuana possession.


9:00 AM -- Blood on the Moon (1948)
1h 28m | Western | TV-G
A gunslinger hired to drive off a rancher falls in love with the man's daughter.
Director: Robert Wise
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston

Walter Brennan, an Old West aficionado and historian, saw Robert Mitchum walk onto the set in costume said, "that is the goddamnest realest cowboy I've ever seen!"


10:30 AM -- One Minute to Zero (1952)
1h 45m | War | TV-PG
A U.S. colonel in Korea tries to evacuate American civilians.
Director: Tay Garnett
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Ann Blyth, William Talman

The main theme by Victor Young is occasionally whistled by Robert Mitchum in the movie. It was published as "When I Fall in Love" with lyrics by Edward Heyman. The song has become a standard, with many artists recording it, though the original hit version was the Doris Day recording issued in 1952. Another version was recorded by Nat 'King' Cole in 1956 on the Capitol LP, "Love Is the Thing". The single was released in the UK in 1957 and reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart. Cole also sang it in Istanbul (1957) and he is the singer now most closely associated with the song.


12:30 PM -- Angel Face (1953)
1h 31m | Crime | TV-G
A woman murders her family for their money.
Director: Otto Preminger
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Mona Freeman

When Robert Mitchum got fed up with repeated re-takes in which director Otto Preminger ordered him to slap Jean Simmons across the face, he turned around and slapped Preminger, asking whether it was this way he wanted it. Preminger immediately demanded of producer Howard Hughes that Mitchum be replaced. Hughes refused.


2:15 PM -- Where Danger Lives (1950)
1h 24m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A psychopath draws her doctor into her murderous schemes.
Director: John Farrow
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Faith Domergue, Claude Rains

After Robert Mitchum' s marijuana bust, RKO Radio Pictures gave him work starring in several low-budget film noirs until the bad p.r. blew over. It did not seem to negatively affect his image, and might have helped it.


3:45 PM -- The Lusty Men (1952)
1h 53m | Drama | TV-PG
A faded rodeo star mentors a younger rider but falls for his wife.
Director: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Susan Hayward, Robert Mitchum, Arthur Kennedy

Robert Parrish directed for several days when Nicholas Ray fell ill.


5:45 PM -- The Sundowners (1960)
2h 13m | Drama | TV-PG
An Australian sheepherder and his wife clash over their nomadic existence and their son's future.
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Deborah Kerr, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Glynis Johns, Best Director -- Fred Zinnemann, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Isobel Lennart, and Best Picture

Gary Cooper was originally cast in the lead role of Paddy Carmondy, but had to back out due to poor health. Errol Flynn replaced him, but died before production began. Robert Mitchum stepped into the role for the chance to act with his good friend Deborah Kerr, with whom he had previously co-starred in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957). Mitchum agreed to give Kerr top billing, joking to the production team, "You can design a twenty-four-foot sign of me bowing to her if you like."



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS -- ROBERT MITCHUM



8:00 PM -- Out of the Past (1947)
1h 37m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A private eye becomes the dupe of a homicidal moll.
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas

Robert Mitchum told Roger Ebert he smoked so much that when the camera was rolling and Kirk Douglas offered him a pack and asked, "Cigarette?" Mitchum, realizing he'd carried a cigarette into the scene, held up his fingers and replied, "Smoking." His improvisation saved the take and they kept it in the movie.


10:00 PM -- Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
1h 37m | Adaptation | TV-MA
Los Angeles private detective Philip Marlowe takes on the job of finding an ex-con's girlfriend.
Director: Dick Richards
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Sylvia Miles

The filming of Farewell, My Lovely (1975) was a trip down memory lane for Robert Mitchum. The movie brought him back to the derelict neighborhoods he knew decades prior when he was a poverty stricken teenager. One night, as Mitchum handed money to vagrants on the streets, his actions attracted the attention of an old beat cop on patrol. The officer took a good look at Bob and said, "So you're back".


12:00 AM -- Macao (1952)
1h 20m | Adventure | TV-PG
A man on the run in the Far East is mistaken for an undercover cop.
Director: Josef Von Sternberg
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, William Bendix

Robert Mitchum actually wrote several scenes for this movie when Nicholas Ray came on board to do uncredited directing so that the script would make more sense.


1:45 AM -- The Way West (1967)
2h 2m | Western | TV-14
A senator hires a veteran scout to accompany a wagon train from Missouri to Oregon.
Director: Andrew V. Mclaglen
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Richard Widmark

Mitchum's speech in the Lakota language was shot right after his teacher read it to him just two times out loud! Mitchum only needed one take to do it flawlessly and his teacher said that it was the best Lakota accent he had ever heard.


4:00 AM -- Rampage (1963)
1h 38m | Drama | TV-PG
A romantic triangle complicates a big-game hunting expedition.
Director: Phil Karlson
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Elsa Martinelli, Jack Hawkins

Over the course of filming Robert Mitchum and Zamba the African Lion became good friends.