Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.
Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois, the first child of Timothy Ryan and his wife Mabel Bushnell Ryan . He graduated from
Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College," it is a member of the Ivy League and one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution...
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
WPAThe Works Progress Administration was the largest "New Deal" agency, employing millions of people and affecting almost every locality in the United States, especially rural and western mountain populations...
worker, and a ranch hand in
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other '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
playwrightA playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works are usually written to be performed in front of a live audience by actors...
, but had to turn to acting to support himself.
Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.
Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois, the first child of Timothy Ryan and his wife Mabel Bushnell Ryan . He graduated from
Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College," it is a member of the Ivy League and one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution...
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
WPAThe Works Progress Administration was the largest "New Deal" agency, employing millions of people and affecting almost every locality in the United States, especially rural and western mountain populations...
worker, and a ranch hand in
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other '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,...
.
Career
Ryan attempted to make a career in show business as a
playwrightA playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works are usually written to be performed in front of a live audience by actors...
, 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 CorpsThe United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States armed forces responsible for providing force projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
and served as a drill instructor at Camp Pendleton, in
San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego , named after Saint Didacus , is the second-largest city in California and the ninth largest city in the United States, located along the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of the United States. The US Census Bureau estimates the city's population at 1,279,329 as of 2008...
. At Camp Pendleton, he befriended writer and future director
Richard BrooksRichard Brooks was an American screenwriter, director, novelist and occasional producer.-Early life and Career:...
, whose novel,
The Brick Foxhole, he greatly admired. He also took up painting.
Ryan's breakout film role was as an anti-Semitic killer in
CrossfireCrossfire is a film noir drama film which deals with the theme of anti-Semitism, as did that year's Academy Award for Best Picture winner, Gentleman's Agreement. The film was directed by Edward Dmytryk and the screenplay was written by John Paxton, based on the novel The Brick Foxhole by...
(1947), a
film noirFilm 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 stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
based on Brooks's novel. From then on, Ryan's specialty was tough/tender roles, finding particular expression in the films of celebrated directors such as
Nicholas RayNicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause.-Early career:...
,
Robert WiseRobert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
and Sam Fuller. In Ray's
On 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) he portrayed a burnt-out city cop finding redemption while solving a rural murder. In Wise's
The Set-UpThe 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....
(1949), he played an over-the-hill boxer who is brutally punished for refusing to take a dive. Other important films were
Anthony MannAnthony Mann was an American actor and film director.-Biography:Born Emil Anton Bundsmann in the Point Loma area of San Diego, Mann was the son of an Austrian immigrant, Emile Theodore Bundsmann, and Bertha Waxelbaum of Macon, Georgia.Mann started out as an actor, appearing in plays off-Broadway...
's western
The Naked Spur{Infobox Film | name = The Naked Spur | image = Nakedspur.JPG | caption - original movie poster | amg_id = 1:34403 | imdb_id = 0044953 | producer = William H...
, Sam Fuller's uproarious Japanese set gangland thriller
House 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...
,
Bad Day at Black RockBad Day at Black Rock is a 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 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...
. He also appeared in several all-star war films, including
The Longest DayThe Longest Day is a war film based on the 1959 history book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, about "D-Day", the invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, during World War II....
(1962) and
Battle of the BulgeBattle of the Bulge is a war film 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). He also played
John the BaptistJohn the Baptist was a mission preacher and a major religious figure who led a movement of Baptism at the Jordan River in expectation of a divine apocalypse that would restore occupied Israel...
in MGM's 1961 Technicolor epic
King of Kings.
In his later years, Ryan continued playing key roles in major films. Most notable of these were
The Dirty DozenThe Dirty Dozen is a World War II war film directed by Robert Aldrich, based on the novel by E. M. Nathanson and starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson and Jim Brown.-Plot:...
,
The ProfessionalsThe Professionals is a 1966 American Western film directed by Richard Brooks. A kidnap-rescue adventure set in about 1917, it features a small group of experts heading into Mexico to free the Mexican-born wife of a wealthy Texan from several hundred bandits. The film is based on the novel A Mule...
and
Sam PeckinpahDavid Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved his status following the release of his 1969 Western epic The Wild Bunch...
's highly influential brutal western
The Wild BunchThe Wild Bunch directed by Sam Peckinpah, is a Western film about an aging outlaw gang at the Texas-Mexico border trying to exist in the modern world of supposedly 1913...
.
Ryan appeared several times on the
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
stage. His credits there include
Clash by NightClash 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. PresidentMr. 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 PageThe Front Page is a hit Broadway comedy, written by one-time Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur which was first produced in 1928.-Synopsis:...
, a drama about
newspaperA newspaper is a publication containing news, information, and advertising. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on political events, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports. Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing columns that express the...
s.
He appeared in many television series in a guest-starring role, including the role of Franklin Hoppy-Hopp in the 1964 episode "Who Chopped Down the Cherry Tree?" on the
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
medical dramaA medical drama is a television drama in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. While not as popular as legal/crime drama, it is still easily identifiable occupational based drama....
about
psychiatryPsychiatry is a medical specialty officially devoted to the treatment and study of mental disorders. The term was first coined by the German physician Johann Christian Reil in 1808....
,
The Eleventh HourThe Eleventh Hour is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 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....
. Similarly, he guest starred as Lloyd Osment in the 1964 episode "Better Than a Dead Lion" in the ABC psychiatric series,
Breaking PointBreaking Point is a medical drama which aired thirty new episodes on ABC from September 16, 1963, to April 27, 1964, continuing in rebroadcasts until September 7. It starred Paul Richards as Dr. McKinley Thompson, a resident in psychiatry at fictitious York Hospital. Eduard Franz co-starred as...
. In 1964, Ryan appeared with
Warren OatesWarren Mercer Oates was a prolific 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 ReporterThe Reporter is a CBS dramatic television series starring 38-year-old Harry Guardino as Danny Taylor, a reporter for the fictitious New York Globe newspaper, which aired thirteen episodes from September 25 to December 18, 1964...
, starring
Harry GuardinoHarry 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...
in the title role of
journalistA journalist is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that are not biased.Reporters are one type of journalist...
Danny Taylor. Ryan appeared five times (1956-1959) on CBS's
Dick Powell's Zane Grey TheaterDick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theater, is a Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956-1961.-Six spinoff series:...
and twice (1959 and 1961) on the
Zane Grey spin-offA spin-off is a new organization or entity formed by a split from a larger one, such as television series based on a pre-existing one, or a new company formed from a university research group or business incubator...
Frontier JusticeFor 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 TrainWagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957-1962 and then on ABC from 1962-1965...
.
Politics
Ryan was a
liberalLiberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted today throughout the world, and was recognized as an important value by many philosophers throughout history...
DemocratThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
who tirelessly supported
civil rightsCivil and political rights are a class of rights and freedoms that protect individuals from unwarranted government action and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression....
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 UnionThe American Civil Liberties Union consists of two separate non-profit organizations: the ACLU Foundation, a 501 organization which focuses on litigation and communication efforts, and the American Civil Liberties Union, a 501 organization which focuses on legislative lobbying...
,
American Friends Service CommitteeThe American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which provides humanitarian relief and works for social justice, peace and reconciliation, human rights, and abolition of the death penalty...
, and United World Federalists. In September 1959, he and
Steve AllenSteve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen, American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3*Steve Allen, British musician, lead singer of Liverpool rock band Deaf School...
became founding co-chairs of
The Committee for a SANE Nuclear PolicySane 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 CosbyWilliam Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, 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 Bill Cosby Show,...
,
Robert CulpRobert Martin Culp is an American actor and scriptwriter, perhaps best known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy , the espionage series, where he and co-star Bill Cosby played a pair of secret agents and for playing Ray...
,
Sidney PoitierSir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian-American actor, film director, author, and diplomat. He broke through as a star in acclaimed performances in American films and plays, which, by consciously defying racial stereotyping, gave a new dramatic credibility for black actors to mainstream film...
, 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
McCarthyismMcCarthyism is the politically motivated practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence...
who nevertheless served the anticommunist cause by playing a nefarious Communist agent in
I Married a CommunistI 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
CrossfireCrossfire is a film noir drama film which deals with the theme of anti-Semitism, as did that year's Academy Award for Best Picture winner, Gentleman's Agreement. The film was directed by Edward Dmytryk and the screenplay was written by John Paxton, based on the novel The Brick Foxhole by...
and
Odds 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...
, which ultimately promoted racial tolerance, he played bigoted bad guys. Ryan was often vocal about this dichotomy. At a screening of
Odds 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...
, 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 Professor of Philosophy at the
University of OregonThe University of Oregon is a public, coeducational research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The second oldest public university in the state, UO was founded in 1876, and graduated its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of...
) and Timothy "Tim" Ryan, and one daughter, Lisa Ryan. Robert and Jessica Ryan remained married until her death from cancer in 1972. He died from
lung cancerLung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. This growth may lead to metastasis, which is the invasion of adjacent tissue and infiltration beyond the lungs. The vast majority of primary lung cancers are carcinomas of the lung, derived from epithelial cells...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
the following year, aged 63.
Jupiter's Father-in-Law
In 1995, Robert Ryan returned to the screen posthumously in the award-winning documentary,
Jupiter's Wife. In the film, Maggie Cogan (a homeless inhabitant of
Central ParkCentral Park is a large public, urban park that occupies over a square mile in the heart of Manhattan in New York City. It is host to approximately twenty-five million visitors each year...
) claims to be the daughter of Robert Ryan as well as the wife of
JupiterIn Roman mythology, Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods, and the god of sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon. He was called Iuppiter Optimus Maximus ; as the patron deity of the Roman state, he ruled over laws and social order...
. The film won a Special Recognition award and was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the
Sundance Film FestivalThe Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in the state of Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the U.S. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as the Sundance Resort, the festival is the premier...
that year. The film also tied for Best Documentary Feature at the
Vancouver International Film FestivalThe Vancouver International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for two weeks in late September and early October...
.
Selected filmography
- Golden Gloves (1940)
- Bombardier
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)
- Tender Comrade (1943)
- Marine Raiders
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)
- Woman on the Beach (1947)
- Crossfire
Crossfire is a film noir drama film which deals with the theme of anti-Semitism, as did that year's Academy Award for Best Picture winner, Gentleman's Agreement. The film was directed by Edward Dmytryk and the screenplay was written by John Paxton, based on the novel The Brick Foxhole by...
(1947)
- Berlin Express
Berlin Express is a black-and-white film directed by Jacques Tourneur. The film was shot on location in post-WWII Frankfurt-am-Main and Berlin, Germany as well as Paris, France...
(1948)
- The Boy with Green Hair
The Boy with Green Hair is a 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)
- Caught
Caught is a American drama film based on novel written by Libbie Block. Directed by Max Ophuls, it is considered his most-successful American work...
(1949)
- I Married a Communist
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-Up
The 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....
(1949)
- The Secret Fury
The Secret Fury is a 1950 black-and-white drama film distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, directed by Mel Ferrer.-Plot:Musician and wealthy woman, Ellen, is accused of already being married when she attempts to take her wedding vows. Ellen, her future husband and the wedding guests are shocked...
(1950)
- Born to Be Bad
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 Racket
The Racket is a 1951 remake of the 1928 film of the same name. 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 Leathernecks
Flying 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 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)
- Clash by Night
Clash by Night is a black-and-white film noir drama 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 Lovely
Beware, My Lovely is a suspense film produced by Collier Young/Ida Lupino's production company The Filmakers.- Plot :The film is set in 1918 in an unnamed small town. A widow impulsively hires handyman to look after her house...
(1952)
- City Beneath the Sea
City Beneath the Sea is a 1953 adventure film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Robert Ryan and Anthony Quinn. The film is based on the book Port Royal: The Ghost City Beneath the Sea by Harry E....
(1953)
- The Naked Spur
{Infobox Film | name = The Naked Spur | image = Nakedspur.JPG | caption - original movie poster | amg_id = 1:34403 | imdb_id = 0044953 | producer = William H...
(1953)
- Inferno
Inferno is a 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....
(1953)
- Alaska Seas
Alaska Seas is a 1954 crime drama film directed by Jerry Hopper and starring Robert Ryan and Brian Keith.-Plot Synopsis:Matt Kelly is released from jail and skips town in his boat without paying outstanding storage fees...
(1954)
- Bad Day at Black Rock
Bad Day at Black Rock is a 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 Men
The Tall Men is a 1955 western movie 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 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...
(1955)
- Escape to Burma (1955)
- The Proud Ones
The 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)
- Men in War
Men in War is a war film. 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 during the Korean War. It was based on a novel by Van Van Praag...
(1957)
- God's Little Acre
God'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 a literary board in New York attempted to censor it, leading to the author's arrest and trial for obscenity...
(1958)
- Lonelyhearts
Lonelyhearts 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 Outlaw
Day of the Outlaw is a 1959 film starring Robert Ryan and Burl Ives. It was directed by André De Toth. Parts of it were filmed on location in snowy Wyoming.-Plot:...
(1959)
- 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...
(1959)
- King of Kings (1961)
- The Longest Day
The Longest Day is a war film based on the 1959 history book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, about "D-Day", the invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, during World War II....
(1962)
- Billy Budd
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 Bulge
Battle of the Bulge is a war film 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 Game
The Dirty Game is a 1965 thriller film starring Henry Fonda. -Cast:* Henry Fonda - Dimitri Koulov* Robert Ryan - General Bruce* Vittorio Gassman - Perego / Ferrari * Annie Girardot - Suzette / Monique * Bourvil - Lalande...
(1965)
- The Professionals
The Professionals is a 1966 American Western film directed by Richard Brooks. A kidnap-rescue adventure set in about 1917, it features a small group of experts heading into Mexico to free the Mexican-born wife of a wealthy Texan from several hundred bandits. The film is based on the novel A Mule...
(1966)
- The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen is a World War II war film directed by Robert Aldrich, based on the novel by E. M. Nathanson and starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson and Jim Brown.-Plot:...
(1967)
- Hour of the Gun
Hour of the Gun is 1967 Western film about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, 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....
(1967)
- Custer of the West
Custer 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)
- Anzio
Anzio, also known as Lo Sbarco di Anzio or The Battle of 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 City
Captain 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 Bunch
The Wild Bunch directed by Sam Peckinpah, is a Western film about an aging outlaw gang at the Texas-Mexico border trying to exist in the modern world of supposedly 1913...
(1969)
- Lawman (1971)
- The Iceman Cometh
The 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:* Harry Hope –...
(1973) (as Larry Slade)
- Executive Action (1973)
- Lolly-Madonna XXX
Lolly-Madonna XXX is a 1973 film directed by Richard C. Sarafian. The film was co-written by Rodney Carr-Smith and Sue Grafton, based on the novel by Grafton.-Plot:...
(1973)
- The Outfit
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 the character of Parker introduced in The Hunter....
(1973)
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