Years ago, in an unguarded moment, my mother told me she always had a crush on Robert Mitchum. I was surprised. She was this Irish-Catholic wife and mother and Mitchum had infamously served time for “narcotics.” Still, I understood: handsome, rugged, outlaw-persona with an impressive list of leading roles. After my mom told me that, I watched his movies differently, and became a fan of his work.

This 8-page article with photographs is full of things I didn’t know about him, including his hobo days as a very young kid, and interesting detail about the “narcotics” (marijuana) arrest and conviction. Mitchum was 45 years old at the time of this publication.

The Many Moods of Robert Mitchum by Bill Davidson

I always like Mitchum in the movies. One cool cat.

By many reports, at least at certain times in his life, he was a HUGE coke head.

Mitchum was at his best when playing evil characters.
Night of the Hunter.
Cape Fear.

Angel face with Jean Simmons. Thunder Road when it first came out. Trying to perfect the flick of a lit cigarette down the collar of the Revenuer. Out of the Past was great as well.

Check out “Out of the Past”, a great film noir also staring Kirk Douglas. He was the master of taking with a cigarette dangling at an angle.

Just watched "Blood on the Moon" again, sort of a western film noir with him and some other outstanding cast members. Has a grimy realistic appearance to the characters with the excellent B&W photography. Worth watching if a Mitchum and westerns fan.

Robert Mitchum's Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962) was a bona fide psychotic bad-ass compared to De Niro's cartoonish incarnation. One of my favorite Robert Mitchum movie lines is from the film His Kind of Woman (1951).

Lenore Brent (Jane Russel): "They tell me you killed Ferraro. How did it feel?"

Dan Milner (Robert Mitchum): "He didn't say."

My late mother in law actually told me the same thing while we were watching one of his movies.

When ever Mitchum is mentioned ... I think of the last scene in The Longest Day.

Did anyone take the time to read the article? It’s kinda lengthy, to be sure, but I think it’s worthwhile.

I haven't read your article yet but I remember a TCM interview by Robert Osborne years ago where he was pretty open with Robert. RM didn't think that most of his acting roles or movies were anything great. He pretty embarrassed about his performance of the roles given and did it for the money.

IMO RM had some real good movies but many were crap.

I will try and read the article later.

Interesting, Mustang-PaPa. I’m sure I haven’t seen all his movies, certainly all those he is well-known for, and those recommended by para over the last several years. The WWII movies The Enemy Below and Heaven Knows Mr. Allison come to mind more quickly for me than Night of the Hunter or Out of the Past, but that’s just me. He was an interesting man and, as stated, the article is worth your time.

My Great Aunt and Uncle were good friends of his.

Somewhere I have a pic of them with him…and I think Jane Russell.