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Robert Mitchum: "Baby I Don't Care"
One of the movies' greatest actors and most colorful characters, a real-life tough guy with the prison record to prove it, Robert Mitchum was a movie icon for an almost unprecedented half-century, the cool, sleepy-eyed star of such classics as The Night of the Hunter; Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison; Cape Fear; The Longest Day; Farewell, My Lovely; and The Winds of War. Mitchum's powerful presence and simmering violence combined with hard-boiled humor and existential detachment to create a new style in movie acting: the screen's first hipster antihero-before Brando, James Dean, Elvis, or Eastwood-the inventor of big-screen cool.
Robert Mitchum: "Baby, I Don't Care" is the first complete biography of Mitchum, and a book as big, colorful, and controversial as the star himself. Exhaustively researched, it makes use of thousands of rare documents from around the world and nearly two hundred in-depth interviews with Mitchum's family, friends, and associates (many going on record for the first time ever) ranging over his seventy-nine years of hard living. Written with great style, and vividly detailed, this is an intimate, comprehensive portrait of an amazing life, comic, tragic, daring, and outrageous.
Robert Mitchum: "Baby, I Don't Care" is the first complete biography of Mitchum, and a book as big, colorful, and controversial as the star himself. Exhaustively researched, it makes use of thousands of rare documents from around the world and nearly two hundred in-depth interviews with Mitchum's family, friends, and associates (many going on record for the first time ever) ranging over his seventy-nine years of hard living. Written with great style, and vividly detailed, this is an intimate, comprehensive portrait of an amazing life, comic, tragic, daring, and outrageous.
608 pages, Paperback
First published March 20, 2001
125 people are currently reading
912 people want to read
About the author
Lee Server
36 books18 followersLee Server specialises in books on popular culture and literary history.
He is the critically acclaimed author of such as 'Danger Is My Business: The Illustrated History of the Fabulous Pulp Magazines' (1993), 'Over My Dead Body: The Sensational Age of the American Paperback' (1995) and the biography 'Robert Mitchum: Baby, I Don't Care' (2001).
He is the critically acclaimed author of such as 'Danger Is My Business: The Illustrated History of the Fabulous Pulp Magazines' (1993), 'Over My Dead Body: The Sensational Age of the American Paperback' (1995) and the biography 'Robert Mitchum: Baby, I Don't Care' (2001).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
March 27, 2014
Cool can be defined in two words: Robert Mitchum. In this world where nothing is consistent, we have one man who was consistent in his ability to convey a sense of "I don't give a fuck" throughout all of his 79 years. Reading Lee Server's biography Robert Mitchum: "Baby I Don't Care", one is struck by Mitchum's skill in making things look easy -- when Mitchum actually bothers to use any skill. His acting technique was closer to Zen than method acting: His primary concern was to memorize the shooting script and make sure he didn't bump into the furniture.
Of course, the directors were all warned not to have Mitchum work past 6 P.M., due to his alcohol intake during the early-morning hours and his 24-hour-a-day passion for the "devil weed." Aside from that, he was the perfect employee -- he was always a friend to the shooting crew (he often ensured that the set was supplied with good food), while challenging the higher-ups at every opportunity. Although he was married for over 50 years, he was the ultimate skirt-chaser. Either he must have done something right, or his wife should have gotten a Purple Heart just for putting up with him.
What's also obvious to anyone who has seen any of his impressive screen roles -- The Night of the Hunter; Cape Fear; Farewell, My Lovely; Thunder Road; Out of the Past -- is that Mitchum was a highly intelligent man who understood the space around and beyond the material he had to work with. He was extremely well read, a writer himself (it is one of the great disappointments that he never wrote his autobiography), a hard-core record collector who had a passion for hard bebop as well as for opera, and a true connoisseur of marijuana. In other words, Mitchum was the ultimate hipster, who somehow found himself as one of America's great movie stars. In a way, he was the proto-Elvis, in that his image conveyed certain wild, untamable urges, with a look of "so what?" tattooed all over his eyelids.
Server's excellent biography lists numerous examples of Mitchum starting bar fights, farting in people's faces, attending swinging bachelor parties, whipping out his penis (and pissing on various objects and persons), and telling uproarious stories. Like the time he woke up -- still drunk -- with a woman in some room he didn't recognize. He got up and left quietly, quite fearful that his wife would find out. Later, he realized that he had left the wristwatch his wife had given him in the bedroom. As Mitchum began to panic, his wife casually mentioned that he had left his wristwatch by their bedside. He hadn't realized that he had been sleeping with his own wife!
The pairing of Mitchum the subject with Server the biographer is a perfect one. Server fairly balances Mitchum's rough edges (of which there are many) and his notorious character with his kindness to his coworkers and his great skill as an actor. Server is also one of the leading film noir historians, so he knows film history, in addition to the economic and political circumstances without which film noir never would have thrived. This book is the next best thing to having Mitchum himself tell these stories at his favorite watering hole
Of course, the directors were all warned not to have Mitchum work past 6 P.M., due to his alcohol intake during the early-morning hours and his 24-hour-a-day passion for the "devil weed." Aside from that, he was the perfect employee -- he was always a friend to the shooting crew (he often ensured that the set was supplied with good food), while challenging the higher-ups at every opportunity. Although he was married for over 50 years, he was the ultimate skirt-chaser. Either he must have done something right, or his wife should have gotten a Purple Heart just for putting up with him.
What's also obvious to anyone who has seen any of his impressive screen roles -- The Night of the Hunter; Cape Fear; Farewell, My Lovely; Thunder Road; Out of the Past -- is that Mitchum was a highly intelligent man who understood the space around and beyond the material he had to work with. He was extremely well read, a writer himself (it is one of the great disappointments that he never wrote his autobiography), a hard-core record collector who had a passion for hard bebop as well as for opera, and a true connoisseur of marijuana. In other words, Mitchum was the ultimate hipster, who somehow found himself as one of America's great movie stars. In a way, he was the proto-Elvis, in that his image conveyed certain wild, untamable urges, with a look of "so what?" tattooed all over his eyelids.
Server's excellent biography lists numerous examples of Mitchum starting bar fights, farting in people's faces, attending swinging bachelor parties, whipping out his penis (and pissing on various objects and persons), and telling uproarious stories. Like the time he woke up -- still drunk -- with a woman in some room he didn't recognize. He got up and left quietly, quite fearful that his wife would find out. Later, he realized that he had left the wristwatch his wife had given him in the bedroom. As Mitchum began to panic, his wife casually mentioned that he had left his wristwatch by their bedside. He hadn't realized that he had been sleeping with his own wife!
The pairing of Mitchum the subject with Server the biographer is a perfect one. Server fairly balances Mitchum's rough edges (of which there are many) and his notorious character with his kindness to his coworkers and his great skill as an actor. Server is also one of the leading film noir historians, so he knows film history, in addition to the economic and political circumstances without which film noir never would have thrived. This book is the next best thing to having Mitchum himself tell these stories at his favorite watering hole
October 27, 2013
Lee Server has produced what must be the definitive biography of the American actor Robert Mitchum. Server organizes and presents his material well, and there is lots of it there. I like how he includes the quotes and stories from those who knew Mr. Mitchum. I paid particular attention to the sections about his great movies I have enjoyed watching: Angel Face, Cape Fear, Out of the Past (probably my favorite RM film I've watched several times), Rio Lobo, and I know I'm forgetting the others. He made a few forgettable films, too, and these are also covered. I came away liking and admiring the actor more than when I started reading about him. Great stuff for any film fan.
May 20, 2020
This is a very comprehensive biography on the subject of the life of one Robert Charles Durman Mitchum, actor, director, author, poet, composer, and singer. The book is filled about the mans youth which was extremely surprising and by the time he became an actor he had already lived what for most men/women would be an entire lifetime and he was just beginning his career.
It is said that constantly in this book that Robert Mitchum never was a movie-star in the sense that John Wayne, Steve McQueen, Sean Connery were but that he certainly had a name that drew people to him and to a certain extent to the cinema. I personally remember him first from his role in the epic tv seriesWinds of War. It was only later I watched some of his earlier exploits like
Mitchum came in at the era of the B-movies, the westerns who were made in quick succession, his first outfit was one of cowboy performer that had recently died. He certainly became one of the faces in westerns, which perhaps compromises close to quarter of his movie career.
When he was "discovered" as a movie star he was signed into the studio system by the movie studio RKO. His career with RKO also is the tale of the latter years of this particular movie studio that has released the Astaire & Rogers movie, the Saint & Falcon series, the Hoppy western series. Which is interesting to read as well the involvement of one Howard Hughes, a phenomenon in himself.
Then we learn about his further carer outside of the system as a solo actor, who never employed an agent but had a personal assistent Rena who did all that for him.
Mitchum was a drunk, weed smoking philandering man with a wife and three kids. He and his wife were high-school sweethearts and she stayed with him through the bad and the troubled times. This book is full of his digressions, drinking and rude behaviour towards anybody.
He is certainly a fascinating man who had so much to offer but was essentially a married bachelor who did an awful lot of movies and spend that time away from his family.
A very interesting & difficult man who made his own life and that of his family more difficult than they deserved, but he passionately loved them even if there were a few others who he loved for some time too.
A fascinating biography written by a certain knowledgeable writer who seemed to love his subject, why not a five star notation, at times the stories became too similar and could have been delivered in a different way keeping the reader guessing if a similar thing had not already happened before. That said Mitchum was a colorful person with a lot of anecdotes to be told about that and a fascinating insight in the history of the early movie industry up to late 20th century is a difficult thing to pass up.
I would give the book a 4,5 star being that a 5 star is too much I will stick to a 4-star judgement, anybody interested in Hollywood and its less clean image does well to pick up this doorstop of a book, it is time well spend.
It is said that constantly in this book that Robert Mitchum never was a movie-star in the sense that John Wayne, Steve McQueen, Sean Connery were but that he certainly had a name that drew people to him and to a certain extent to the cinema. I personally remember him first from his role in the epic tv seriesWinds of War. It was only later I watched some of his earlier exploits like
Mitchum came in at the era of the B-movies, the westerns who were made in quick succession, his first outfit was one of cowboy performer that had recently died. He certainly became one of the faces in westerns, which perhaps compromises close to quarter of his movie career.
When he was "discovered" as a movie star he was signed into the studio system by the movie studio RKO. His career with RKO also is the tale of the latter years of this particular movie studio that has released the Astaire & Rogers movie, the Saint & Falcon series, the Hoppy western series. Which is interesting to read as well the involvement of one Howard Hughes, a phenomenon in himself.
Then we learn about his further carer outside of the system as a solo actor, who never employed an agent but had a personal assistent Rena who did all that for him.
Mitchum was a drunk, weed smoking philandering man with a wife and three kids. He and his wife were high-school sweethearts and she stayed with him through the bad and the troubled times. This book is full of his digressions, drinking and rude behaviour towards anybody.
He is certainly a fascinating man who had so much to offer but was essentially a married bachelor who did an awful lot of movies and spend that time away from his family.
A very interesting & difficult man who made his own life and that of his family more difficult than they deserved, but he passionately loved them even if there were a few others who he loved for some time too.
A fascinating biography written by a certain knowledgeable writer who seemed to love his subject, why not a five star notation, at times the stories became too similar and could have been delivered in a different way keeping the reader guessing if a similar thing had not already happened before. That said Mitchum was a colorful person with a lot of anecdotes to be told about that and a fascinating insight in the history of the early movie industry up to late 20th century is a difficult thing to pass up.
I would give the book a 4,5 star being that a 5 star is too much I will stick to a 4-star judgement, anybody interested in Hollywood and its less clean image does well to pick up this doorstop of a book, it is time well spend.
May 26, 2013
He was a poet with an ax. Beneath this deity of indifference beat the heart of a lyricist who used the adventures of his early life to become one of the last Golden Age film stars. Masculine. Tough. Sarcastic. Charismatic. The Bard of BadAss.
Mitchum didn't need to do much. The great film critic, James Agee, once aptly described him as, "Bing Crosby...on barbiturates". The languorous big dude had presence, and that's what makes a movie star. Watching the camera close in on Mitch's simmering profile in its B&W glory on Pursued, one wishes we had someone on the screen today who could exude the same good/evil battle that defined Mitchum's magnetism.
After hearing Elia Kazan tell Robert DeNiro to think of something different while saying his lines, Mitchum retorted, "Shit, I've been doing that for years".
Lee Server provides a lengthy take on Robert Mitchum's life and screen roles. As someone who had only seen some of his later movies, it was worthwhile to hunt down some of the films to see if Server's enthusiasm was justified. It certainly was. I enjoyed the book and the detailed research. Mitchum's films are now part of my collection, so I would say the book is a success.
They certainly had faces then.
Book Season = Summer (let me tell you the story about right hand/left hand)
Mitchum didn't need to do much. The great film critic, James Agee, once aptly described him as, "Bing Crosby...on barbiturates". The languorous big dude had presence, and that's what makes a movie star. Watching the camera close in on Mitch's simmering profile in its B&W glory on Pursued, one wishes we had someone on the screen today who could exude the same good/evil battle that defined Mitchum's magnetism.
After hearing Elia Kazan tell Robert DeNiro to think of something different while saying his lines, Mitchum retorted, "Shit, I've been doing that for years".
Lee Server provides a lengthy take on Robert Mitchum's life and screen roles. As someone who had only seen some of his later movies, it was worthwhile to hunt down some of the films to see if Server's enthusiasm was justified. It certainly was. I enjoyed the book and the detailed research. Mitchum's films are now part of my collection, so I would say the book is a success.
They certainly had faces then.
Book Season = Summer (let me tell you the story about right hand/left hand)
November 13, 2016
I just finished reading Robert Mitchum "Baby I Don't care" by Lee Server. I miss him terribly.I suppose I'm always like that when someone who exuded life, dies. Obviously, he lived for me as long as he was living in the book.
I love him for being such a renegade.So few people can carry it off. It takes a lot to make a Robert Mitchum,but the absence of a father figure in his youth is probably the chief contributory factor. His intelligence, charisma, good looks and adventurous spirit and of course the nurturing of his "loving, but disfunctional family" to quote Lee Server, allowed him the freedom to be himself, live life as he chose and basically get away with it.
So, what did I learn about Mitchum? I should start by saying that I
began reading about Mitchum because I found him so sexually handsome, but I could see something deeper, when I looked at my online collection of Mitchum photos.There was a mystery, an elusiveness in his eyes that drew me to him, and nothing has been resolved by reading the book, which is probably good, because one doesn't like ones heros to become human.
But he was. If you know anything about Mitchum, you know that he was no saint. The women, the marejuana, the fights, the time spent in prison. But what I hoped for, was to find a man I liked beneath the image that he presented, and I did. He was good to his wife apart from the affairs and the daliences. (Feminists will murder me for saying this). Dorothy wasn't always happy, and yes she endured a lot, but the man loved her and looked after her, and was a pretty good father to their children. He was an excellent actor, who wasn't very proud of his job. He was charitable without ostentation, giving to those he felt were deserving - down and outs, prisoners and life's loosers.
And the book that Server wrote about him? The anecdotes were good and that's what kept me reading, but I could have done with a lot more of them. The book was thorough and well written but the background information about the films ( which was necessary for the reader to understand the context of the anecdotes that followed) was often heavy going. If the book were to be divided in two, the first part would be by far the more interesting.
I like Mitchum as much , having read the book as before, but I'm left with a feeling that I want more, and I don't know that that "more" will ever be forthcoming. Server's book is the most recent to have been written about Mitchum and is very thoroughly researched. I'm grateful that he made the effort. I can imagine that it was no easy job. The Mitchum family seem quite reticent to talk and Riva Frederick (Mitchum's secretary) if she is alive, is probably the only one who could shed more light on the enigmatic Mitchum persona. Lee Server has given us everything that is out there, so if you're interested in Mitchum, this is the book to read.
.
I love him for being such a renegade.So few people can carry it off. It takes a lot to make a Robert Mitchum,but the absence of a father figure in his youth is probably the chief contributory factor. His intelligence, charisma, good looks and adventurous spirit and of course the nurturing of his "loving, but disfunctional family" to quote Lee Server, allowed him the freedom to be himself, live life as he chose and basically get away with it.
So, what did I learn about Mitchum? I should start by saying that I
began reading about Mitchum because I found him so sexually handsome, but I could see something deeper, when I looked at my online collection of Mitchum photos.There was a mystery, an elusiveness in his eyes that drew me to him, and nothing has been resolved by reading the book, which is probably good, because one doesn't like ones heros to become human.
But he was. If you know anything about Mitchum, you know that he was no saint. The women, the marejuana, the fights, the time spent in prison. But what I hoped for, was to find a man I liked beneath the image that he presented, and I did. He was good to his wife apart from the affairs and the daliences. (Feminists will murder me for saying this). Dorothy wasn't always happy, and yes she endured a lot, but the man loved her and looked after her, and was a pretty good father to their children. He was an excellent actor, who wasn't very proud of his job. He was charitable without ostentation, giving to those he felt were deserving - down and outs, prisoners and life's loosers.
And the book that Server wrote about him? The anecdotes were good and that's what kept me reading, but I could have done with a lot more of them. The book was thorough and well written but the background information about the films ( which was necessary for the reader to understand the context of the anecdotes that followed) was often heavy going. If the book were to be divided in two, the first part would be by far the more interesting.
I like Mitchum as much , having read the book as before, but I'm left with a feeling that I want more, and I don't know that that "more" will ever be forthcoming. Server's book is the most recent to have been written about Mitchum and is very thoroughly researched. I'm grateful that he made the effort. I can imagine that it was no easy job. The Mitchum family seem quite reticent to talk and Riva Frederick (Mitchum's secretary) if she is alive, is probably the only one who could shed more light on the enigmatic Mitchum persona. Lee Server has given us everything that is out there, so if you're interested in Mitchum, this is the book to read.
.
January 26, 2021
I had always thought that Robert Mitchum was a vastly under-rated actor (I mean, just watch his performances in The Night of the Hunter or Cape Fear or Out of the Past) and that he was the "coolest" Hollywood celebrity of his generation. Being faced with surgery and some hospital time I thought his biography would be an interesting but relatively lightweight read.
This comprehensive biography seems to do a great job conveying the essence of the man lying beneath his tools and talents. Of course, there are a few "salacious" bits although apparently Mitchum was not really a "skirt-chaser". Women would apparently make it clear they wanted him and he just went along (at least until he hooked up with Shirley MacLaine).
The author devotes equal time to Mitchum as a man, a husband, and an actor and seems to present a pretty "objective" view of the subject. Now I can't wait to watch more Mitchum movies.
This comprehensive biography seems to do a great job conveying the essence of the man lying beneath his tools and talents. Of course, there are a few "salacious" bits although apparently Mitchum was not really a "skirt-chaser". Women would apparently make it clear they wanted him and he just went along (at least until he hooked up with Shirley MacLaine).
The author devotes equal time to Mitchum as a man, a husband, and an actor and seems to present a pretty "objective" view of the subject. Now I can't wait to watch more Mitchum movies.
September 25, 2024
A treatise on "sang froid", "coolness", contrasted with the lives of Kirk Douglas or Errol Flynn, the latter more in agreement with Mitchum than the former. Robert Mitchum embodied many mysteries. He often could deliver a scripted line by looking at it one time. He was a kind and generous actor, helping less able actors muck through difficult scenes. Sort of a man of "virtu". He was a steady presence riled by few and riling few except maybe the police. Of all the actors, I still admire "Bob" Mitchum the most of the Hollywood actors, not so much for his acting ability but who he was in spite of being an actor. Lee Server details his life quite well.
January 16, 2008
I've thought it was unfortunate timing that Robert Mitchum died a day or two before/after James Stewart. His passing didn't get the attention it deserved. For fans of indelible old films like The Night of the Hunter and the (real) Cape Fear, this is a must read.
December 14, 2021
Robert Mitchum was born in 1917. This book is much about Hollywood as it is about the actor. In its telling it explains how RKO studios met its demise through the meglomainic Howard Hughes interfering ways. It's amazing any RKO pictures got made much less made a profit. The book documents how stories changed; how actors changed and how directors changed during production.
Most of the movies mentioned i never heard of, much less seen and i used to be a film buff. Reading about the productions i wish i had seen them. IMDb came to the rescue by offering reviews, ratings and clips from many of the films mentioned. It took longer to get throigh the book from watching eighty or so two-to-three minute trailers. Here is one from "Out of the Past" which Robert Ebert suggested was the greatest Film Noir:
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0039689/?r...
T(e book portrays Mitchum alternatively as a bad slack-off character or a creative work hard genius, with snippets of insights to many of Hollywood's stars. Stories were so outlandish i did internet searches to verifly their veracity, There were not any kind remarks for Marilyn Munroe nor Kirk Douglas. Mitchum was presented as sometimes cool, sometimes an asshole; rerhaps he was somehow both.
When he was on a boost moral tour in Viet Nam, many soldiers gave him notes to call home, which he did for all the notes provided.
Mitchum made 132 films and just about all of them are covered in the narrative. I had seen about three of them (the dismal Ryan's Daughter account of director David Lean; the unmemorable Winds of War, account Herman Wouk's book; and the grand El Dorado because it was on TV one night).
The author usually ended each roughly two-page segment with a humourous quip. I laughed out loud at nearly a hundred of them. Here are samples:
·he'd seen very few of the films the had been in. He said they didn't pay him to watch them and it was always a pain in the ass to find parking.
· he told people he made Westerns to make the horses look good
· when he kept wardrobes from a shoot, they told him he had to pay, he said to tell the accountant he stole them
· with everyone distancing themselves from "Desire Me" Mitchum said "Nobody desired anybody"
· Mitchum performed his tough guy characterization with a refined minimalism. Given nothing to do, he did it to perfection.
· while considering the role in "Ryan's Daughter" he remembered how long Lean took to make each of his pictures "Nine years or something and you had to do the wole thing on a camel."
·· he said that Lean worked at the pace of pyramid builders
· as the fifth recipient of the LA Film Critics Association Lifetime Achievement he said "Thankyou for picking my name out of a hat"
· when he was told they were going to put his name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame he remarked "I thought it was already there."
He died in 1997.
Most of the movies mentioned i never heard of, much less seen and i used to be a film buff. Reading about the productions i wish i had seen them. IMDb came to the rescue by offering reviews, ratings and clips from many of the films mentioned. It took longer to get throigh the book from watching eighty or so two-to-three minute trailers. Here is one from "Out of the Past" which Robert Ebert suggested was the greatest Film Noir:
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0039689/?r...
T(e book portrays Mitchum alternatively as a bad slack-off character or a creative work hard genius, with snippets of insights to many of Hollywood's stars. Stories were so outlandish i did internet searches to verifly their veracity, There were not any kind remarks for Marilyn Munroe nor Kirk Douglas. Mitchum was presented as sometimes cool, sometimes an asshole; rerhaps he was somehow both.
When he was on a boost moral tour in Viet Nam, many soldiers gave him notes to call home, which he did for all the notes provided.
Mitchum made 132 films and just about all of them are covered in the narrative. I had seen about three of them (the dismal Ryan's Daughter account of director David Lean; the unmemorable Winds of War, account Herman Wouk's book; and the grand El Dorado because it was on TV one night).
The author usually ended each roughly two-page segment with a humourous quip. I laughed out loud at nearly a hundred of them. Here are samples:
·he'd seen very few of the films the had been in. He said they didn't pay him to watch them and it was always a pain in the ass to find parking.
· he told people he made Westerns to make the horses look good
· when he kept wardrobes from a shoot, they told him he had to pay, he said to tell the accountant he stole them
· with everyone distancing themselves from "Desire Me" Mitchum said "Nobody desired anybody"
· Mitchum performed his tough guy characterization with a refined minimalism. Given nothing to do, he did it to perfection.
· while considering the role in "Ryan's Daughter" he remembered how long Lean took to make each of his pictures "Nine years or something and you had to do the wole thing on a camel."
·· he said that Lean worked at the pace of pyramid builders
· as the fifth recipient of the LA Film Critics Association Lifetime Achievement he said "Thankyou for picking my name out of a hat"
· when he was told they were going to put his name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame he remarked "I thought it was already there."
He died in 1997.
August 19, 2023
I am having a hard time rating this book, There are many contradictions in this book as there are in the man, Robert Mitchum. For someone who has been a fan ever since I watched old movies on TV as a teen or preteen with my mother, I was rather shocked and disillusioned by some information in this book. I did know a lot of the early life of Mitchum, such as riding the rails as a teen, being arrested and serving on a chain gang, later being charged for marijuana use, and having a long term marriage.
But, I did not know about his alcoholism, infidelity, rude and crude behavior although I did know he was very rude with reporters at times.
One contradiction was the many reports by his coworkers of him being very fun, generous and helpful and just being a nice guy with his cast mates, crew and people he met when on location much of the time. It has been mentioned many times how intelligent he was and having a photographic memory which made it easy for him to learn script immediately even when drinking. Although he could drink an awful lot before showing how drunk he was, once he got to a certain point he could become mean and violent. It sounds as if he was not a happy person and I find that very sad in such a talented and intelligent person.
This long book is very well researched and contains many anecdotes quoted by Mitchum and his friends, acquaintances and coworkers. There is a long list of interviews by the author. There is a rundown of all of Mitchum's movies and TV appearances in order, giving the cast, directors and circumstances of the making of them. This was very interesting but I think it could have been shortened a good bit. The author gave a great deal of history of each production and the cast and directors history which I believe could have been omitted.
His family history beginning with his birth and losing his father as a toddler is detailed but very few quotes by the family except for his sister, Julie. Quotes by the family are usually remembered by acquaintances other than the family themselves.
All in all, I enjoyed this book although there were often incidents which made me cringe at Mitchum's behavior. I am glad that he had a faithful wife who stayed with him through thick and thin for 57 years until his death.
But, I did not know about his alcoholism, infidelity, rude and crude behavior although I did know he was very rude with reporters at times.
One contradiction was the many reports by his coworkers of him being very fun, generous and helpful and just being a nice guy with his cast mates, crew and people he met when on location much of the time. It has been mentioned many times how intelligent he was and having a photographic memory which made it easy for him to learn script immediately even when drinking. Although he could drink an awful lot before showing how drunk he was, once he got to a certain point he could become mean and violent. It sounds as if he was not a happy person and I find that very sad in such a talented and intelligent person.
This long book is very well researched and contains many anecdotes quoted by Mitchum and his friends, acquaintances and coworkers. There is a long list of interviews by the author. There is a rundown of all of Mitchum's movies and TV appearances in order, giving the cast, directors and circumstances of the making of them. This was very interesting but I think it could have been shortened a good bit. The author gave a great deal of history of each production and the cast and directors history which I believe could have been omitted.
His family history beginning with his birth and losing his father as a toddler is detailed but very few quotes by the family except for his sister, Julie. Quotes by the family are usually remembered by acquaintances other than the family themselves.
All in all, I enjoyed this book although there were often incidents which made me cringe at Mitchum's behavior. I am glad that he had a faithful wife who stayed with him through thick and thin for 57 years until his death.
February 21, 2022
I have read interviews with Robert Mitchum in which he comes across as a real character, and not your typical Hollywood phony. This biography does not disappoint and you come away feeling that the actor got into the business almost by mistake. In fact he found it a most unseemly profession for a real man, but it sure beat working at an airplane factory.
One of the more interesting sections of the book involve his nearly ten years at RKO under Howard Hughes. Stories about his bizarre behavior are legion, but he was so much worse than I had realized (much of it left out of the biopic starring Leonardo DiCaprio). Some good movies managed to get made despite Hughes' tyrannical temperament and manic obsession with ruining any actress who refused to sleep with him and ordering endless re-shooting for very trivial reasons.
Even then Mitchum routinely stayed up all night drinking and often went straight to the set, knowing all his lines and where to hit the marks. It wasn't until he was in his 60's that it began to catch up with him, but even then he didn't stop.
I will have to try and check out some of his films on TCM now. With about 104 films to his credit, he made a lot of clunkers, but there were many I never heard of that sounded pretty good.
One of the more interesting sections of the book involve his nearly ten years at RKO under Howard Hughes. Stories about his bizarre behavior are legion, but he was so much worse than I had realized (much of it left out of the biopic starring Leonardo DiCaprio). Some good movies managed to get made despite Hughes' tyrannical temperament and manic obsession with ruining any actress who refused to sleep with him and ordering endless re-shooting for very trivial reasons.
Even then Mitchum routinely stayed up all night drinking and often went straight to the set, knowing all his lines and where to hit the marks. It wasn't until he was in his 60's that it began to catch up with him, but even then he didn't stop.
I will have to try and check out some of his films on TCM now. With about 104 films to his credit, he made a lot of clunkers, but there were many I never heard of that sounded pretty good.
February 3, 2022
You will care a lot more about Robert Mitchum after reading Lee Server's excellent biography. Yes, he could be a nasty drunk, especially as he got older, but practically everyone he offended or roughed up was quick to forgive him. He was apparently such a charmer he could have gotten away with much more than he did, but that isn't how he viewed life. Thanks to interviews with those who knew him as best as possible, we get to see his intellectual and spiritual side. That insight helps the reader get through the more questionable aspects of his personality.
An unrepentant smoker, drinker and womanizer to the very end, Robert Mitchum was a study in individualism with a veneer of apathy. He was a loner who was the life of the party, the tough guy with a tender touch and an accomplished actor who made it seem like he wasn't even trying. The book is a fascinating read. I will make a point to watch more of his films when they appear on TCM.
An unrepentant smoker, drinker and womanizer to the very end, Robert Mitchum was a study in individualism with a veneer of apathy. He was a loner who was the life of the party, the tough guy with a tender touch and an accomplished actor who made it seem like he wasn't even trying. The book is a fascinating read. I will make a point to watch more of his films when they appear on TCM.
November 24, 2014
I still remember the line that he used on his wife. It worked because she stuck with him throughout all his infidelities. It was: "Stick with me baby, and you'll be farting through silk." What a prize.
January 28, 2015
Compassionate, Funny & Heartfelt!!! An Excellent Read!!!
February 16, 2025
Too damn long. Do we really need the impressions from his coworkers for every film? We got the idea. Sometimes he was nice, other times, especially when he was boozing (which was often), he was an assh—e. Oh, and the author calling Ross MacDonald a pretend Raymond Chandler was the single most shallowest and stupidest sentence I’ve ever read.
May 7, 2024
Another superb biography penned by the author of the Ava Gardner biography. No-one pays homage to the silver screen legends like Lee Server does and no-one imbues such great, big, problematic, hard to love at times, larger than life characters with the life they once emanated out of every star pore. And the work is not easy especially when dealing with an actor of Robert Mitchum's often misunderstood stature.
The big chested anti-hero, the cynical, sardonic, self-mocking Mitchum was the epitome of the film noir's leading man and his "true" nature remained elusive throughout his life, to others but most of all to himself. That he could be crude, that his sense of humour could be sharp, vulgar even in those times, there is no doubt but Server has that subtle touch and writing talent to bring Mitchum in all his complexity to life. Mitchum was the consummate 40s actor, hard-playing, hard-working, hard-drinking, womaniser but also one of the few actors in a 57 years old marriage to his first sweetheart.
He was a polymath, a troubadour, a drifter, a very intelligent man, kind, vulgar with an intent to shock, to break through the pomposity but for those who understood this propensity to shock (accompanied and exacerbated by his vast alcohol intake) there is a warmth, a hard-shell charm and resolve that sets him apart from so many of his celluloid, often one dimensional contemporaries. Surrounded by all and sundry, Mitchum keeps himself apart, from others but most of all from himself.
This excellent biography is as close as you will get to a window into this big great's soul, the authentic, original, bad boy, the consummate professional. Tough, fragile, brilliant.
"He had this quality - I am me, and this is it. And whatever happens I don't give a damn."
True originals remain unrecognised as such: misunderstood, undervalued and boy was Mitchum one. Long-live Rob Mitchum.
Thank you Lee Server for bringing him closer to us, unbeknownst fans.
The big chested anti-hero, the cynical, sardonic, self-mocking Mitchum was the epitome of the film noir's leading man and his "true" nature remained elusive throughout his life, to others but most of all to himself. That he could be crude, that his sense of humour could be sharp, vulgar even in those times, there is no doubt but Server has that subtle touch and writing talent to bring Mitchum in all his complexity to life. Mitchum was the consummate 40s actor, hard-playing, hard-working, hard-drinking, womaniser but also one of the few actors in a 57 years old marriage to his first sweetheart.
He was a polymath, a troubadour, a drifter, a very intelligent man, kind, vulgar with an intent to shock, to break through the pomposity but for those who understood this propensity to shock (accompanied and exacerbated by his vast alcohol intake) there is a warmth, a hard-shell charm and resolve that sets him apart from so many of his celluloid, often one dimensional contemporaries. Surrounded by all and sundry, Mitchum keeps himself apart, from others but most of all from himself.
This excellent biography is as close as you will get to a window into this big great's soul, the authentic, original, bad boy, the consummate professional. Tough, fragile, brilliant.
"He had this quality - I am me, and this is it. And whatever happens I don't give a damn."
True originals remain unrecognised as such: misunderstood, undervalued and boy was Mitchum one. Long-live Rob Mitchum.
Thank you Lee Server for bringing him closer to us, unbeknownst fans.
April 23, 2013
You'd really have to be a big fan of old movies to enjoy this biography of Robert Mitchum, the prototype of the cool, detached antihero on screen. He was a brilliant natural actor who could totally commit to memory entire scripts after one reading. Mitchum was also an extremely intelligent man and voracious reader who always tried to portray himself as not being smart at all, probably to protect himself in a curious way. Likely it had to do with his upbringing in a dirt poor bohemian family of wanderers (Connecticut, New York City, Delaware, the South etc.) and his years bumming around the country in boxcars during the 1930s. Heavily into drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana before the latter became popular - for which he did jail time after a bust - and a serial womanizer (although devoted in his own way to his childhood sweetheart wife), Mitchum could be a world-class jerk on many occasions. After the umpteenth description of his going wild and busting up a bar after a long night of heavy drinking, it all gets old after awhile. The Hollywood stories are good, and many famous people in the film colony show up in the book, but one wishes there was less bad behavior after awhile, because it does get tedious.
June 21, 2022
Roger Ebert predicted that Mitchum's death would bring about a re-appraisal of his work and his place as one of Hollywood's great golden age actors. What happened instead is that Mitchum had the misfortune of dying one day before Jimmy Stewart. Mitchum downplayed such talk. If you watch his interview with Dick Cavett circa 1970 he seems bemused anyone cares at all.
The book is worthwhile and covers most of what a film enthusiast would want to know.
The book is worthwhile and covers most of what a film enthusiast would want to know.
March 27, 2018
Robert Mitchum was born on August 6. 1917. His father James was Scots-Irish and Anerican Indian and his mother Ann was a Nowegian immigrant. James died in 1919as the result of a trian accident. Ann’s pension was $18 a month. With three kids to raise, Ann married Bill Clancy, a violent drunk. From his mother, Robert inherited a photographic memory and love of books, which he began reading at age four. He was a skinny kid who began writing poetry at seven. Bob and his brother Jack were feisty children, and so their mother sent them to live on a farm with her father in Delaware. Although a brillian student, Bob was expelled from school as the result of a rather unusual prank. His gypsy like mother moved then into a small apartment in NYC. Bob’ sister, Annette, was a dancer who paid the rent on the cold water flat. They all lived together, including Mitchum’s mother’s third husband, an unemployed British newspaper writer. Bob read voraciously at the NYC Public Library. In 1931 and nearing starvation, Mitchum hit the road at the age of 14, inspired by Jack London and Jim Tully’s books. Tully’s “Beggars of Life” became his bible. He grew up fast, travelling the country on trains filled with hoboes. They showed him how to harvest marijuana, growing wild in the countryside, and how to roll it in newspapers. Ditch digging, coal mining, dish washing; he did whatever it took to survive. A vagrancy charge landed him on a chain gang in Georgia. He escaped through a swamp and hitched back to Delaware to reunite with his family. At sixteen, he worked various WPA jobs. Ten hour days digging ditches packed the pounds on his once skinny frame. He sees Dorothy Spence, a thirteen year-old girl and it was love at first site. He then moved to his sister’s house in California and worked more manual labor. He even boxed for a short time but quit when his nose was broken. Mitchum had no desire to be an actor but his sister had other ideas. She pushed him into it in 1936 when a small theater group showed up in Long Beach. By 1942, Mitchum got a small part in a Hopalong Cassidy western. He did six more and made several b movies that year. His big break was 30 Seconds over Tokyo in 1944 starring Spencer Tracy. In 1943 he signed with RKO and made a few more b westerns. His first great role was in Story of G I Joe, the story of Ernie Pyle, the WWII correspondent. Dwight D Eisenhower called it the greatest war film that he had ever seen. Out of the Past, filmed in 1946 and released in 1947 received mixed reviews and is now considered a film noir classic. I watched it recently and Mitchum is perfect. He was paid $10,333.33. Howard Hughes had a bevy of ex cops spying on everyone. His biggest star is arrested for marijuana possession in 1948. Hughes sends a big shot lawyer to defend him. It does not work and the actor gets 60 days in jail. He is sent to a work farm and after doing his time sets off for Mexico to shoot The Big Steal. Another movie leads to a brief affair with his co star, Ava Gardner. He worked with Janet Leigh, Jane Russell, Jean Simmons and Marilyn Monroe while she was dating Joe Dimaggio. Mitchum’s contract with RKO expired in 1954 his next film may be his best, The Night of The Hunter. Love and Hate on the right and left hand. It is my favorite, along with Cape Fear (DeNiro can’t touch Mitchum’s Max Cady in the remake). After a string of average to forgettable movies, Robert finds a winner with director John Huston. The critically acclaimed Heaven Knows Mr. Allison is the result. He is paired with Debra Kerr, who plays a nun on Tobago. Brando turned down the male lead and Huston called Mitchum the “caliber of Olivier, Burton and Brando.” A few more roles require accents, Irish and Australian, and he nails them. The Sundowners receives Oscar nominations for best picture and Kerr, but Mitchum is overlooked. His boozing and brawling were legendary, and so Hollywood snubbed him. While on a break, it took a case of bourbon to drag him into Cape Fear. Co star Gregory Peck called it Mitchum’s best role. Shirley Maclaine is smitten, and an affair occurs during Two for the Seesaw. Pete Hamill’s memoir notes a fling with Warren Beatty’s sister; a busy beaver, the reincarnated actress. In 1967, Mitchum does a USO tour in Vietnam and buys the governments BS. The same year he films Anzio in Italy while stoned on mj and hashish. He briefly retires and then un-retires to make Ryan’s Daughter for $870,000. He turned down Dirty Harry and Patton. Otto Preminger fires him from Rosebud. His last great film was 1975’s Farewell My Lovely, playing Philip Marlow. He follows up with Midway and The Last Tycoon. Mitchum ponders DeNiro’s NY style of method acting; remaining in character at all times, like Daniel Day Lewis years later as Lincoln. After a facelift, he loses a role in Atlantic City cast for an older man. It goes to Burt Lancaster. Next up is Winds of War 16 hour mini series which took one year to film. He took it for the 1.25 million. On a flight out of JFK, the star responds to a woman’s complaint about his cigarette smoking by bending over and blasting her with a bountiful fart. He was 65 and I am 59, but it really hit my funny bone. A family intervention and he winds up at the Betty Ford Clinic in “84. He leaves and stops at a bar on the way home and orders a double scotch. A TV movie, A Killer in the Family, based on a real life prison escape finds Bob playing criminal Gary Tison. I saw it over thirty years ago and it was excellent. At 70, he films the mini series sequel, War and Remembrance. Some more TV, including, SNL and a failed sitcom. A remake of Cape Fear and Scorsese asks that he do a cameo. Marty has seen all 103 of his films and Bob tells him that he has seen about 7 of them. At 78, he receives a diagnosis of emphysema and soon after lung cancer. Jackie O wishes to edit his autobiography but she also has cancer. What a shame. It would have been a great book. On June 30, 1997, the actor dies shortly after smoking an unfiltered cigarette. Lee Server has written one of the best bio’s that I have ever read.
March 15, 2023
Alright, Mitchum was never an actor my mother or I liked, but his life story at least is kind of out there. But for me, Lee Server (who also wrote the much better biography of Ava Gardner) went on and on about all his westerns a bit too much and it was just plain boring. His antics off the set were much more enjoyable. And Server gets much more into Howard Hughes' psychotic manner in Ava's bio.
There was one thing that just made me laugh out loud (and almost choke on my dinner) which was during the filming of "Not as a Stranger" filmed with all kinds of drinkers:
"Myron McCormick? Broadway actor played the anesthesiologist in the picture! He'd fall asleep during a take, wake up screaming and fall off the set!". That just cracked me up.
Also, I just think he had that sleepy eye/I don't care look from smoking too much pot!
Overall, 2.5 stars.
There was one thing that just made me laugh out loud (and almost choke on my dinner) which was during the filming of "Not as a Stranger" filmed with all kinds of drinkers:
"Myron McCormick? Broadway actor played the anesthesiologist in the picture! He'd fall asleep during a take, wake up screaming and fall off the set!". That just cracked me up.
Also, I just think he had that sleepy eye/I don't care look from smoking too much pot!
Overall, 2.5 stars.
September 25, 2017
I'm conflicted as to how to rate this, as there's a sharper-than-usual divide between the life being written about it and its writer. Mitchum comes across as fascinating, but at several points, I sensed Server limiting the potential of the telling of his story, and pondered the greater service that might have been done to the man. Perhaps the easiest improvement to make would have been to make this a straightforward oral history. Server includes lengthy direct quotes from over 100 interviews, and almost all of the direct accounts are more appealing and interesting to read than his own try-hard prose; at times he's even lazy enough to introduce quotes with simply a surname and a colon, proceeding to allow them to speak in their own words, sometimes for paragraphs at a time, bringing this book close enough to oral history at times anyways. Mitchum's (contemporaneous) quotes are some of the best of all, naturally. To wit (briefly): asked if there was anything he wanted to add to a public statement of his wife’s about their relationship, he replid, “Just 30—at the end,” referring to journalistic shorthand for the end of a story; told while filming a cameo in Martin Scorsese’s remake of the Mitchum-starring Cape Fear that Scorsese had seen all 103 of Mitchum’s previous movies, Mitchum responded, “That beat me. I’ve seen about seven of ‘em.”
Even setting aside the indifferent editing (line- and copy-) that results in, among other things, repeated words, repeated letters, and misspellings all over the place, this biography feels like an amateurish effort. Server introduces tangential (at best) facts and anecdotes and asides at apparent random, with these non sequiturs occasionally resolving themselves into the larger narrative that actually concerns Mitchum, but more often never coming to anything, except presumably the personal amusement of the author. In addition to his problems finding a rhythm for his storytelling, Server never settles on a tone, and the choices between which he jumps are both unbecoming. In the introduction, it seemed as though Server had found a way to capture, even in his own writing, the irreverence and looseness of Mitchum, matching his style to his subject. But Server never finds that balance, that synchronicity again, and at times seems instead to be doing a Mitchum impersonation of sorts, allowing a glibness to overtake his prose, or perhaps worse, writing as if he needed to liven up a life which needed no livening. This tension between Server and his subject reminded me of that between Mitchum and Kirk Douglas, where Douglas, discovering that Mitchum didn't care about being "out-acted" (or overacted), instead turned to trying to, in Server's words, "out-underact" him. Server vacillates between trying to seem under-impressed by Mitchum's life and trying to emphasize the degree to which readers should be impressed. One can imagine how distasteful Mitchum would have found it, with his preference leaning sharply towards being underrated and overlooked.
Just as it would take too long to list more of Mitchum’s best quotes, the events of his life can’t be cherrypicked without immediately making one regret the inability to mention another, and another, and another, but there are endless, and endlessly entertaining, anecdotes to be found here. Server ends up streamlining his synthesis of them to produce a rather uncomplicated image of an uncomplicated man, and it’s never a good sign for a biography when it seems to be aiming towards a simple conclusion (in this case, that Mitchum’s public persona was largely a defensive adaptation of a highly intelligent and cultured man who preferred to feign the opposite of both if it meant he’d could avoid attention); Server unloads quote after quote from interview subjects who repeat this conclusion in such similar wordings that one wonders how leading the questioning was. (It’s not the only aspect of the book that made me question the journalistic rigor; several accounts are included which seem incapable of being sourced except as secondhand anecdotes or hearsay, but which are not identified as such.) As if recognizing that he was producing conclusions so simplistic as to be dehumanizing, Server makes an effort to include a sense of unanswered mystery (as if Mitchum needed assistance to accumulate an air of mystery), including conversations that hint at unknown parts of his past and reasons for certain behaviors; it’s a cheap technique on its own right, which also brings with it the implication that Server just didn’t do enough research to answer the questions.
I think I would read this book again, but only just, and only for the delights, and surprising poignancy, of Mitchum’s life, and not at all for Server’s contributions. In many ways, a book like this may have been a doomed enterprise from the start; easiest (and more importantly, best) to simply lay out the life and get out of the way. His life, of course, is largely defined by his career (though this book proves that his life apart from the pictures was hardly less interesting than his life in them), and his career is defined by a number of the very greatest movies of all time (and a mess of other great ones). (Amazingly, he could have had been in even more; he came close but missed out for one reason or another on many great roles, but flat-out turned down the lead roles in The French Connection, Dirty Harry, and Patton, the former two of which he objected to on a moral basis, being not much interested in playing cops generally and especially ones written to be admired and celebrated for their racism and the extralegality of their methods, and the latter of which he recommended George C. Scott for, saying Scott would fight for the character not to be watered down by the studio, whereas he wouldn't have the will to do so.) One producer-writer is quoted as saying, “They always talk about all the bad pictures he did. But I’ll tell you something. Add ‘em up. Nobody made as many good pictures as Mitchum did.”
I thought often of Mitchum’s entry in David Thomson’s A Biographical Dictionary of Film (following quotes from third ed., 1994) while reading this book; the entry is a page and a half long, among the longest in the book but 534 short of Server’s effort, but it has imprinted itself on my mind much more indelibly, despite a narrower scope limited to the film career rather than the personal life, and mostly on the products rather than the processes. Thomson encapsulates Mitchum’s gifts by noting “the intriguing ambiguity in Mitchum’s work, the idea of a man thinking and feeling beneath a calm exterior that there is no need to put ‘acting’ on the surface” and his tendency towards "watching other people as though he were waiting to make up his mind," and encapsulates his career by saying that “since the war, no American actor has made more first-class films, in so many different moods.” (Subjective, like all of Thomson's great and unique reference tome, but I would subjectively agree that it's still true.) But most memorable, most summative, and coming the closest to capturing Mitchum with its understated but unmistakable forcefulness is the final paragraph—one sentence, one word.
“Untouchable.”
Even setting aside the indifferent editing (line- and copy-) that results in, among other things, repeated words, repeated letters, and misspellings all over the place, this biography feels like an amateurish effort. Server introduces tangential (at best) facts and anecdotes and asides at apparent random, with these non sequiturs occasionally resolving themselves into the larger narrative that actually concerns Mitchum, but more often never coming to anything, except presumably the personal amusement of the author. In addition to his problems finding a rhythm for his storytelling, Server never settles on a tone, and the choices between which he jumps are both unbecoming. In the introduction, it seemed as though Server had found a way to capture, even in his own writing, the irreverence and looseness of Mitchum, matching his style to his subject. But Server never finds that balance, that synchronicity again, and at times seems instead to be doing a Mitchum impersonation of sorts, allowing a glibness to overtake his prose, or perhaps worse, writing as if he needed to liven up a life which needed no livening. This tension between Server and his subject reminded me of that between Mitchum and Kirk Douglas, where Douglas, discovering that Mitchum didn't care about being "out-acted" (or overacted), instead turned to trying to, in Server's words, "out-underact" him. Server vacillates between trying to seem under-impressed by Mitchum's life and trying to emphasize the degree to which readers should be impressed. One can imagine how distasteful Mitchum would have found it, with his preference leaning sharply towards being underrated and overlooked.
Just as it would take too long to list more of Mitchum’s best quotes, the events of his life can’t be cherrypicked without immediately making one regret the inability to mention another, and another, and another, but there are endless, and endlessly entertaining, anecdotes to be found here. Server ends up streamlining his synthesis of them to produce a rather uncomplicated image of an uncomplicated man, and it’s never a good sign for a biography when it seems to be aiming towards a simple conclusion (in this case, that Mitchum’s public persona was largely a defensive adaptation of a highly intelligent and cultured man who preferred to feign the opposite of both if it meant he’d could avoid attention); Server unloads quote after quote from interview subjects who repeat this conclusion in such similar wordings that one wonders how leading the questioning was. (It’s not the only aspect of the book that made me question the journalistic rigor; several accounts are included which seem incapable of being sourced except as secondhand anecdotes or hearsay, but which are not identified as such.) As if recognizing that he was producing conclusions so simplistic as to be dehumanizing, Server makes an effort to include a sense of unanswered mystery (as if Mitchum needed assistance to accumulate an air of mystery), including conversations that hint at unknown parts of his past and reasons for certain behaviors; it’s a cheap technique on its own right, which also brings with it the implication that Server just didn’t do enough research to answer the questions.
I think I would read this book again, but only just, and only for the delights, and surprising poignancy, of Mitchum’s life, and not at all for Server’s contributions. In many ways, a book like this may have been a doomed enterprise from the start; easiest (and more importantly, best) to simply lay out the life and get out of the way. His life, of course, is largely defined by his career (though this book proves that his life apart from the pictures was hardly less interesting than his life in them), and his career is defined by a number of the very greatest movies of all time (and a mess of other great ones). (Amazingly, he could have had been in even more; he came close but missed out for one reason or another on many great roles, but flat-out turned down the lead roles in The French Connection, Dirty Harry, and Patton, the former two of which he objected to on a moral basis, being not much interested in playing cops generally and especially ones written to be admired and celebrated for their racism and the extralegality of their methods, and the latter of which he recommended George C. Scott for, saying Scott would fight for the character not to be watered down by the studio, whereas he wouldn't have the will to do so.) One producer-writer is quoted as saying, “They always talk about all the bad pictures he did. But I’ll tell you something. Add ‘em up. Nobody made as many good pictures as Mitchum did.”
I thought often of Mitchum’s entry in David Thomson’s A Biographical Dictionary of Film (following quotes from third ed., 1994) while reading this book; the entry is a page and a half long, among the longest in the book but 534 short of Server’s effort, but it has imprinted itself on my mind much more indelibly, despite a narrower scope limited to the film career rather than the personal life, and mostly on the products rather than the processes. Thomson encapsulates Mitchum’s gifts by noting “the intriguing ambiguity in Mitchum’s work, the idea of a man thinking and feeling beneath a calm exterior that there is no need to put ‘acting’ on the surface” and his tendency towards "watching other people as though he were waiting to make up his mind," and encapsulates his career by saying that “since the war, no American actor has made more first-class films, in so many different moods.” (Subjective, like all of Thomson's great and unique reference tome, but I would subjectively agree that it's still true.) But most memorable, most summative, and coming the closest to capturing Mitchum with its understated but unmistakable forcefulness is the final paragraph—one sentence, one word.
“Untouchable.”
September 8, 2012
Basically a very dry rundown of the making of all of Mitchum's films, with a few anecdotes of those who worked with him thrown in.
An occasional allusion to his wild side was fun to read about and I kept hoping to read more about his personal life and affairs but halfway through the book I realized it was going to continue to be more of the same, lifeless account of his films.
Mitchum is cast.
Mitchum is described as a prankster, possessor of a photographic memory and masculinely magnetic by bit player also cast in the film.
Leading lady describes him as incorrigible.
Mitchum gets arrested for (fighting, marijuana possession, fighting, marijuana possession...)
Mitchum drinks heavily but it doesn't affect his performance.
Mitchum wanders off between takes to fish or doze under a tree.
Mitchum leaves the set at five on the dot every day.
Repeat that in precisely the same way about 25 more times and you've got the picture.
An occasional allusion to his wild side was fun to read about and I kept hoping to read more about his personal life and affairs but halfway through the book I realized it was going to continue to be more of the same, lifeless account of his films.
Mitchum is cast.
Mitchum is described as a prankster, possessor of a photographic memory and masculinely magnetic by bit player also cast in the film.
Leading lady describes him as incorrigible.
Mitchum gets arrested for (fighting, marijuana possession, fighting, marijuana possession...)
Mitchum drinks heavily but it doesn't affect his performance.
Mitchum wanders off between takes to fish or doze under a tree.
Mitchum leaves the set at five on the dot every day.
Repeat that in precisely the same way about 25 more times and you've got the picture.
August 8, 2013
This is a curious book. Although filled with interesting (and often hilarious) anecdotes, Server never really gives us much insight into the inner Mitchum. That's not a disgrace -- even Mitchum's closest friends never really seem to have reached the man's core -- but it leaves the book feeling rather incomplete. The pacing is also odd, with Mitchum's last twenty or so years seeming to hurtle past the reader. Again, his golden era of the 40s and 50s provides a nice series of anecdotes, but in their absence, the book seems to hurry to a conclusion.
It's a fun read in many respects, especially for fans of "old Hollywood", but the reader feels less that he knows a person and more that he has seen a series of performances -- which may have been exactly what Mitchum wanted, but is problematic for a reader of biography.
It's a fun read in many respects, especially for fans of "old Hollywood", but the reader feels less that he knows a person and more that he has seen a series of performances -- which may have been exactly what Mitchum wanted, but is problematic for a reader of biography.
March 8, 2015
The other reviews here tell you all you need to know about this book, so I'll say no more than this......
If you're not a fan of Mitch, don't bother to read it, it won't interest you in the slightest.
However, if you are a fan (or, as in my case, a devoted fangirl who will happily gush about the great man until someone hits her over head to shut her up!)then this is an essential read.
Robert Mitchum was the epitome of cool, the likes of which I sincerely doubt we will ever see again.
If you're not a fan of Mitch, don't bother to read it, it won't interest you in the slightest.
However, if you are a fan (or, as in my case, a devoted fangirl who will happily gush about the great man until someone hits her over head to shut her up!)then this is an essential read.
Robert Mitchum was the epitome of cool, the likes of which I sincerely doubt we will ever see again.
December 26, 2010
And frankly, after two hundred pages, neither did I. I was already suspecting this wasn't much more than a hagiography of "and then Mitchum did this, and then he did that", when my dad said he'd read a total stinker of a book about Mitchum, and proceeded to say exactly what I was thinking about this! That applied the reading brakes big time, and I was left thinking why did I spend seven quid on the damn thing, and could I flog it on ebay?
September 22, 2015
Leí la traducción española, titulada ¡Olvídame, cariño! Más que una biografía, es un libro de aventuras. Pero es que la vida de Robert Mitchum, uno de los actores más infravalorados de la historia del cine, da para una saga completa. Mitchum fue un profesional ejemplar que le quitaba glamur y trascendencia al oficio de actor. Y un espíritu libre que siempre decía lo que pensaba. Un libro muy bien documentado, ameno y divertido, ideal para los amantes del cine clásico.
March 24, 2018
This is a "warts and all" style of biography. Mitchum had many human failings, but on the big screen he was astonishing. Server is a great writer and his research shows due diligence. It is the definitive biography of an often misunderstood man.
April 8, 2008
A fantastic biography. All bios should be this great.
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June 16, 2009Boozin', babes and brawling. And being the part of some ass-kicking films as well. If there is anything cooler than Mitchum I don't want to know...
February 18, 2010
Learned alot about Mitchum's life. There was a chapter devoted to my 2 favorite Mitchum movies & learned alot about the films themselves.
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