Robert Mitchum Net Worth

Robert Mitchum's Quotes

• The only difference between me and my fellow actors is that I've spent more time in jail.
• I gave up being serious about making pictures around the time I made a film with Greer Garson and she took a hundred and twenty-five takes to say no.
• I started out to be a sex fiend but couldn't pass the physical.
• Movies bore me; especially my own.
• I've still got the same attitude I had when I started. I haven't changed anything but my underwear.

Interesting Facts about Robert Mitchum

1. Father of James Mitchum, Christopher Mitchum, and Trina Mitchum.
2. Brother of John Mitchum and Julie Mitchum.
3. Grandfather of actors Bentley Mitchum and Price Mitchum, actress Carrie Mitchum and male model Kian Mitchum.
4. Sidelines: Played the saxophone and wrote poetry.
5. In 1947, he and Gary Gray recorded the songs from Rachel and the Stranger (1948) for Delta Records' soundtrack album. In 1968, he recorded another album, entitled "That Man Robert Mitchum... Sings". It included the track "Little Old Wine Drinker Me", which later became a hit for Dean Martin. In 1998, these songs were released on CD as "Robert Mitchum Sings".
6. Briefly served in the United States Army during World War II, with service number 39 744 068, from April 12 - October 11, 1945, after he was drafted. According to Lee Server's 2001 biography, "Robert Mitchum: Baby I Don't Care", Mitchum said he served as a medic at an induction department, checking recruits' genitals for venereal disease (a "pecker checker"). Always the iconoclast, although he did not want to join the military, he served honorably and was discharged as a Private First Class and received the World War II Victory Medal.
7. Was one of four actors (with Jack Nicholson, Bette Davis, and Faye Dunaway) to have two villainous roles ranked in the American Film Institute's 100 years of The Greatest Heroes and Villains, as Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962) at #28 and as Reverend Harry Powell in The Night of the Hunter (1955) at #29.
8. He was accused of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial after an interview he gave to Barry Rehfeld of "Esquire" magazine promoting The Winds of War (1983) at his home in February 1983. Mitchum wrote an apologetic letter on 9 March 1983 to Herbert Luft, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's Hollywood columnist. Mitchum claimed he had recited views expressed by the bigoted football coach he had played in That Championship Season (1982), which Rehfeld "mistakenly believed to be my own. From that point on, he approached me as the character in the script and in playing the devil's advocate in a prankish attempt to string him along we compounded a tragedy of errors." Mitchum added he was "truly sorry that this misunderstanding has upset so many people, especially since it is so foreign to my principle. The attendant misfortune is that it has brought me a spate of mail from people and organizations who are encouraged to believe that I share their bigotry and discrimination.".
9. Carefully maintained a facade of indifference, always lazily insisting that he made movies just so he could get laid, score some pot, and make money, and cared nothing about art. This is surely true of some films, which he likely picked to make money, but certain directors and films seemed to secretly pique his interest, including his work with Charles Laughton, John Huston and Howard Hawks.
10. He was voted the 61st Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
11. Was mentioned by name as part of The Velvet Underground song "New Age" (from the 1970 album "Loaded").
12. In the 1950s, he was selected by Howard Hughes to appear in a series of films he was producing. Hughes considered Mitchum a "friend," but (as a paranoid recluse) hardly met the actor. Mitchum was halfway put off and halfway amused by the "crazy old man" and clearly saw that he was a surrogate for Hughes as the strapping actor "romanced" young starlets on screen.
13. Michael Madsen called Mitchum his "role model" and inspiration to take up acting as a profession.
14. Was close friends with Richard Egan, and served as a pallbearer at his funeral in 1987.
15. Was named #23 greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends by the American Film Institute.
16. Great-grandfather of Allexanne Mitchum, Cappy Van Dien and Grace Van Dien.
17. Turned down the lead role of Gen. George S. Patton in Patton (1970), allegedly because he believed he would ruin the film due to his indifference. During a Turner Classic Movies interview with Robert Osborne, Mitchum said that he knew the movie could be a great one due to the script, but that the studio would want to concentrate on battles and tanks moving around on screen rather than on the character of Patton. Mitchum believed that with himself in the role, the movie would turn out mediocre; what was needed was a passionate actor who would fight his corner to keep the focus on Patton, an actor like George C. Scott, whom Mitchum recommended to the producers.
18. Treated for alcoholism at the Betty Ford Center in 1984.
19. Died one day before his The Big Sleep (1978) co-star James Stewart.
20. Biography in: "American National Biography." Supplement 1, pp. 414-416. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.