Robert Ryan
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- November 11, 1909
- Died
- July 11, 1973 (aged 63)
- Birthplace
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
Biography
Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an American actor 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 College 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 WPA worker, and a ranch hand in Montana. Ryan attempted to make a career in show business as a playwright, 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 Corps and served as a drill instructor at Camp Pendleton, in San Diego, California. At Camp Pendleton, he befriended writer and future director Richard Brooks, whose novel, The Brick Foxhole, he greatly admired. He also took up painting. Ryan's breakthrough film role was as an anti-Semitic killer in Crossfire (1947), a film noir based on Brooks's novel. The role won Ryan his sole career Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor. From then on, Ryan's specialty was tough/tender roles, finding particular expression in the films of directors such as Nicholas Ray, Robert Wise and Sam Fuller. In Ray's On Dangerous Ground (1951) he portrayed a burnt-out city cop finding redemption while solving a rural murder. In Wise's The Set-Up (1949), he played an over-the-hill boxer who is brutally punished for refusing to take a dive. Other important films were Anthony Mann's western The Naked Spur, Sam Fuller's uproarious Japanese set gangland thriller House of Bamboo, Bad Day at Black Rock, and the socially conscious heist movie Odds Against Tomorrow. He also appeared in several all-star war films, including The Longest Day (1962) and Battle of the Bulge (1965), and The Dirty Dozen. He also played John the Baptist in MGM's Technicolor epic King of Kings (1961) and was the villainous Claggart in Peter Ustinov's adaptation of Billy Budd (1962). In his later years, Ryan continued playing significant roles in major films. Most notable of these were The Dirty Dozen, The Professionals (1966) and Sam Peckinpah's highly influential brutal western The Wild Bunch (1969). Ryan appeared several times on the Broadway stage. His credits there include Clash by Night, Mr. President and The Front Page, the comedy drama about newspapermen. He appeared in many television series as a guest star, including the role of Franklin Hoppy-Hopp in the 1964 episode "Who Chopped Down the Cherry Tree?" on the NBC medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour. Similarly, he guest starred as Lloyd Osment in the 1964 episode "Better Than a Dead Lion" in the ABC psychiatric series, Breaking Point. In 1964, Ryan appeared with Warren Oates in the episode "No Comment" of CBS's short-lived drama about newspapers, The Reporter, starring Harry Guardino in the title role of journalist Danny Taylor. Ryan appeared five times (1956–1959) on CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater and twice (1959 and 1961) on the Zane Grey spin-off Frontier Justice. He appeared three times (1962–1964) on the western Wagon Train.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
A New Dimension in Noir: Filming Inferno in 3D
Movie · as Self
Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Movie · as Sandy Dawson (archive footage) (uncredited)
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
The Outfit
Movie · as Mailer
The Iceman Cometh
Movie · as Larry Slade
Executive Action
Movie · as Foster
Lolly-Madonna XXX
Movie · as Pap Gutshall
The Man Without a Country
Movie · as Lt. Cmdr. Vaughan
The Moviemakers
Movie · as Self
And Hope to Die
Movie · as Charley
Lawman
Movie · as Sabbath Marshal Cotton Ryan
The Love Machine
Movie · as Gregory 'Greg' Austin
The Reason Why
Movie · as Roger
The Wild Bunch
Movie · as Deke Thornton
Captain Nemo and the Underwater City
Movie · as Captain Nemo
Simon and Garfunkel: Songs of America
Movie · as Self - Host
Anzio
Movie · as Gen. Carson
A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die
Movie · as New Mexico Gov. Lem Carter
The Dirty Dozen
Movie · as Col. Everett Dasher Breed
Hour of the Gun
Movie · as Ike Clanton
The Busy Body
Movie · as Charley Barker
Custer of the West
Movie · as Mulligan
The Professionals
Movie · as Ehrengard
Battle of the Bulge
Movie · as Maj. Gen. Grey
The Crooked Road
Movie · as Richard Ashley
The Dirty Game
Movie · as General Bruce
A Regular Bouquet: Mississippi Summer
Movie · as Narrator (voice)
The Inheritance
Movie · as Narrator (voice)
World War One
TV · as Narrator · 26 eps
World War I: The Complete Story
TV · as Narrator · 27 eps
Kraft Suspense Theatre
TV · as Thomas Bollington · 1 ep
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
TV · 1 ep
Billy Budd
Movie · as John Claggart, Master of Arms
The Longest Day
Movie · as Brig. Gen. James M. Gavin
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV · as Self · 1 ep
King of Kings
Movie · as John the Baptist
The Canadians
Movie · as Inspector William Gannon
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Movie · as Harry Walters
Ice Palace
Movie · as Thor Storm
Odds Against Tomorrow
Movie · as Earle Slater
Day of the Outlaw
Movie · as Blaise Starrett
Lonelyhearts
Movie · as William Shrike
The David Susskind Show
TV · as Self · 1 ep
The Great Gatsby
Movie · as Jay Gatsby
God's Little Acre
Movie · as Ty Ty Walden
Men in War
Movie · as Lt. Benson
Alcoa Theatre
TV · as Trilbridge, Mike Ripetti · 1 ep
Goodyear Theatre
TV · as Frank Berry · 1 ep
Back from Eternity
Movie · as Bill Lonagan
The Proud Ones
Movie · as Marshal Cass Silver
The House Without a Name
Movie · as Fernand Fox
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV · as Matt Jessop, Cob Oakley, Sheriff Amos Parney, Captain William Kraig · 2 eps
The Steve Allen Show
TV · as Self · 1 ep
House of Bamboo
Movie · as Sandy Dawson
Bad Day at Black Rock
Movie · as Reno Smith
The Tall Men
Movie · as Nathan Stark
Escape to Burma
Movie · as Jim Brecan
About Mrs. Leslie
Movie · as George Leslie
Alaska Seas
Movie · as Matt Kelly
Her Twelve Men
Movie · as Joe Hargrave
The Naked Spur
Movie · as Ben Vandergroat
Inferno
Movie · as Donald Whitley Carson III
City Beneath the Sea
Movie · as Brad Carlton
The Oscars
TV · as Self · 1 ep
Clash by Night
Movie · as Earl Pfeiffer
Horizons West
Movie · as Dan Hammond
Beware, My Lovely
Movie · as Howard Wilton
On Dangerous Ground
Movie · as Jim Wilson
The Racket
Movie · as Nick Scanlon
Flying Leathernecks
Movie · as Capt. Carl 'Griff' Griffin
Best of the Badmen
Movie · as Jeff Clanton
Hard, Fast and Beautiful!
Movie · as Seabright Tennis Match Spectator (uncredited)
The Woman on Pier 13
Movie · as Bradley Collins / Frank Johnson
Born to Be Bad
Movie · as Nick
The Secret Fury
Movie · as David McLean
What's My Line?
TV · as Self · 2 eps
Act of Violence
Movie · as Joe Parkson
Caught
Movie · as Smith Ohlrig
The Set-Up
Movie · as Stoker
Berlin Express
Movie · as Robert Lindley
The Boy with Green Hair
Movie · as Dr. Evans
Return of the Bad Men
Movie · as Sundance Kid
Crossfire
Movie · as Montgomery
The Woman on the Beach
Movie · as Scott Burnett
Trail Street
Movie · as Allen Harper
Life with Blondie
Movie · as Policeman (uncredited)
Tender Comrade
Movie · as Chris Jones
Marine Raiders
Movie · as Capt. Dan Craig
The Iron Major
Movie · as Father Timothy 'Tim' Donovan
The Sky's the Limit
Movie · as Reginald Fenton
Bombardier
Movie · as Joe Connors
Gangway for Tomorrow
Movie · as Joe Dunham
Behind the Rising Sun
Movie · as Lefty O'Doyle
The Texas Rangers Ride Again
Movie · as Eddie (uncredited)
Golden Gloves
Movie · as Pete Wells
The Ghost Breakers
Movie · as Intern (uncredited)
North West Mounted Police
Movie · as Constable Dumont
Queen of the Mob
Movie · as Jim