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==Career==
==Career==
===Early Appreances===
Ryan attempted to make a career in show business as a [[playwright]], but was forced to start acting in order to support himself. He studied acting in [[Hollywood]] and appeared on stage and in small film parts during the early 1940s, beginning with ''[[The Ghost Breakers]]'' and ''[[Queen of the Mob]]'', both for [[Paramount Pictures]] in 1940.
Ryan attempted to make a career in show business as a [[playwright]], but was forced to start acting in order to support himself. He studied acting in [[Hollywood]] and appeared on stage.
===Paramount===
Ryan was signed to a term contract at Paramount Pictures. He had small parts in ''[[The Ghost Breakers]]'' (1940) and ''[[Queen of the Mob]]'' (1940), and a bigger role in ''[[Golden Gloves]]'' (1940), directed by [[Edward Dmytryk]].


Ryan had small bits in ''[[North West Mounted Police]]'' (1941) and ''[[Texas Rangers Ride Again]]'' (1941). Then Paramount dropped him.
⚫
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]], located between [[Oceanside, California|Oceanside]] and [[San Clemente, California|San Clemente]] in Southern 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.

He went to Broadway where he was cast in a production of [[Clifford Odets]]' ''[[Clash by Night]]'' (1941-42), directed by [[Lee Strasberg]] and produced by [[Billy Rose]] starring [[Tallulah Bankhead]]. It only had a run of 49 performances but was high profile.
===RKO===
Ryan was signed to a long-term contract to [[RKO Radio Pictures]]. He had a good role in ''[[Bombardier (film)|Bombardier]]'' (1943), starring Pat O'Brien, and was fourth billed in a Fred Astaire musical ''[[The Sky's the Limit]]'' (1943).

He had a good part in ''[[Behind the Rising Sun (film)|Behind the Rising Sun]]'' (1943), directed by Dmytryk, which was a huge box office success. Ryan was third billed in ''[[The Iron Major]]'' (1943) and ''[[Gangway for Tomorrow]]'' (1943).

RKO promoted him to star status in ''[[Tender Comrade]]'' (1943), where he was [[Ginger Rogers]]' leading man, directed for the third time by Dymytryk. It was a bit hit. Also popular was ''[[Marine Raiders]]'' (1944) which Ryan co-starred alongside O'Brien.
===World War Two===
⚫
Ryan enlisted in the [[United States Marine Corps]] and served as a [[drill instructor]] at [[Camp Pendleton]], located between [[Oceanside, California|Oceanside]] and [[San Clemente, California|San Clemente]] in Southern 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.
===Return to Acting===
When Ryan got out of the army he returned to RKO who put him in a [[Randolph Scott]] western, ''[[Trail Street]]'' (1947). He was then in ''[[The Woman on the Beach]]'' (1947) with Joan Bennett for [[Jean Renoir]].

Ryan's breakthrough film role was as an [[anti-Semitic]] killer in ''[[Crossfire (film)|Crossfire]]'' (1947), a [[film noir]] based on Brooks's novel, directed by Dmytryk. The role won Ryan his sole career [[Academy Award|Oscar]] nomination, for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]. The film was very successful at the box office.

Ryan co starred with [[Merle Oberon]] in ''[[Berlin Express]]'' (1948) for director [[Jacques Tourneur]]. He was reunited with Scott in ''[[Return of the Bad Men]]'' (1948), and with O'Brien in ''[[The Boy with Green Hair]]'' (1948) for [[Joseph Losey]].

MGM borrowed him to make ''[[Act of Violence (film)|Act of Violence]]'' (1948) for [[Fred Zinnemann]]. He stayed at that studio to make ''[[Caught (film)|Caught]]'' (1949) for [[Max Ophuls]] with James Mason.

Back at RKO Ryan had one of his best roles, ''[[The Set-Up (film)|The Set-Up]]'' (1949), directed by [[Robert Wise]], as an over-the-hill boxer who is brutally punished for refusing to take a dive. He was top billed in ''[[The Woman on Pier 13]]'' (1949), an anti-communist melodrama directed by [[Robert Stevenson]].

Ryan did some film noirs: ''[[The Secret Fury]]'' (1950) with [[Claudette Colbert]] directed by [[Mel Ferrer]], and ''[[Born to Be Bad]]'' (1950) directed by [[Nicholas Ray]]. He then made a Western, ''[[Best of the Badmen]]'' (1951), and a war film with [[John Wayne]], ''[[Flying Leathernecks]]'' (1951), directed by Ray.

Ryan was reteamed with [[Robert Mitchum]], his ''Crossfire'' co star, in ''[[The Racket (1951 film)|The Racket]]'' (1951), directed by [[John Cromwell]]. He did another film for Nicholas Ray, ''[[On Dangerous Ground]]'' (1951), with [[Ida Lupino]], then ''[[Clash by Night]]'' (1952) with [[Barbara Stanwyck]] an [[Marilyn Monroe]].

His last film for RKO for a number of years was ''[[Beware, My Lovely]]'' (1952) with Lupino.
===Post RKO===
[[File:The Naked Spur-Janet Leigh.&Robert RyanJPG.JPG|thumb|right|''[[The Naked Spur]]'' (1953)]]
[[File:The Naked Spur-Janet Leigh.&Robert RyanJPG.JPG|thumb|right|''[[The Naked Spur]]'' (1953)]]
Ryan went over to MGM where he played a villain in [[Anthony Mann]]'s western ''[[The Naked Spur]]'' (1953), starring James Stewart. He did ''[[City Beneath the Sea]]'' (1953) for [[Budd Boetticher]] at Universal, ''[[Inferno (1953 film)|Inferno]]'' (1953) at MGM, and ''[[Alaska Seas]]'' (1954) at Paramount.
Ryan's breakthrough film role was as an [[anti-Semitic]] killer in ''[[Crossfire (film)|Crossfire]]'' (1947), a [[film noir]] based on Brooks's novel. The role won Ryan his sole career [[Academy Award|Oscar]] nomination, for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|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]], [[Jean Renoir]] (''[[The Woman on the Beach]]''), [[Robert Wise]] and [[Samuel 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 film)|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]]'', Samuel 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 played [[John the Baptist]] in [[MGM]]'s Technicolor epic ''[[King of Kings (1961 film)|King of Kings]]'' (1961) and the villainous Claggart in [[Peter Ustinov]]'s adaptation of ''[[Billy Budd (film)|Billy Budd]]'' (1962). He also appeared in several all-star war films, including ''[[The Longest Day (film)|The Longest Day]]'' (1962), ''[[Battle of the Bulge (film)|Battle of the Bulge]]'' (1965), and ''[[The Dirty Dozen]]'' (1967).


He was the leading man for [[Shirley Booth]] in ''[[About Mrs. Leslie]]'' (1954) and [[Greer Garson]] in ''[[Her Twelve Men ]]'' (1954). The latter was made at MGM, now being run by Ryan's old RKO chief, [[Dore Schary]]. Schary cast Ryan as the head villain in ''[[Bad Day at Black Rock]]'' (1954).
⚫
In his later years, Ryan continued playing significant roles in major films. Among the most notable were ''[[The Dirty Dozen]]'', ''[[The Professionals (1966 film)|The Professionals]]'' (1966) and [[Sam Peckinpah]]'s highly influential brutal western ''[[The Wild Bunch]]''. He portrayed Larry Slade in the [[American Film Theatre]]'s [[The Iceman Cometh (1973 film)|1973 film]] of [[Eugene O'Neill]]'s ''[[The Iceman Cometh]]'', Ryan, who died before the film's premiere, won the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor,<ref>[http://www.kcfcc.org/1970s.html KCFCC Award Winners 1970-1979]. Kansas City Film Critics Circle. Retrieved 2013-03-15.</ref> the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor (in a tie with [[Al Pacino]], for ''[[Serpico]]''),<ref>Wedman, Les. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QjpmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NosNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1120,3720180&dq=ryan+iceman-cometh+national-board&hl=en "And Now... The Oscar for Gore at the Box Office"]. ''The Vancouver Sun''. January 10, 1974. Retrieved 2013-03-15.</ref> and a special award from the [[National Society of Film Critics]].<ref>Sarris, Andrew. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xKleAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B4wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6301,2910580&dq=ryan+iceman-cometh+national-society&hl=en "Films in Focus: A Tale of Two Circles"]. ''The Village Voice''. February 14, 1974. Retrieved 2013-03-15.</ref> ''The Iceman Cometh'' and ''[[Executive Action (film)|Executive Action]]'' both were released in November 1973, after Ryan's death.


He did an off Broadway production of ''[[Coriolanus]]'' (1954) directed by [[John Houseman]].
⚫
Less than two years before, Ryan had tackled O'Neill's next, and penultimate, play onstage, portraying [[Long Day's Journey Into Night#Characters|James Tyrone]] in [[Arvin Brown]]'s critically acclaimed [[Off-Broadway]] production of ''[[Long Day's Journey Into Night]]''.<ref>[http://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=%22%22Robert+Ryan%22+%22Long+Day's%22+%22Wharf%22+intitle:The+intitle:New+intitle:Yorker&num=10 "Off Broadway"]. ''The New Yorker''. Volume 47, Issue 3. Retrieved 2013-03-15. See also:
*[http://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=%22%22Robert+Ryan%22+%22Long+Day's%22+%22Wharf%22+intitle:Cue&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_min:Jan+1_2+1971,cd_max:Dec+31_2+1972&num=10 "Long Day's Journey Into Night"]. ''Cue''. April 1971. Retrieved 2013-03-15.</ref> Ryan's relatively infrequent stage appearances also include three on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]], including a supporting role in the 1941 premiere of ''[[Clash by Night (Odets drama)|Clash by Night]]'' (whose [[Clash by Night|1952 film adaptation]] would again feature Ryan, this time starring opposite [[Barbara Stanwyck]] and [[Paul Douglas (actor)|Paul Douglas]]), and, two decades later, starring roles in ''[[Mr. President (musical)|Mr. President]]'' and a 1969 revival of ''[[The Front Page]]'', the oft-filmed comedy drama about newspapermen.


Ryan returned to RKO for ''[[Escape to Burma]]'' (1955) with Stanwyck. More widely seen was [[Sam Fuller]]'s ''[[House of Bamboo]]'' (1955) and [[Raoul Walsh]]'s ''[[The Tall Men]]'' (1955), both at Fox.
⚫
The latter production was one of the first developed by the Plumstead Playhouse (later the Plumstead Theatre Company), a [[Long Island]]-based repertory company founded by Ryan, [[Martha Scott]] and [[Henry Fonda]];<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=a6JQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=u1wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5673,1649757&dq "Repertory Formed By Noted Actors"]. ''The St. Petersburg Times''. August 3, 1968. Retrieved 2013-03-16.</ref> the following winter, a film of the production (produced jointly by [[Metromedia Producers Corporation|MPC]] and Plumstead) would be broadcast nationally over the upstart [[Hughes Television Network|Hughes TV Network]].<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OmtkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-HwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5107,1087270&dq "TV Drama Boasts Top Cast"]. ''The Calgary Herald''. January 23, 1970. Retrieved 2013-03-16.</ref><ref>Du Brow, Rick. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6nU0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=_4wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3787,1612934&dq "Xerox Presents 'The Front Page'"]. ''The Sarasota Journal''. January 12, 1970. Retrieved 2013-03-16.</ref> Another highlight among Ryan's [[Regional theater in the United States|regional theater]] credits came in the summer of 1960, when he starred opposite [[Katharine Hepburn]] at the [[American Shakespeare Theatre]] in Stratford, Connecticut, playing Antony to Hepburn's Cleopatra. Ryan also played the title characters in Shakespeare's ''[[Coriolanus]]'' (1954, Off-Broadway) and ''[[Othello]]'' (1967, in [[Nottingham]], England).<ref name=UPI-AP>UPI-AP. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UVwlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Z6EFAAAAIBAJ&pg=853,2674401&dq "Robert Ryan Dead At 59"] {{sic}}. ''The Montreal Gazette''. July 12, 1973. Retrieved 2013-03-16.</ref>

Ryan played the title characters in Shakespeare's ''[[Coriolanus]]'' (1954, Off-Broadway).

He starred in ''[[The Proud Ones]]'' (1956) at fox, ''[[Back from Eternity]]'' (1956) at RKO, and ''[[Men in War]]'' (1957) for Antony Mann.
===Television===
Ryan made his debut in television in 1955 as [[Abraham Lincoln]] in the ''[[Screen Director's Playhouse]]'' adaptation of [[Christopher Morley]]'s story "Lincoln's Doctor's Dog." As he explained to reporters, despite financial considerations, Ryan preferred to steer clear of any commitment to a TV series:
Ryan made his debut in television in 1955 as [[Abraham Lincoln]] in the ''[[Screen Director's Playhouse]]'' adaptation of [[Christopher Morley]]'s story "Lincoln's Doctor's Dog." As he explained to reporters, despite financial considerations, Ryan preferred to steer clear of any commitment to a TV series:
<blockquote>The only money in TV is in the series, and I want to stay out of those. Sure, I might make a million or so in a series, but I'd wind up being 'Sidewinder Sam' for the rest of my life.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CfkxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=u-MFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5201,690558&dq=robert-ryan+lincoln's-doctor's-dog&hl=en "Notes From Hollywood"]. ''The Ottawa Citizen''. December 3, 1955. Retrieved 2013-03-15.</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>The only money in TV is in the series, and I want to stay out of those. Sure, I might make a million or so in a series, but I'd wind up being 'Sidewinder Sam' for the rest of my life.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CfkxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=u-MFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5201,690558&dq=robert-ryan+lincoln's-doctor's-dog&hl=en "Notes From Hollywood"]. ''The Ottawa Citizen''. December 3, 1955. Retrieved 2013-03-15.</ref></blockquote>
[[File:Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Ryan in Clash by Night trailer.JPG|thumb|right|With [[Barbara Stanwyck]] in ''[[Clash by Night (Odets drama)|Clash by Night]]'' (1952)]]
[[File:Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Ryan in Clash by Night trailer.JPG|thumb|right|With [[Barbara Stanwyck]] in ''[[Clash by Night (Odets drama)|Clash by Night]]'' (1952)]]
Ryan would remain true to these convictions, appearing in many television series, but always as a guest star. He was in ''[[Screen Directors Playhouse]]'', ''[[Mr. Adams and Eve]]'', ''[[Goodyear Theatre]]'', ''[[Alcoa Theatre]]'', ''[[Playhouse 90]]'' (playing [[The Great Gatsby]]), and ''[[Zane Grey Theater]]''.
Ryan would remain true to these convictions, appearing in many television series, but always as a guest star. Notable appearances include his portrayal of Franklin Hoppy-Hopp in the 1964 episode "Who Chopped Down the Cherry Tree?" on the [[NBC]] [[medical drama]] about [[psychiatry]], ''[[The Eleventh Hour (1962 TV series)|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 (1963 TV series)|Breaking Point]]''. In 1964, Ryan appeared with [[Warren Oates]] in the episode "No Comment" of [[Columbia Broadcasting System|CBS]]'s short-lived drama about newspapers, ''[[The Reporter (TV series)|The Reporter]]'', starring [[Harry Guardino]] in the title role of [[journalist]] Danny Taylor. Ryan appeared three times (1962–1964) on the western ''[[Wagon Train]]'', four times (1956–1959) on CBS's ''[[Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater]]'' and twice (1959 and 1961) on the ''Zane Grey'' [[Spin-off (media)|spin-off]] ''[[Frontier Justice (TV series)|Frontier Justice]]''.


He continued to star in features though - such as ''[[God's Little Acre (film)|God's Little Acre]]'' (1958) for Mann, ''[[Lonelyhearts (film)|Lonelyhearts]]'' (1959) for Schary, ''[[Day of the Outlaw]]'' (1959) for Mann's company, and ''[[Odds Against Tomorrow]]'' (1959) for Wise.
⚫
Ryan starred in ''[[Playhouse 90]]'''s production of ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'' opposite [[Jeanne Crain]], and in the ''Buick-Electra Playhouse'' adaptation of [[Ernest Hemingway]]'s ''[[The Snows of Kilimanjaro (short story collection)|The Snows of Kilimanjaro]]'', written by [[A. E. Hotchner]], directed by [[John Frankenheimer]], and co-starring [[Ann Todd]], [[Mary Astor]], and [[Janice Rule]]. Ryan's only partial concession to doing an entire television series was his role as Narrator in CBS's 26-episode acclaimed documentary homage to ''[[World War One (TV series)|World War One]]'', released in prime time during the 1964-65 season.
===1960s===
In the summer of 1960 Ryan he starred opposite [[Katharine Hepburn]] at the [[American Shakespeare Theatre]] in Stratford, Connecticut, playing Antony to Hepburn's Cleopatra.

Ryan remained in heavy demand throughout the 1960s: he appeared in ''[[Ice Palace]]'' (1960) with Richard Burton; a TV version of ''[[The Snows of Kilimanjaro]]'' directed by [[John Frankenheimer]]; ''[[The Canadians]]'' (1961) for [[Burt Kennedy]]; played [[John the Baptist]] in [[MGM]]'s Technicolor epic ''[[King of Kings (1961 film)|King of Kings]]'' (1961) for Nicholas Ray; was the villainous Claggart in [[Peter Ustinov]]'s adaptation of ''[[Billy Budd (film)|Billy Budd]]'' (1962). He also appeared in the all-star war film, including ''[[The Longest Day (film)|The Longest Day]]'' (1962).

Ryan returned to Broadway in ''[[Mr. President]]'' (1962-63) by [[Lindsay and Crouse]]'' and directed by [[Joshua Logan]]; it ran for 263 performances.

⚫
Ryan continued to appear on TV shows like ''[[Kraft Suspense Theatre]]'' ''[[Breaking Point]]'', ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'', ''[[Wagon Train]]'', ''[[The Reporter]]'' and ''[[Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre]]''. Ryan's only partial concession to doing an entire television series was his role as Narrator in CBS's 26-episode acclaimed documentary homage to ''[[World War One (TV series)|World War One]]'', released in prime time during the 1964-65 season.


Although Ryan never appeared in any production of [[Gene Roddenberry]]'s ''[[Star Trek]]'', he was originally considered for the role of Commodore Matt Decker in the 1967 episode "[[The Doomsday Machine (Star Trek: The Original Series)|The Doomsday Machine]]". Episode author [[Norman Spinrad]] reportedly had written the script with Ryan in mind to play Commodore Decker, but Ryan was unavailable, owing to prior commitments. That role subsequently went to [[William Windom (actor)|William Windom]].
Although Ryan never appeared in any production of [[Gene Roddenberry]]'s ''[[Star Trek]]'', he was originally considered for the role of Commodore Matt Decker in the 1967 episode "[[The Doomsday Machine (Star Trek: The Original Series)|The Doomsday Machine]]". Episode author [[Norman Spinrad]] reportedly had written the script with Ryan in mind to play Commodore Decker, but Ryan was unavailable, owing to prior commitments. That role subsequently went to [[William Windom (actor)|William Windom]].

Ryan could be seen in ''[[The Crooked Road]]'' (1965) and ''[[The Secret Agents]]'' (1965), then the all-star ''[[Battle of the Bulge (film)|Battle of the Bulge]]'' (1965) for Phil Yordan and ''[[The Professionals (1966 film)|The Professionals]]'' (1966) for Brooks.

Ryan supported [[Sid Caesar]] in ''[[The Busy Body]]'' (1967) and had a key support part in ''[[The Dirty Dozen]]'' (1967) and ''[[Hour of the Gun]]'' (1967).

Ryan played ''[[Othello]]'' (1967, in [[Nottingham]], England).<ref name=UPI-AP>UPI-AP. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UVwlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Z6EFAAAAIBAJ&pg=853,2674401&dq "Robert Ryan Dead At 59"] {{sic}}. ''The Montreal Gazette''. July 12, 1973. Retrieved 2013-03-16.</ref>

Ryan went to Europe for ''[[Un minuto per pregare, un istante per morire]]'' (1968) and ''[[Anzio (film)|Anzio]]'' (1969). He had a good support role in ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' (1969) for [[Sam Peckinpah]].

Ryan had the lead in ''[[Captain Nemo and the Underwater City]]'' (1969).

⚫
Ryan returned to the stage in a revival of ''[[The Front Page]]''. It was one of the first productions developed by the Plumstead Playhouse (later the Plumstead Theatre Company), a [[Long Island]]-based repertory company founded by Ryan, [[Martha Scott]] and [[Henry Fonda]];<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=a6JQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=u1wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5673,1649757&dq "Repertory Formed By Noted Actors"]. ''The St. Petersburg Times''. August 3, 1968. Retrieved 2013-03-16.</ref> the following winter, a film of the production (produced jointly by [[Metromedia Producers Corporation|MPC]] and Plumstead) would be broadcast nationally over the upstart [[Hughes Television Network|Hughes TV Network]].<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OmtkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-HwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5107,1087270&dq "TV Drama Boasts Top Cast"]. ''The Calgary Herald''. January 23, 1970. Retrieved 2013-03-16.</ref><ref>Du Brow, Rick. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6nU0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=_4wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3787,1612934&dq "Xerox Presents 'The Front Page'"]. ''The Sarasota Journal''. January 12, 1970. Retrieved 2013-03-16.</ref>
===Final Films===
Ryan supported Burt Lancaster in ''[[Lawman]]'' (1971) and Jon Phillip Law in ''[[The Love Machine]]'' (1971). He did ''[[And Hope to Die]]'' (1971) with [[Jean Louis Trignant]] for [[Rene Clement]].

⚫
In April 1971 Ryan returned to the stage to do play [[Long Day's Journey Into Night#Characters|James Tyrone]] in [[Arvin Brown]]'s critically acclaimed [[Off-Broadway]] production of ''[[Long Day's Journey Into Night]]''.<ref>[http://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=%22%22Robert+Ryan%22+%22Long+Day's%22+%22Wharf%22+intitle:The+intitle:New+intitle:Yorker&num=10 "Off Broadway"]. ''The New Yorker''. Volume 47, Issue 3. Retrieved 2013-03-15. See also:
*[http://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=%22%22Robert+Ryan%22+%22Long+Day's%22+%22Wharf%22+intitle:Cue&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_min:Jan+1_2+1971,cd_max:Dec+31_2+1972&num=10 "Long Day's Journey Into Night"]. ''Cue''. April 1971. Retrieved 2013-03-15.</ref>

He did ''[[Lolly-Madonna XXX]]'' (1973) with [[Rod Steiger]].

⚫
Ryan's final roles included: ''[[The Man Without a Country (TV movie)|The Man Without a Country]]'' (1973) for [[Delbert Mann]]; ''[[The Outfit]]'' (1973) with [[Robert Duvall]]; ''[[Executive Action (film)|Executive Action]]'' (1973) with Lancaster, from a script by Dalton Trumbo; and a version of ''[[The Iceman Cometh (film)|The Iceman Cometh]] (1973) with [[Lee Marvin]] and director Frankenheimer. Ryan, who died before the latter's premiere, won the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor,<ref>[http://www.kcfcc.org/1970s.html KCFCC Award Winners 1970-1979]. Kansas City Film Critics Circle. Retrieved 2013-03-15.</ref> the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor (in a tie with [[Al Pacino]], for ''[[Serpico]]''),<ref>Wedman, Les. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QjpmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NosNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1120,3720180&dq=ryan+iceman-cometh+national-board&hl=en "And Now... The Oscar for Gore at the Box Office"]. ''The Vancouver Sun''. January 10, 1974. Retrieved 2013-03-15.</ref> and a special award from the [[National Society of Film Critics]].<ref>Sarris, Andrew. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xKleAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B4wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6301,2910580&dq=ryan+iceman-cometh+national-society&hl=en "Films in Focus: A Tale of Two Circles"]. ''The Village Voice''. February 14, 1974. Retrieved 2013-03-15.</ref> ''The Iceman Cometh'' and ''[[Executive Action (film)|Executive Action]]'' both were released in November 1973, after Ryan's death.


==Politics==
==Politics==

Revision as of 03:50, 6 March 2019

For other people named Robert Ryan, see Robert Ryan (disambiguation).
Robert Ryan
Ryan in Marine Raiders (1944).
Born
Robert Bushnell Ryan

November 11, 1909
Chicago, Illinois, United States
DiedJuly 11, 1973(1973-07-11) (aged 63)
New York City, United States
Years active1940–73
SpouseJessica Cadwalader (1939–72; her death)
Children3[1][2]

Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an American actor who most often portrayed hardened cops and ruthless villains.

Early life

Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois, the first child of Mable Arbutus (Bushnell), a secretary, and Timothy Aloysius Ryan, who was from a wealthy family that owned a real estate firm.[3]: p.4  He was of Irish (paternal grandparents from Thurles) and English descent. Ryan was raised Catholic[4] and educated at Loyola Academy.[5] 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, among other odd jobs.[6]

Career

Early Appreances

Ryan attempted to make a career in show business as a playwright, but was forced to start acting in order to support himself. He studied acting in Hollywood and appeared on stage.

Paramount

Ryan was signed to a term contract at Paramount Pictures. He had small parts in The Ghost Breakers (1940) and Queen of the Mob (1940), and a bigger role in Golden Gloves (1940), directed by Edward Dmytryk.

Ryan had small bits in North West Mounted Police (1941) and Texas Rangers Ride Again (1941). Then Paramount dropped him.

He went to Broadway where he was cast in a production of Clifford Odets' Clash by Night (1941-42), directed by Lee Strasberg and produced by Billy Rose starring Tallulah Bankhead. It only had a run of 49 performances but was high profile.

RKO

Ryan was signed to a long-term contract to RKO Radio Pictures. He had a good role in Bombardier (1943), starring Pat O'Brien, and was fourth billed in a Fred Astaire musical The Sky's the Limit (1943).

He had a good part in Behind the Rising Sun (1943), directed by Dmytryk, which was a huge box office success. Ryan was third billed in The Iron Major (1943) and Gangway for Tomorrow (1943).

RKO promoted him to star status in Tender Comrade (1943), where he was Ginger Rogers' leading man, directed for the third time by Dymytryk. It was a bit hit. Also popular was Marine Raiders (1944) which Ryan co-starred alongside O'Brien.

World War Two

Ryan enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served as a drill instructor at Camp Pendleton, located between Oceanside and San Clemente in Southern 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.

Return to Acting

When Ryan got out of the army he returned to RKO who put him in a Randolph Scott western, Trail Street (1947). He was then in The Woman on the Beach (1947) with Joan Bennett for Jean Renoir.

Ryan's breakthrough film role was as an anti-Semitic killer in Crossfire (1947), a film noir based on Brooks's novel, directed by Dmytryk. The role won Ryan his sole career Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor. The film was very successful at the box office.

Ryan co starred with Merle Oberon in Berlin Express (1948) for director Jacques Tourneur. He was reunited with Scott in Return of the Bad Men (1948), and with O'Brien in The Boy with Green Hair (1948) for Joseph Losey.

MGM borrowed him to make Act of Violence (1948) for Fred Zinnemann. He stayed at that studio to make Caught (1949) for Max Ophuls with James Mason.

Back at RKO Ryan had one of his best roles, The Set-Up (1949), directed by Robert Wise, as an over-the-hill boxer who is brutally punished for refusing to take a dive. He was top billed in The Woman on Pier 13 (1949), an anti-communist melodrama directed by Robert Stevenson.

Ryan did some film noirs: The Secret Fury (1950) with Claudette Colbert directed by Mel Ferrer, and Born to Be Bad (1950) directed by Nicholas Ray. He then made a Western, Best of the Badmen (1951), and a war film with John Wayne, Flying Leathernecks (1951), directed by Ray.

Ryan was reteamed with Robert Mitchum, his Crossfire co star, in The Racket (1951), directed by John Cromwell. He did another film for Nicholas Ray, On Dangerous Ground (1951), with Ida Lupino, then Clash by Night (1952) with Barbara Stanwyck an Marilyn Monroe.

His last film for RKO for a number of years was Beware, My Lovely (1952) with Lupino.

Post RKO

The Naked Spur (1953)

Ryan went over to MGM where he played a villain in Anthony Mann's western The Naked Spur (1953), starring James Stewart. He did City Beneath the Sea (1953) for Budd Boetticher at Universal, Inferno (1953) at MGM, and Alaska Seas (1954) at Paramount.

He was the leading man for Shirley Booth in About Mrs. Leslie (1954) and Greer Garson in Her Twelve Men (1954). The latter was made at MGM, now being run by Ryan's old RKO chief, Dore Schary. Schary cast Ryan as the head villain in Bad Day at Black Rock (1954).

He did an off Broadway production of Coriolanus (1954) directed by John Houseman.

Ryan returned to RKO for Escape to Burma (1955) with Stanwyck. More widely seen was Sam Fuller's House of Bamboo (1955) and Raoul Walsh's The Tall Men (1955), both at Fox.

Ryan played the title characters in Shakespeare's Coriolanus (1954, Off-Broadway).

He starred in The Proud Ones (1956) at fox, Back from Eternity (1956) at RKO, and Men in War (1957) for Antony Mann.

Television

Ryan made his debut in television in 1955 as Abraham Lincoln in the Screen Director's Playhouse adaptation of Christopher Morley's story "Lincoln's Doctor's Dog." As he explained to reporters, despite financial considerations, Ryan preferred to steer clear of any commitment to a TV series:

The only money in TV is in the series, and I want to stay out of those. Sure, I might make a million or so in a series, but I'd wind up being 'Sidewinder Sam' for the rest of my life.[7]

With Barbara Stanwyck in Clash by Night (1952)

Ryan would remain true to these convictions, appearing in many television series, but always as a guest star. He was in Screen Directors Playhouse, Mr. Adams and Eve, Goodyear Theatre, Alcoa Theatre, Playhouse 90 (playing The Great Gatsby), and Zane Grey Theater.

He continued to star in features though - such as God's Little Acre (1958) for Mann, Lonelyhearts (1959) for Schary, Day of the Outlaw (1959) for Mann's company, and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) for Wise.

1960s

In the summer of 1960 Ryan he starred opposite Katharine Hepburn at the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut, playing Antony to Hepburn's Cleopatra.

Ryan remained in heavy demand throughout the 1960s: he appeared in Ice Palace (1960) with Richard Burton; a TV version of The Snows of Kilimanjaro directed by John Frankenheimer; The Canadians (1961) for Burt Kennedy; played John the Baptist in MGM's Technicolor epic King of Kings (1961) for Nicholas Ray; was the villainous Claggart in Peter Ustinov's adaptation of Billy Budd (1962). He also appeared in the all-star war film, including The Longest Day (1962).

Ryan returned to Broadway in Mr. President (1962-63) by Lindsay and Crouse and directed by Joshua Logan; it ran for 263 performances.

Ryan continued to appear on TV shows like Kraft Suspense Theatre Breaking Point, The Eleventh Hour, Wagon Train, The Reporter and Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre. Ryan's only partial concession to doing an entire television series was his role as Narrator in CBS's 26-episode acclaimed documentary homage to World War One, released in prime time during the 1964-65 season.

Although Ryan never appeared in any production of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, he was originally considered for the role of Commodore Matt Decker in the 1967 episode "The Doomsday Machine". Episode author Norman Spinrad reportedly had written the script with Ryan in mind to play Commodore Decker, but Ryan was unavailable, owing to prior commitments. That role subsequently went to William Windom.

Ryan could be seen in The Crooked Road (1965) and The Secret Agents (1965), then the all-star Battle of the Bulge (1965) for Phil Yordan and The Professionals (1966) for Brooks.

Ryan supported Sid Caesar in The Busy Body (1967) and had a key support part in The Dirty Dozen (1967) and Hour of the Gun (1967).

Ryan played Othello (1967, in Nottingham, England).[8]

Ryan went to Europe for Un minuto per pregare, un istante per morire (1968) and Anzio (1969). He had a good support role in The Wild Bunch (1969) for Sam Peckinpah.

Ryan had the lead in Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969).

Ryan returned to the stage in a revival of The Front Page. It was one of the first productions developed by the Plumstead Playhouse (later the Plumstead Theatre Company), a Long Island-based repertory company founded by Ryan, Martha Scott and Henry Fonda;[9] the following winter, a film of the production (produced jointly by MPC and Plumstead) would be broadcast nationally over the upstart Hughes TV Network.[10][11]

Final Films

Ryan supported Burt Lancaster in Lawman (1971) and Jon Phillip Law in The Love Machine (1971). He did And Hope to Die (1971) with Jean Louis Trignant for Rene Clement.

In April 1971 Ryan returned to the stage to do play James Tyrone in Arvin Brown's critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Long Day's Journey Into Night.[12]

He did Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973) with Rod Steiger.

Ryan's final roles included: The Man Without a Country (1973) for Delbert Mann; The Outfit (1973) with Robert Duvall; Executive Action (1973) with Lancaster, from a script by Dalton Trumbo; and a version of The Iceman Cometh (1973) with Lee Marvin and director Frankenheimer. Ryan, who died before the latter's premiere, won the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor,[13] the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor (in a tie with Al Pacino, for Serpico),[14] and a special award from the National Society of Film Critics.[15] The Iceman Cometh and Executive Action both were released in November 1973, after Ryan's death.

Politics

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 Un-American 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 Union, American Friends Service Committee, and United World Federalists. In September 1959, he and Steve Allen became founding co-chairs of The Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy's Hollywood chapter.[16]

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 Cosby, Robert Culp, Sidney Poitier, and other actors, helped organize the short-lived Artists Help All Blacks.[3]: p.132 

Ryan's film work, playing cynical, prejudiced, violent characters, 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 McCarthyism who appeared in the anti-communist propaganda film I Married a Communist, playing a nefarious communist agent. In socially progressive films such as Crossfire, Bad Day at Black Rock, Odds Against Tomorrow and Executive Action, he played bigoted villains or conspirators. Ryan was often vocal about this dichotomy. At a screening of Odds Against Tomorrow, he appeared before the press to discuss "the problems of an actor like me playing the kind of character that in real life he finds totally despicable."[17]

Personal life

On March 11, 1939, he married Jessica Cadwalader. They had two sons — Cheyney, a research fellow at Oxford University and a Professor of Philosophy and Law at the University of Oregon; his oldest son, Walker T, a bluesman; and a daughter, Lisa. They lived in the Manhattan co-op The Dakota at 72nd and Central Park West and eventually sublet the apartment to John Lennon and Yoko Ono.[18]

In the fall of 1951, a progressive school by the name of Oakwood was opened in Jessica and Robert Ryan's backyard, founded by a small group of parents who decided to create a school based on their views of education and child-rearing. Three years later, those parents, including the Ryans, Sidney Harmon and Elizabeth Schappert, Wendy and Ross Cabeen, and Charles and Emilie Haas, bought and built the elementary school campus on Moorpark Street in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.

Robert and Jessica remained married until her death from cancer in 1972. He died from lung cancer in New York City the following year at age 63.

Filmography

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20116129,00.html
  2. ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=wF9cCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA281&lpg=PA281&dq=Robert+Ryan+actor+children&source=bl&ots=1ONULfktf3&sig=kbT4YfsQHsLbt-pFBw5ubzeuMO4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjogJGB2eDKAhWGOj4KHfQNBygQ6AEIlwEwEQ#v=snippet&q=Lisa&f=false
  3. ^ a b Jarlett, Franklin (1997). Robert Ryan: A Biography and Critical Filmography. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Classics.
  4. ^ http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/film-noir-icon-robert-ryan-his-chicago-childhood-the-ryan-construction-fire/Content?oid=1223003
  5. ^ Jones, J.R. The Lives of Robert Ryan Wesleyan University Press, 11 May 2015
  6. ^ Jarlett, Franklin (1997). Robert Ryan: A Biography and Critical Filmography. McFarland & Company. p. 7. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
  7. ^ "Notes From Hollywood". The Ottawa Citizen. December 3, 1955. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
  8. ^ UPI-AP. "Robert Ryan Dead At 59" [sic]. The Montreal Gazette. July 12, 1973. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  9. ^ "Repertory Formed By Noted Actors". The St. Petersburg Times. August 3, 1968. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  10. ^ "TV Drama Boasts Top Cast". The Calgary Herald. January 23, 1970. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  11. ^ Du Brow, Rick. "Xerox Presents 'The Front Page'". The Sarasota Journal. January 12, 1970. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  12. ^ "Off Broadway". The New Yorker. Volume 47, Issue 3. Retrieved 2013-03-15. See also:
  13. ^ KCFCC Award Winners 1970-1979. Kansas City Film Critics Circle. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
  14. ^ Wedman, Les. "And Now... The Oscar for Gore at the Box Office". The Vancouver Sun. January 10, 1974. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
  15. ^ Sarris, Andrew. "Films in Focus: A Tale of Two Circles". The Village Voice. February 14, 1974. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
  16. ^ "Robert Ryan Biography". New York Times. 2010.
  17. ^ Philip K. Scheuer, Los Angeles Times, 1 October 1959, B13.
  18. ^ The Lives of Robert Ryan, a biography of the actor by J.R. Jones published in 2015 (Wesleyan Film, May 2015)

Further reading

External links

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