MUSEUM OF MODERN MYTHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE

ROBERT MITCHUM

1917-1997. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Mitch worked in an auto factory before joining his sister in California to do theater work. Mitch broke into movies, appearing in Hopalong Cassidy westerns in the 1940s. An Oscar nomination for Story of G. I. Joe (1945) followed. Out of the Past (1947), and The Big Steal (1949), are examples of the Noir films in which Mitch excelled. He gave a terrifying performance, in Night of the Hunter (1955), as the crazed preacher who tries to murder two children for their father's money. The Sundowners (1960) provided Mitch with one of his greatest roles, a depression-era Australian sheepherder. His Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962), is a truly memorable and disturbing character study. Not obsessed with his screen image, Robert Mitchum could be evil incarnate, gentle, sympathetic, heroic, a slob, or a lout.

Enter