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Robert Ryan
Actor

Robert Ryan

11 Nov 1909Born
11 Jul 1973Died
63Age at death
87Credits

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.

Read the full biography

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

Filmography

The 80 most recent of 87 credits.

  1. 2002The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel FullerFilm: Sandy Dawson (archive footage) (uncredited)
  2. 1973The Iceman ComethFilm: Larry Slade
  3. 1973Executive ActionFilm: Foster
  4. 1973The OutfitFilm: Mailer
  5. 1973The Man Without a CountryFilm: Lt. Cmdr. Vaughan
  6. 1973Lolly-Madonna XXXFilm: Pap Gutshall
  7. 1972And Hope to DieFilm: Charley
  8. 1971The Love MachineFilm: Gregory 'Greg' Austin
  9. 1971LawmanFilm: Sabbath Marshal Cotton Ryan
  10. 1970The Reason WhyFilm: Roger
  11. 1969Captain Nemo and the Underwater CityFilm: Captain Nemo
  12. 1969The Wild BunchFilm: Deke Thornton
  13. 1968AnzioFilm: Gen. Carson
  14. 1968A Minute to Pray, a Second to DieFilm: New Mexico Gov. Lem Carter
  15. 1967Custer of the WestFilm: Mulligan
  16. 1967Hour of the GunFilm: Ike Clanton
  17. 1967The Dirty DozenFilm: Col. Everett Dasher Breed
  18. 1967The Busy BodyFilm: Charley Barker
  19. 1966The ProfessionalsFilm: Ehrengard
  20. 1965Battle of the BulgeFilm: General Grey
  21. 1965The Dirty GameFilm: General Bruce
  22. 1965The Crooked RoadFilm: Richard Ashley
  23. 1964The InheritanceFilm: Narrator (voice)
  24. 1964World War OneSeries: Narrator (26 episodes)
  25. 1964World War I: The Complete StorySeries: Narrator (27 episodes)
  26. 1964A Regular Bouquet: Mississippi SummerFilm: Narrator (voice)
  27. 1963Kraft Suspense TheatreSeries: Thomas Bollington (1 episode)
  28. 1962Billy BuddFilm: John Claggart, Master of Arms
  29. 1962The Longest DayFilm: Brig. Gen. James M. Gavin
  30. 1961King of KingsFilm: John the Baptist
  31. 1961The CanadiansFilm: Inspector William Gannon
  32. 1960The Snows of KilimanjaroFilm: Harry Walters
  33. 1960Ice PalaceFilm: Thor Storm
  34. 1959Odds Against TomorrowFilm: Earle Slater
  35. 1959Day of the OutlawFilm: Blaise Starrett
  36. 1959LonelyheartsFilm: William Shrike
  37. 1958God's Little AcreFilm: Ty Ty Walden
  38. 1958The Great GatsbyFilm: Jay Gatsby
  39. 1957Alcoa TheatreSeries: Trilbridge, Mike Ripetti (1 episode)
  40. 1957Goodyear TheatreSeries: Frank Berry (1 episode)
  41. 1957Men in WarFilm: Lt. Benson
  42. 1956Dick Powell's Zane Grey TheatreSeries: Matt Jessop, Cob Oakley, Sheriff Amos Parney, Captain William Kraig (2 episodes)
  43. 1956Back from EternityFilm: Bill Lonagan
  44. 1956The Proud OnesFilm: Marshal Cass Silver
  45. 1956The House Without a NameFilm: Fernand Fox
  46. 1955The Tall MenFilm: Nathan Stark
  47. 1955House of BambooFilm: Sandy Dawson
  48. 1955Escape to BurmaFilm: Jim Brecan
  49. 1955Bad Day at Black RockFilm: Reno Smith
  50. 1954Her Twelve MenFilm: Joe Hargrave
  51. 1954About Mrs. LeslieFilm: George Leslie
  52. 1954Alaska SeasFilm: Matt Kelly
  53. 1953InfernoFilm: Donald Whitley Carson III
  54. 1953City Beneath the SeaFilm: Brad Carlton
  55. 1953The Naked SpurFilm: Ben Vandergroat
  56. 1952Horizons WestFilm: Dan Hammond
  57. 1952Beware, My LovelyFilm: Howard Wilton
  58. 1952Clash by NightFilm: Earl Pfeiffer
  59. 1951On Dangerous GroundFilm: Jim Wilson
  60. 1951The RacketFilm: Nick Scanlon
  61. 1951Flying LeathernecksFilm: Capt. Carl 'Griff' Griffin
  62. 1951Best of the BadmenFilm: Jeff Clanton
  63. 1951Hard, Fast and Beautiful!Film: Seabright Tennis Match Spectator (uncredited)
  64. 1950Born to Be BadFilm: Nick
  65. 1950The Woman on Pier 13Film: Bradley Collins / Frank Johnson
  66. 1950The Secret FuryFilm: David McLean
  67. 1949The Set-UpFilm: Stoker
  68. 1949CaughtFilm: Smith Ohlrig
  69. 1949Act of ViolenceFilm: Joe Parkson
  70. 1948The Boy with Green HairFilm: Dr. Evans
  71. 1948Return of the Bad MenFilm: Sundance Kid
  72. 1948Berlin ExpressFilm: Robert Lindley
  73. 1947CrossfireFilm: Montgomery
  74. 1947The Woman on the BeachFilm: Scott Burnett
  75. 1947Trail StreetFilm: Allen Harper
  76. 1944Marine RaidersFilm: Capt. Dan Craig
  77. 1944Tender ComradeFilm: Chris Jones
  78. 1943Gangway for TomorrowFilm: Joe Dunham
  79. 1943The Iron MajorFilm: Father Timothy 'Tim' Donovan
  80. 1943Behind the Rising SunFilm: Lefty O'Doyle

Biography and credits from TMDB. This website uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.