Robert Mitchum: A Bio-Bibliography

The bad boy reputation that colours Robert Mitchum’s public profile has been both earned and unearned. Gerry Roberts details the actor’s career, his cult status, his under-appreciated talent, his forgotten films and his supposed I-don’t-care attitude. While this book catalogues previously published information on Mitchum, it concentrates on taking a full measure of the actor. Yet it doesn’t fail to include the events that occasionally brought him more notoriety than his movies. The book’s biographical essay and annotated filmography scrutinise his performing style. Efforts have been made to correct errors that have been handed down from newspaper stories to magazine stories to biographies. Many yarns about Mitchum have been repeated and modified into legend. But much of the Mitchum myth has been just that: myth. The final word here on various rumours and stories comes from the confirmations, clarifications and corrections made by Robert Mitchum during an interview with the author and in correspondence with several members of the Mitchum family. As with the other bio-bibliographies in the Performing Arts, the biographical essay is followed by a chronology, annotated filmography, television, stage, recording and writing credits, list of awards, annotated bibliography listing 1,300 entries and a comprehensive index.