Robert Walker (actor)
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| Robert Walker | |
|---|---|
 from the trailer for Strangers on a Train (1951) |
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| Born | Robert Hudson Walker October 13, 1918 Salt Lake City, Utah, United States |
| Died | August 28, 1951 (aged 32) Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1939–1951 |
| Spouse |
Jennifer Jones (m. 1939–1945) |
Robert Hudson Walker (October 13, 1918 – August 28, 1951) was an American actor.[1] He is probably best known for his role as Bruno Anthony in Alfred Hitchcock's 1951 thriller Strangers on a Train.
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[edit] Early life
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Zella (née McQuarrie) and Horace Walker, he was the youngest of four sons. Emotionally scarred by his parents' divorce when he was still a child, he subsequently developed an interest in acting which led his maternal aunt Hortense (McQuarrie) Odlum (the president of Bonwit Teller) to offer to pay for his enrollment at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City in 1937. Walker lived in her home during his first year in the city.
[edit] Career and personal life
While attending American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Walker met fellow aspiring actress Phylis Isley, who later took the stage name Jennifer Jones. After a brief courtship, the couple were married in Tulsa, Oklahoma on January 2, 1939 and moved to Hollywood to find work in films but their prospects proved to be meager and they soon returned to New York.
Walker found work in radio while Phylis stayed home and gave birth to two sons in quick succession, actor Robert Walker, Jr. (born April 15, 1940) and Michael Walker (March 13, 1941 – December 27, 2007). Phylis then returned to auditioning where her luck changed when she was discovered in 1941 by producer David O. Selznick, who changed her name to Jennifer Jones and groomed her for stardom.
The couple returned to Hollywood, and Selznick's connections helped Walker secure a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he started work on the war drama Bataan (1943). Walker's charming demeanor and boyish good looks caught on with audiences, and he worked steadily playing "boy-next-door" roles in films such as See Here, Private Hargrove (1944) and Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945). He also appeared in Selznick's Since You Went Away (1944) in which he and his wife portrayed doomed young lovers. By that time Selznick and Jones' affair was common knowledge, and Jones and Walker separated in November 1943, in the midst of production.[2] The filming of their love scenes was torturous as Selznick insisted that Walker perform take after take of each love scene with Jones. She filed for divorce in April 1945.
That year, Walker starred in the film The Clock opposite Judy Garland in her first straight dramatic film. Although Walker continued to work steadily in Hollywood, he was distraught over the divorce and was soon prone to drinking, emotional outbursts and eventually, a nervous breakdown.
In 1946, Walker starred in Till the Clouds Roll By, where he played the song writer Jerome Kern. He starred as composer Johannes Brahms in Song of Love (1947), which co-starred Katharine Hepburn and Paul Henreid. In 1948, Walker starred with Ava Gardner in the film One Touch of Venus, directed by William A. Seiter. The film was a non-musical comedy adapted from a Broadway show with music by Kurt Weill. He married Barbara Ford, the daughter of director John Ford, in July 1948, but the marriage lasted only five months.[3]
He spent time at the Menninger Clinic in 1949 where he was treated for a psychiatric disorder.[4]
Following his discharge from the clinic, he was cast by acclaimed director Alfred Hitchcock for Strangers on a Train (1951). His performance as the psychopathic Bruno Anthony was highly lauded and considered to be his finest role. His emotional problems largely behind him, and his career on an upswing, Walker spent the summer with his sons, and was considering the possibility of remarrying.
His final film role was in the title role of anti-Communist film, My Son John (1952). Walker died before production finished, and so angles from his death scene in Strangers were spliced into a similar melodramatic dying near end of the film.[5]
[edit] Death
On the night of August 28, 1951, Walker's housekeeper found him in an emotional state. She called his psychiatrist, who arrived and administered amobarbital (a barbiturate) to him in an effort to calm him down. Since he had been drinking prior to his emotional outburst, he suffered a severe reaction to the drug because it had a synergistic effect with the alcohol which was already in his system. As a result, he passed out and stopped breathing, and all efforts to resuscitate him failed. Walker was 32 years old.[6]
Walker was buried at Washington Heights Memorial Park in Ogden, Utah.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | Winter Carnival | Wes | Uncredited |
| 1939 | These Glamour Girls | College Boy | Uncredited |
| 1939 | Dancing Co-Ed | Boy | Uncredited Alternative title: Every Other Inch a Lady |
| 1943 | Bataan | Leonard Purckett | |
| 1943 | Madame Curie | David Le Gros | |
| 1944 | See Here, Private Hargrove | Private Marion Hargrove | |
| 1944 | Since You Went Away | Corporal William G. "Bill" Smollett II | |
| 1944 | Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo | David Thatcher (Crew of the Ruptured Duck) | |
| 1945 | The Clock | Corporal Joe Allen | Alternative title: Under the Clock |
| 1945 | Her Highness and the Bellboy | Jimmy Dobson | |
| 1945 | What Next, Corporal Hargrove? | Corporal Marion Hargrove | |
| 1945 | The Sailor Takes a Wife | John Hill | |
| 1946 | Till the Clouds Roll By | Jerome Kern | |
| 1947 | The Beginning or the End | Colonel Jeff Nixon | |
| 1947 | The Sea of Grass | Brock Brewton | |
| 1947 | Song of Love | Johannes Brahms | |
| 1948 | One Touch of Venus | Eddie Hatch | |
| 1950 | Please Believe Me | Terence Keath | |
| 1950 | The Skipper Surprised His Wife | Commander William J. Lattimer | |
| 1951 | Vengeance Valley | Lee Strobie | |
| 1951 | Strangers on a Train | Bruno Anthony | |
| 1952 | My Son John | John Jefferson |
[edit] Bibliography
- Beverly Linet, Star Crossed: The Story of Robert Walker and Jennifer Jones (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1985) ISBN 0-399-13194-9
[edit] References
- ^ Obituary Variety, September 5, 1951, page 75.
- ^ "Jennifer Jones Sues To Divorce Actor Walker", The Washington Post, April 22, 1945, p. M4.
- ^ "Robert Walker's Wife Is Granted Divorce", The Washington Post, December 17, 1948, p. 26.
- ^ Beverly Linet, Star Crossed: The Story of Robert Walker and Jennifer Jones (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1985) ISBN 0-399-13194-9
- ^ René Jordan. "Now you see it, now you don't: the art of movie magic," in The movie-buff's book, ed. Ted Sennett, New York: Bonanza Books, 1975, pp. 132-142.
- ^ Brettell, Andrew; Imwold, Denis; Kennedy, Damien; King, Noel (2005). Cut!: Hollywood Murders, Accidents, and Other Tragedies. Leonard, Warren Hsu; von Rohr, Heather. Barrons Educational Series. p. 253. ISBN 0-764-15858-9.
[edit] External links
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