Talk:Robert Walker (actor, born 1918)

Is Bruno Anthony homosexual?

His performance as the psychopathic closeted homosexual Bruno Anthony was highly lauded and considered to be his finest role.

Are you sure thay Bruno Anthony is homosexual? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.98.21.88 (talk) 15:12, 27 August 2010 (UTC)

Looks like this has been changed. 69.125.134.86 (talk) 22:14, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

Married a third time...or no?

For 1951, the copy reads

"Walker spent the summer with his sons, and was considering the possibility of remarrying."

And then it says no more except he worked on another film and then died, tragically. But in the infobox, it says he was married a third time. But there is no mention of "Hanna" in the article. So did he not only consider the possibility but actually decided to marry again? Or is the infobox incorrect? 69.125.134.86 (talk) 22:14, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

That bit in the info box is what prompted me to come to the talk section as well. I've just been reading the Starcrossed book and the name "Hanna Landy" isn't mentioned once to my memory. He was seeing a woman named (I believe) Kay Scott at the time of his death, and was not remarried. Where did the name Hanna Landy come from?--Wiesnerc (talk) 03:40, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

"Robert Walker Tribute Page"

There is a fan site called the "Robert Walker Tribute Page." In the past it has been used as a source for this article. I just wanted to mention here that it consists in large measure of text copied from Beverly Linnet's Walker-Jones biography, "Star-Crossed." Therefore it cannot be used in any manner by Wikipedia, either as a source or as an external link, under WP:LINKVIO. As a fan site it doesn't qualify as a reliable source anyway. Coretheapple (talk) 21:44, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

Article name

Inclusion of the birth date for this and the article on his son seems clunky. Can we think of something else? Perhaps Robert Walker Sr. and Robert Walker Jr. See Alan Hale Sr. and Alan Hale Jr., identical situation. Coretheapple (talk) 15:22, 4 January 2017 (UTC)

I came here to raise the same issue. The title is non-standard. Unless there is another actor known as "Robert Walker", the title of this article should be "Robert Walker (actor)", not "Robert Walker (actor, born 1918)". His son has been billed for most of his career as "Robert Walker, Jr.", which is his actual name. Because the issue was raised over 18 months ago, I propose moving and retitling both articles to "Robert Walker (actor)" and "Robert Walker, Jr." within a week if there are no dissenting opinions. Canonblack (talk) 04:19, 21 August 2018 (UTC)

It should be noted that Robert Walker (actor) is an incomplete disambiguation since there have been three lead actors whose stage name, as depicted in on-screen credits, has been "Robert Walker". The first, Robert Walker (actor, born 1888), started out as a leading man in 1910s and, in a handful of films, was credited as Robert D. Walker. His most consistent billing, however, has been "Robert Walker" and his entry in the authoritative American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures carries the main header "Robert Walker".

As for the father-and-son star actors named Robert Walker, the father, analogous to the previously-mentioned Alan Hale Sr., who was never credited as "Alan Hale Sr.", was likewise never credited or referenced as "Robert Walker Sr." Alan Hale's lookalike son was credited as "Alan Hale, Jr." for a fairly long time — from his first on-screen billing in 1941, past his father's death in 1950 and his first TV series, Biff Baker, U.S.A. in 1952–54. Starting in 1953, he was intermittently credited in occasional episodes of TV series as "Alan Hale", but his primary billing on TV and in all films continued to be "Alan Hale, Jr." until 1955, when it became "Alan Hale", as seen in the opening credits of 1964–67's Gilligan's Island. However, he continued to be intermittently credited as "Alan Hale, Jr." for the remainder of his career, as in 1968's Hang 'Em High or 1984's The Red Fury.

On the other hand, Robert Walker Jr. who, unlike Alan Hale Jr., never had a performing career concurrent with his father and started his acting career about five years after his father's death in 1951, was credited, from his first acting role, as "Robert Walker". Although, to differentiate him from his fsther, he is listed as "Jr." in a number of references, there is no documented on-screen credit in which he is actually billed as "Robert Walker, Jr." —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 16:54, 26 September 2019 (UTC)

I think you've made some very good points here, but I hope we can figure out a way of naming this article without including the birth year in the title. Agree, it may not be possible. Coretheapple (talk) 16:24, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

Each Sr. / Jr. case presents its own set of circumstances. Father actors almost never used that form, even when their sons achieved stardom, such as in the case of Jason Robards Sr. who never used "Sr.", while his son started out credited as Jason Robards Jr. and only dropped the "Jr." after his father's death. The only father who was credited as "Sr." during his lifetime was Noah Beery Sr. in the final five years of his life and acting career.

One other father, Harry Carey Sr., was only once credited as "Sr." in one (but not the other one) of his two posthumously-released features, Red River (1948 film), with a cast list that also featured the name of his son, Harry Carey Jr.

As for sons, with one exception, all those who were referenced as "Jr." or had been credited at one point as "Jr.", including Elisha Cook Jr. who was in his time the sole actor named "Elisha Cook", had subsequently dropped the "Jr.", either completely or, as in the cases of Lon Chaney Jr. or Alan Hale Jr., intermittently. The one exception was Douglas Fairbanks Jr. who kept the "Jr." throughout his entire acting career, from his first on-screen credit in 1923 to his final credit 66 years later, in 1989.

There was a proposal to use non-traditional disambiguation, Alan Hale (Sr.)|Alan Hale at Talk:Alan Hale Sr.#Requested move 26 January 2016, but it closed as "No move". —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 08:41, 28 September 2019 (UTC)

I understand your position, but I think that on reflection I agree with Canonback above---that this article should be named Robert Walker (actor), that the son should be Robert Walker Jr. (actor) and the other actor Robert Walker's title can remain as it is with "actor born 1988), as he is obscure. I think that's the most commonsensical way of doing it, so that we don't have a clunky article name with the birth date therein. Coretheapple (talk) 15:05, 28 September 2019 (UTC)

However, Canonblack qualifies that, "Unless there is another actor known as "Robert Walker", the title of this article should be "Robert Walker (actor)", not "Robert Walker (actor, born 1918)". Since there have been, in fact, two other actors credited as "Robert Walker", the "Unless" would seem to agree that use of main title header "Robert Walker (actor)" constitutes incomplete disambiguation.

In the next sentence, Canonblack states that, "His son has been billed for most of his career as "Robert Walker, Jr.", which is his actual name." However, I was unable to find a single on-screen credit or poster in which the son is billed as "Robert Walker Jr." The use of the main title header with the qualifier "Robert Walker Jr. (actor)" would have to be considered unnecessary disambiguation since there are no other Wikipedia entries that use such a header.

The non-traditional disambiguation Robert Walker (Sr.) which would be piped in cast lists as Robert Walker (Sr.)|Robert Walker as well as analogous non-traditional disambiguation Robert Walker (Jr.) which would be piped in cast lists as Robert Walker (Jr.)|Robert Walker, might or might not gain consensus since the circumstances would be different from those discussed at Talk:Alan Hale Sr.#Requested move 26 January 2016 in that Alan Hale Jr. was frequently credited as "Jr.", while Robert Walker Jr. was, as far as can be determined, never credited as "Jr." —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 22:00, 28 September 2019 (UTC)

I've pinged Canonback so he can weigh in if he so wishes. Coretheapple (talk) 16:44, 29 September 2019 (UTC)

Request for comment, article title

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Consensus to not move. (non-admin closure) Cwmhiraeth (talk) 11:03, 30 October 2019 (UTC)

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Robert Walker (actor, born 1918) → ? – Currently the article title is Robert Walker (actor born 1918). There are two other actors named Robert Walker, his son Robert Walker Jr., for whom the title is currently Robert Walker (actor, born 1940) and an unrelated person born in 1888, with an article name Robert Walker (actor, born 1888). The question is whether this should be changed.

• Allternative A: Leave as is.
• Alternative B: Make the title of this article Robert Walker (actor) and keep the other two the same
• Alternative C: Make the title of this article Robert Walker (actor), retitle the article on the son as Robert Walker Jr., and leave the other one the same..

Coretheapple (talk) 16:21, 30 September 2019 (UTC).
Relisted as a proper WP:RM (not WP:RFC).  — AReaderOutThataway ^t/_c 07:41, 22 October 2019 (UTC)

Survey

• Alternative C or B The Robert Walker born in 1918 is by far the most prominent of the three actors of that name. He was the star of Strangers on a Train and other noted films and the subject of a well-received biography focusing on his troubled later life and marriage to Jennifer Jones. Putting his birth date in the title is pedantic and unnecessary. The other two, his son and the obscure actor born in 1888, can remain as they are, though I lean toward Robert Walker Jr. for the son as that is how he was mainly known. The disambiguation at the top of all three articles can be mad more precise. Coretheapple (talk) 16:21, 30 September 2019 (UTC) Re Roman Spinner's comment below: if C or B were enacted the link of "Robert Walker (actor)" to "Robert Walker#Entertainment" [1] would of course be fixed. Coretheapple (talk) 14:25, 1 October 2019 (UTC)
• Alternative A because Robert Walker (actor) which redirects to Robert Walker#Entertainment, is incomplete disambiguation in the same manner as Robert Walker (footballer) which redirects to Robert Walker#Sports, Robert Walker (politician) which redirects to Robert Walker#Politics or Robert Walker (priest) which redirects to Robert Walker#Religion. Since we are not using incomplete forms for the most prominent footballer or politician so we should not use an incomplete form for the actor. As for the son being known as "Jr.", as has already been pointed out, there is no record of a single on-screen credit which bills him as "Robert Walker Jr." —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 06:07, 1 October 2019 (UTC).
• Alternative A Agree with above comment, there are too many Robert Walkers in entertainment and media, especially actors, to choose this one in particular as the “main” actor. Keep it as is Pedestrianswimmer (talk) 01:53, 3 October 2019 (UTC)
• Alternative A Per above comment, I would feel like distinguishing a single among the sea of Robert Walkers would probably stick out strangely. Although, I would probably still do something about changing the name on the article for Robert Walker Jr. -Yeetcetera _{Let's chat} 15:21, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
• Allternative A. Leave as is for same reasons as above. 203.10.55.11 (talk) 03:34, 15 October 2019 (UTC)
• A: None of them is super-famous, so deciding on WP:PRIMARYTOPIC seems a bit iffy. But maybe move the son to Robert Walker Jr., per WP:COMMONNAME (or to a disambiguated version of that if necessary).  — AReaderOutThataway ^t/_c 07:41, 22 October 2019 (UTC)
• A (leave as is). The page titles are already properly disambiguated, and we should avoid partial disambiguations. There's no problem here that needs fixing. PC78 (talk) 08:46, 22 October 2019 (UTC)

Discussion

I have published a notice regarding this RFC on the Talk:Robert_Walker_(actor,_born_1940) page as Alternative C proposes renaming that page. 203.10.55.11 (talk) 03:34, 15 October 2019 (UTC)

WP:RFC is not the proper process for rename discussions. That is WP:RM. I've reformatted this as an RM so that the RM bot lists it at WP:RM, where people who comment on move discussions will actually see it. And I've removed the RfC tag, which isn't the right template.  — AReaderOutThataway ^t/_c 07:41, 22 October 2019 (UTC)

You're right. Thanks for this. Quite some years editing Wikipedia and the first time it has come up. Coretheapple (talk) 15:49, 24 October 2019 (UTC)

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The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Robert Walker 3rd Marriage Not Possible

According to newspaper accounts in the Pasadena Independent Friday, January 6, 1950 Barbara Ford received her final decree of divorce from Robert Walker on January 5, 1950. There contemporary accounts in other papers as well. In addition, no other author has mentioned anything regarding Hanna Landi or other names she used being married to him. His obituaries make no mention of a third marriage, his estate was left to his sons, there were codicils in his will regarding the exclusion of Jennifer Jones and Barbara Ford from his estate but no mention of a third wife. He would have to be divorced from Barbara Ford in order to legally marry again. It was typical at that time for it to take a year before a divorce was final. It would not be likely that his friend Jim Henaghen would not mention a third marriage, or even a dating relationship with Hanna Landi, since they were close friends. It would be interesting to know what the source of this claim is. 72.28.255.51 (talk) 20:38, 14 March 2022 (UTC)

Eisenhower

I don't have access to the cited source, but it's not quite right to say that a person who died in 1951 supported a candidate in the 1952 election. He may have wanted Eisenhower to run for president, as many Americans did, from before the 1948 election, but Eisenhower was not a candidate for the 1952 election until after Walker's death. ~~ Myfavoriteboxer (talk) 22:44, 11 April 2022 (UTC)

"Heneghan, who was married to Gwen Verdon at the time..."

This does not seem correct. Walker died in 1951, and Wikipedia lists Heneghan-Verdon's marriage as lasting from 1942 to 1947. 216.96.227.161 (talk) 20:43, 17 April 2023 (UTC)