Robert Gist
Robert Gist | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 1, 1917 |
| Died | May 21, 1998 (aged 80) Magalia, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, actor |
| Years active | 1947-1971 |
| Spouse | Agnes Moorehead (1954–58) |
Robert Gist (Oct 1, 1917 – May 21, 1998) was an American actor and film director. He was married to actress Agnes Moorehead from 1954 to 1958, although they separated in 1955. They met during the filming of The Stratton Story (1949).
Biography
Robert Gist grew up around Chicago stockyards during the Great Depression. Reform school-bound after injuring another boy in a fistfight, Gist instead ended up in Chicago's Hull House, a settlement house where he first became interested in acting.
Work in Chicago radio was followed by stage acting roles in Chicago and on Broadway (in the long-running Harvey with Josephine Hull). While acting in Harvey, he made his motion picture debut in 20th Century-Fox's Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Gist was also seen on Broadway in director Charles Laughton's The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (1954) with Henry Fonda and John Hodiak.
While shooting Operation Petticoat (1959), Gist told director Blake Edwards that he was interested in directing. Edwards later hired Gist to helm episodes of the TV series Peter Gunn. Gist also directed episodes of TV shows Naked City, The Twilight Zone, Route 66, and many others.
Gist directed the world premiere of Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Conversation At Midnight," produced by Worley Thorne and Susan Davis, in November, 1961, on stage, at the Coronet Theatre, Los Angeles. Playing only on the three "off-nights" the theatre was available, Monday through Wednesday, the production was received enthusiastically by critics and audiences, and the small 160-seat theatre was filled to capacity each night for 6 weeks. With that success, the production moved to the larger Civic Playhouse, where it ran for more than 4 more months. In the stellar cast were James Coburn, Jack Albertson, Eduard Franz, Hal England, Sandy Kenyon, Frank DiKova and Bill Berger. Three years later, Gist directed another production of the piece on Broadway, at the Billy Rose Theatre, again produced by Thorne, in association with Davis, with some of the first cast. But notably absent in key roles were James Coburn and Jack Albertson. The "play," a dramatic dialogue of ideas, delivered in various poetic forms, did not do well on Broadway and closed within the week.
Filmography
- Nichols
- Vacation Playhouse
- Have Gun - Will Travel
- Rawhide
- The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor
- Peter Gunn
- The Law and Mr. Jones
- The Americans
- The Aquanauts
- Sea Hunt
- Pony Express
- Hotel de Paree
- Perry Mason
- Hennesey
- General Electric Theater
- Zane Grey Theater
- Death Valley Days
- The Untouchables
- The DuPont Show with June Allyson
- Hawaiian Eye
- Operation Petticoat (1959)
- Men Into Space
- Alcoa Theatre
- The FBI Story
- Johnny Ringo
- Lock Up
- Al Capone (1959)
- Black Saddle
- Goodyear Theatre
- Wolf Larsen (1958)
- Gunsmoke
- The Naked and the Dead (1958)
- Decision
- Richard Diamond, Private Detective
- Flight
- The Walter Winchell File
- The Phil Silvers Show
- Studio One
- Ford Television Theatre
- D-Day the Sixth of June (1956)
- Ford Star Jubilee
- The Band Wagon (1953)
- Angel Face (1952)
- One Minute to Zero (1952)
- Strangers on a Train (1951)
- The Jackpot (1950)
- I Was a Shoplifter (1950)
- A Dangerous Profession (1949)
- Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949)
- Scene of the Crime (1949)
- Jigsaw (1949)
- The Stratton Story (1949)
- Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Students
- Neville Tranter, Australian actor/puppeteer
- Bernd Ullrich, German artist
- Lenore Robbins [nee Lee], Australian dancer and choreographer. Contemporary dancer who, following a brief but highly successful performance career, has influenced a generation of young dancers through a succession of regional dance schools in Queensland, Australia.