Robert Ryan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Robert Ryan
Ryan in The Naked Spur (1953)
Born	Robert Bushnell Ryan (1909-11-11)November 11, 1909 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	July 11, 1973(1973-07-11) (aged 63) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actor activist
Years active	1940–1973
Spouse(s)	Jessica Cadwalader ​ ​ (m. 1939; died 1972)​
Children	3

Robert Bushnell Ryan (born November 11, 1909 – died July 11, 1973) was an American actor. He was also an activist who worked for important causes. Robert Ryan was famous for playing tough police officers and mean villains in movies. He acted for over 30 years. He was even nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the movie Crossfire (1947).

Robert Ryan's Early Life

Robert Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was the first child of Mabel and Timothy Ryan. His father's family was wealthy and owned a real estate business. Robert Ryan had Irish and English family roots. He was raised Catholic and went to Loyola Academy for school.

He went to Dartmouth College and graduated in 1932. While there, he was the school's heavyweight boxing champion for all four years. He also played football and ran track. After college, Ryan worked many different jobs. He was a stoker on a ship, a worker for a government program, and a ranch hand in Montana.

In 1936, his father passed away, and Robert came home. He briefly worked as a model for a department store. Soon after, he decided he wanted to become an actor.

Robert Ryan's Acting Career

Starting Out in Acting

In 1937, Robert Ryan joined a small theater group in Chicago. The next year, he went to the Max Reinhardt Workshop in Hollywood. He acted in a play called Too Many Husbands in 1939. This play helped him get an offer from Paramount Pictures.

Paramount had turned him down before, saying he wasn't "the right type." But this time, they offered him a contract for $75 a week.

Working with Paramount Pictures

In November 1939, Paramount signed Robert Ryan for six months. They said he would play the main character in Golden Gloves (1940). This was because of his boxing experience at Dartmouth. However, after a screen test, the main role went to another actor. Ryan played a smaller, but important, role as a boxing "ringer." This was his first movie role where he was given credit. He also started a long working relationship with the director, Edward Dmytryk.

That same year, Ryan had small parts in The Ghost Breakers (1940) and Queen of the Mob (1940). He also appeared in North West Mounted Police (1941) and Texas Rangers Ride Again (1941). After these films, Paramount decided not to keep him.

He then went to Broadway, which is famous for its theater shows. He was cast in a play called Clash by Night (1941–42). This play was directed by Lee Strasberg and produced by Billy Rose. Even though it only ran for 49 shows, it was very well-known. This led to RKO Pictures offering him a long-term contract.

Joining RKO Studios

At RKO, Ryan appeared in Bombardier (1943). He was also in the musical The Sky's the Limit (1943). Both of these movies were popular.

He had a big role in Behind the Rising Sun (1943). This movie, directed by Dmytryk, made a lot of money. Ryan then had important roles in The Iron Major (1943) and Gangway for Tomorrow (1943).

RKO then made him a star in Tender Comrade (1943). He played the leading man for Ginger Rogers in this film. It was a huge success. Another popular movie was Marine Raiders (1944).

Serving in World War II

Robert Ryan joined the United States Marine Corps in January 1944. He served as a drill instructor at Camp Pendleton in California. He stayed there until November 1945. While at Camp Pendleton, he became friends with writer and future director Richard Brooks. Ryan also started painting during this time.

Back to Acting After the War

After leaving the Marines, Robert Ryan returned to RKO. They quickly cast him in the Western movie Trail Street (1947). This film was very popular. However, his next movie, The Woman on the Beach (1947), did not make money.

Ryan's big breakthrough role was in the movie Crossfire (1947). He played a killer who hated Jewish people. This movie was a film noir, a type of crime drama. It was very successful and earned Ryan an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination.

He then starred in Berlin Express (1948), which was the first movie made in Germany after World War II. He also appeared in Return of the Bad Men (1948) and The Boy with Green Hair (1948).

Other studios started to borrow him for their movies. He made Act of Violence (1948) and Caught (1949) at MGM.

Back at RKO, Ryan gave one of his best performances in The Set-Up (1949). He played an aging boxer who refuses to lose a fight on purpose. This movie was one of Ryan's favorites. He also starred in The Woman on Pier 13 (1949), an anti-communist movie.

Ryan appeared in several more film noir movies. These included The Secret Fury (1950) and Born to Be Bad (1950).

He then made the Western Best of the Badmen (1951). He also co-starred with John Wayne in Flying Leathernecks (1951), a World War II film.

With Barbara Stanwyck in Clash by Night (1952)

In 1951, Ryan worked again with Robert Mitchum in The Racket. That same year, he starred with Ida Lupino in On Dangerous Ground. Ryan then made the movie version of Clash by Night (1952). He starred with Barbara Stanwyck and Marilyn Monroe in this film.

His last movie at RKO for a while was Beware, My Lovely (1952).

Life After RKO

Ryan then went to MGM. He played a villain in the Western The Naked Spur (1953), starring James Stewart. This movie was very popular.

He appeared in City Beneath the Sea (1953), Inferno (1953), and Alaska Seas (1954).

He was the leading man in About Mrs. Leslie (1954) and Her Twelve Men (1954). He also played the main villain in Bad Day at Black Rock (1954).

Ryan returned to RKO for Escape to Burma (1955). He also starred in House of Bamboo (1955) and The Tall Men (1955). By this time, he was earning about $150,000 for each movie.

He continued to star in films like The Proud Ones (1956) and Back from Eternity (1956). He also appeared in Men in War (1957).

Acting on Television

Robert Ryan first appeared on television in 1955. He played Abraham Lincoln in a show called Screen Director's Playhouse.

He appeared as a guest star in many TV series. These included Screen Directors Playhouse, Mr. Adams and Eve, and Playhouse 90. In Playhouse 90, he played The Great Gatsby.

He also continued to star in movies. These included God's Little Acre (1958), Lonelyhearts (1959), Day of the Outlaw (1959), and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).

Robert Ryan in the 1960s

In the summer of 1960, Ryan starred with Katharine Hepburn in a play. They performed Antony and Cleopatra at the American Shakespeare Theatre.

Ryan was still very busy throughout the 1960s. He was in Ice Palace (1960) and The Canadians (1961). He played John the Baptist in the movie King of Kings (1961). He was also the villain Claggart in Billy Budd (1962). For this role, he was nominated for a BAFTA award.

He also appeared in the big war movie The Longest Day (1962). He played General James M. Gavin.

Ryan returned to Broadway in the musical Mr. President (1962–63). It ran for 263 shows.

He continued to appear in TV shows like Kraft Suspense Theatre and Wagon Train. Ryan also narrated a 26-episode documentary series called World War One in 1964–65.

Robert Ryan was considered for a role in the TV show Star Trek. He was supposed to play Commodore Matt Decker in the 1967 episode "The Doomsday Machine." But he had other plans, so the role went to William Windom.

Filming in Europe

Ryan appeared in The Crooked Road (1965) and The Secret Agents (1965). He was also in the all-star war movie Battle of the Bulge (1965). Then he starred in The Professionals (1966).

Ryan had important supporting roles in The Dirty Dozen (1967) and Hour of the Gun (1967). In Hour of the Gun, he played Ike Clanton.

In 1967, Ryan played Othello in a play in Nottingham, England.

He went to Europe for movies like A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die (1968) and Anzio (1969). Ryan also played the main character in Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969).

While making The Wild Bunch (1969) in Mexico, Ryan wanted time off to support a political campaign. The director, Sam Peckinpah, said no. Robert Ryan became very angry but continued to act professionally.

Ryan returned to the stage in a play called The Front Page. This play was part of a theater company he helped start with Martha Scott and Henry Fonda.

In 1970, Robert Ryan, who smoked a lot, found out he had cancer. He decided to keep working. He said, "I've had a good shot at life."

Robert Ryan's Last Movies

Ryan supported Burt Lancaster in Lawman (1971). He also appeared in The Love Machine (1971) and And Hope to Die (1971).

In April 1971, Ryan returned to the stage. He played James Tyrone in the play Long Day's Journey into Night. Critics praised his performance.

He first turned down a role in Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973) because he wanted to travel with his wife. But his wife passed away from cancer in May 1972. He then took the role. He said, "Something very big is missing and I don't know what to put in its place."

Ryan's last roles included: The Man Without a Country (1973), a TV movie. He also made The Outfit (1973) with Robert Duvall. He was in Executive Action (1973) with Burt Lancaster. His final film was The Iceman Cometh (1973).

Robert Ryan passed away before The Iceman Cometh was released. He won several awards for his acting in his final films.

Robert Ryan's Activism

Even though Ryan served in the military, he believed in pacifism, which means opposing war and violence. His wife, Jessica, was a Quaker, a religious group known for its peaceful beliefs.

In the late 1940s, a group called the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was attacking people in Hollywood. They were looking for people they thought were communists. Ryan joined a group called the Committee for the First Amendment to stand up against this.

Throughout the 1950s, he gave money and help to groups like the American Civil Liberties Union. He also supported groups working for peace and global cooperation. In 1959, he helped start a Hollywood chapter of a group called The Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy. This group worked to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

By the mid-1960s, Ryan was also working to fight racial discrimination. He helped organize a group called Artists Help All Blacks. He worked with famous actors like Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier.

Ryan often talked about how his personal beliefs were different from the characters he played. He was a pacifist, but he often played violent characters in war movies and Westerns. He was against McCarthyism (a time when people were unfairly accused of being communists). However, he appeared in an anti-communist movie called I Married a Communist, playing a communist agent. In movies that promoted social progress, like Crossfire and Bad Day at Black Rock, he often played the prejudiced villains.

Robert Ryan's Family Life

On March 11, 1939, Robert Ryan married Jessica Cadwalader. They had three children: Timothy (born 1946), Cheyney (born 1948), and Lisa (born 1951). Cheyney later became a professor of philosophy and law.

The family lived in the Dakota, a famous building in New York City. They later rented their apartment to John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

In 1951, the progressive Oakwood School was started in Jessica and Robert Ryan's backyard in Los Angeles. A small group of parents, including the Ryans, created the school based on their ideas about education.

Robert and Jessica stayed married until she passed away from cancer in 1972. Robert Ryan died from lung cancer the next year, in New York City. He was 63 years old.

Shortly before he died, he said, "I've been lucky as hell with my career and my family."

Robert Ryan's Movies and TV Shows

See also

In Spanish: Robert Ryan para niños