Robert Walker (actor)

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For other persons named Robert Walker, see Robert Walker (disambiguation).
Robert Walker

from the trailer for the film Strangers on a Train (1951)
Born October 13, 1918(1918-10-13)
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Died August 28, 1951 (aged 32)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Robert Hudson Walker (October 13, 1918 – August 28, 1951) was an American actor.

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Zella (McQuarrie) and Horace Walker, he was the youngest of four sons. He developed an interest in acting which led to 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.

It was at the academy that Walker met fellow aspiring actress Phyllis Isley (better known as Jennifer Jones).[1] After a brief courtship, the two were married in Tulsa, Oklahoma on January 2, 1939 and moved to Hollywood to find work in films. Their prospects proved to be meager however and they soon returned to New York where Walker found work in radio and Phyllis gave birth to two sons in quick succession, actor Robert Walker, Jr., born April 15, 1940, and Michael Walker, born March 13, 1941. Phyllis 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. During their initial meetings Selznick was highly attracted to Jones and they quietly began an affair. She eventually landed the plum role of Bernadette Soubirous in the Twentieth Century Fox production The Song of Bernadette (1943).[2] Many speculate that her film success was the result of her affair with Selznick, who managed every aspect of her life and furthered her career.

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).[3] 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)[4] and Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945).[5] He also appeared in Selznick's Since You Went Away (1944)[6] in which he and his wife gave poignant performances as 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.[7] The filming of their love scenes was torturous as Selznick insisted that Walker perform take after take of each love scene with Jones.

Jones filed for divorce in April 1945, and although Walker continued to work steadily in Hollywood, he was distraught by the divorce and prone to drinking and emotional outbursts. In 1946 he starred in 'Till the Clouds Roll By,[8] where he played the lead as the song writer Jerome Kern in a role that required him to age from a young man to an old man. Walker starred as composer Johannes Brahms in Song of Love (1947),[9] which co-starred Katharine Hepburn and Paul Henreid.

He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1949 but following his release from the Menninger Clinic he was hired by director Alfred Hitchcock for Strangers on a Train (1951).[10] His performance as the evil yet oddly sympathetic Bruno Anthony was highly lauded and considered to be his finest role.

His emotional problems largely behind him, and his career in an upswing following an acclaimed performance, Walker spent the summer with his sons, and was considering the possibility of remarrying. (He had married Barbara Ford, the daughter of director John Ford, in July 1948, but they divorced five months later).[11]

While filming My Son John in 1951,[12] Walker died suddenly after being administered an injection of sodium amytal by two doctors who had appeared at his house. He was 32 years old. The actor was buried at Washington Heights Memorial Park in Ogden, Utah. Unused footage from Strangers on a Train[10] in addition to a body double were used to complete My Son John.

The circumstances surrounding his death have never been fully explained.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jennifer Jones (I). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  2. ^ The Song of Bernadette (1943). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  3. ^ Bataan (1943). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  4. ^ See Here, Private Hargrove (1944). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  5. ^ Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  6. ^ Since You Went Away (1944). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  7. ^ "Jennifer Jones Sues To Divorce Actor Walker", The Washington Post, April 22, 1945, p. M4.
  8. ^ Till the Clouds Roll By (1946). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  9. ^ Song of Love (1947). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  10. ^ a b Strangers on a Train (1951). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  11. ^ "Robert Walker's Wife Is Granted Divorce", The Washington Post, December 17, 1948, p. 26.
  12. ^ My Son John (1952). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.

[edit] Books

[edit] External links

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