Robert Ryan

Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an American  actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains. Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois, the first child of Timothy Ryan and his wife Mabel Bushnell Ryan.  He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1932, having held the school's heavyweight boxing title all four years of his attendance. After graduation, the 6'4" Ryan found employment as a stoker on a ship, a WPA worker, and a ranch hand in Montana. Ryan attempted to make a career in show business as a playwright, but had to turn to acting to support himself. He studied acting in Hollywood and appeared on stage and in small film parts during the early 1940s. In January 1944, after securing a contract guarantee from RKO Radio Pictures, Ryan enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served as a drill instructor at Camp Pendleton, in San Diego, California. At Camp Pendleton, he befriended writer and future director Richard Brooks, whose novel, The Brick Foxhole, he greatly admired. He also took up painting. Ryan's breakthrough film role was as an anti-Semitic killer in Crossfire (1947), a film noir based on Brooks's novel. The role won Ryan his sole career Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor. From then on, Ryan's specialty was tough/tender roles, finding particular expression in the films of directors such as Nicholas Ray, Robert Wise and Sam Fuller. In Ray's On Dangerous Ground (1951) he portrayed a burnt-out city cop finding redemption while solving a rural murder. In Wise's The Set-Up (1949), he played an over-the-hill boxer who is brutally punished for refusing to take a dive. Other important films were Anthony Mann's western The Naked Spur, Sam Fuller's uproarious Japanese set gangland thriller House of Bamboo, Bad Day at Black Rock, and the socially conscious heist movie Odds Against Tomorrow. He also appeared in several all-star war films, including The Longest Day (1962) and Battle of the Bulge (1965), and The Dirty Dozen. He also played John the Baptist in MGM's Technicolor epic King of Kings (1961) and was the villainous Claggart in Peter Ustinov's adaptation of Billy Budd (1962). In his later years, Ryan continued playing significant roles in major films. Most notable of these were The Dirty Dozen, The Professionals (1966) and Sam Peckinpah's highly influential brutal western The Wild Bunch (1969). Ryan appeared several times on the Broadway stage. His credits there include Clash by Night, Mr. President and The Front Page, the comedy drama about newspapermen. He appeared in many television series as a guest star, including the role of Franklin Hoppy-Hopp in the 1964 episode "Who Chopped Down the Cherry Tree?" on the NBC medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour. Similarly, he guest starred as Lloyd Osment in the 1964 episode "Better Than a Dead Lion" in the ABC psychiatric series, Breaking Point. In 1964, Ryan appeared with Warren Oates in the episode "No Comment" of CBS's short-lived drama about newspapers, The Reporter, starring Harry Guardino in the title role of journalist Danny Taylor. Ryan appeared five times (1956–1959) on CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater and twice (1959 and 1961) on the Zane Grey spin-off Frontier Justice. He appeared three times (1962–1964) on the western Wagon Train.

Filmografie 56

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The Dirty Dozen 1967Film als Col. Everett Dasher Breed

The Tall Men 1955Film als Nathan Stark

Anzio 1968Film als Gen. Carson

The Longest Day 1962Film +1 als Brig. Gen. James M. Gavin

The Racket 1951Film als Nick Scanlon

The Wild Bunch 1969Film als Deke Thornton

King of Kings 1961Film als John the Baptist

The Professionals 1966Film als Ehrengard

Custer of the West 1967Film als Mulligan

Battle of the Bulge 1965Film als General Grey

Berlin Express 1948Film als Robert Lindley

Captain Nemo and the Underwater City 1969Film als Captain Nemo

Bad Day at Black Rock 1955Film als Reno Smith

The Naked Spur 1953Film als Ben Vandergroat

Hour of the Gun 1967Film +1 als Ike Clanton

Executive Action 1973Film als Foster

Born to Be Bad 1950Film als Nick

Lawman 1971Film +1 als Sabbath Marshal Cotton Ryan

The Outfit 1973Film als Mailer

Act of Violence 1949Film als Joe Parkson

The Set-Up 1949Film als Stoker

Day of the Outlaw 1959Film als Blaise Starrett

House of Bamboo 1955Film als Sandy Dawson

Clash by Night 1952Film als Earl Pfeiffer

Billy Budd 1962Film als John Claggart, Master of Arms

The Proud Ones 1956Film als Marshal Cass Silver

North West Mounted Police 1940Film als Constable Dumont

Odds Against Tomorrow 1959Film als Earle Slater

On Dangerous Ground 1951Film als Jim Wilson

Best of the Badmen 1951Film als Jeff Clanton

Return of the Bad Men 1948Film als Sundance Kid

Lolly-Madonna XXX 1973Film als Pap Gutshall

Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line 1997Film als Self (archive footage)

The Boy with Green Hair 1948Film als Dr. Evans

Caught 1949Film als Smith Ohlrig

And Hope to Die 1972Film als Charley

Flying Leathernecks 1951Film als Capt. Carl 'Griff' Griffin

Men in War 1957Film als Lt. Benson

The Iceman Cometh 1973Film als Larry Slade

Back from Eternity 1956Film als Bill Lonagan

Crossfire 1947Film als Montgomery

The Dirty Game 1965Film als General Bruce

The Woman on the Beach 1947Film als Scott Burnett

Horizons West 1952Film als Dan Hammond

God's Little Acre 1958Film als Ty Ty Walden

City Beneath the Sea 1953Film als Brad Carlton

Tender Comrade 1944Film als Chris Jones

The Sky's the Limit 1943Film als Reginald Fenton

Behind the Rising Sun 1943Film als Lefty O'Doyle

A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die 1968Film als New Mexico Gov. Lem Carter

I Married a Communist 1950Film als Bradley Collins / Frank Johnson

The Busy Body 1967Film als Charley Barker

Escape to Burma 1955Film als Jim Brecan

Bombardier 1943Film als Joe Connors

Marine Raiders 1944Film als Capt. Dan Craig

Lonelyhearts 1959Film als William Shrike