Everything about Jason Robards totally explained
Jason Nelson Robards, Jr., (
July 26,
1922 –
December 26,
2000) was an
American actor. He became famous playing works of
American dramatist
Eugene O'Neill, and would regularly play O'Neill's works throughout his career. Robards' was cast in both common-man roles and as well known historical figures.
Biography
Early life
Robards was born in
Chicago, the son of Hope Maxine (
née Glanville) and
Jason Robards, Sr., an actor who regularly appeared on the stage and in such early films as
The Gamblers (1929) and was among the better-known actors of the first half of the
twentieth century. The family moved to
New York City when young Jason was still a toddler, and then moved to
Los Angeles when he was six years old. Later interviews with Robards suggested that the trauma of his parents' divorce, which occurred during his grade-school years, greatly affected his personality and worldview. Jason as a youth also witnessed first-hand the decline of his father's acting career -- the elder Robards had enjoyed considerable success during the era of
silent films, but he fell out of favor after the advent of "talkies", leaving Jason Jr. soured on the Hollywood film industry. The teenaged Robards excelled in athletics, running a 4:18 mile during his junior year at
Hollywood High School. Although his prowess in sports attracted interest from several universities, upon his graduation in
1940 Robards decided to join the
U. S. Navy.
Naval service in World War II
Radioman 3rd class Robards joined the
heavy cruiser USS Northampton (CA-26) in 1941. He was aboard her at sea 100 miles away when the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor occurred and, contrary to some stories, witnessed the devastation of the attack only afterwards, when
Northampton returned to Pearl two days later.
Northampton was later directed into the
Guadalcanal campaign, where it was involved in the
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.
During the
Battle of Tassafaronga on the night of
November 30,
1942,
Northampton was sunk by hits from two Japanese
torpedoes. Robards found himself treading water until near daybreak, when he was rescued by an American destroyer. Although a 1979
Hy Gardner column states that Robards was awarded the
Navy Cross and "13 battle stars" (actually awarded to the ship, not the individual), Robards's name doesn't appear on any official or semi-official rolls of Navy Cross winners.
Two years later in November, 1944 Robards was in another dramatic engagement this time as a radioman on the
USS Nashville (CL-43) which was the flagship for the
invasion of Mindoro. On
December 13 she was struck by a
kamikaze off
Negros Island. The aircraft itself hit one of the port five inch gun mounts while her two bombs set the midsection ablaze. There were 223 casualties and the
Nashville was forced to return to Pearl Harbor and then
Puget Sound for repairs. It was also on the
Nashville that he first found a copy of
Eugene O’Neill’s play
Strange Interlude in the ship’s library.
It was in the Navy that he first started thinking seriously about being an actor. He had emceed for a Navy band in Pearl Harbor, gotten a few laughs and decided he liked it. His father suggested he enroll in the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts in
New York.
Career
Robards decided to get into acting after the war. His career started out slowly. He moved to
New York City and found small parts there, first in radio and then on the stage. His big break was landing the starring role in
José Quintero's
1956 off-Broadway production and the
1960 television film of
Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, as the philosophical salesman Hickey, winning an
Obie Award for his performance. He also played Hickey in a
1985 Broadway revival staged by
Quintero, who directed Robards in
Broadway productions of
O'Neill's plays
Long Day's Journey Into Night, Hughie, A Touch of the Poet and
A Moon for the Misbegotten. He repeated his performance in
Long Day's Journey Into Night in the
1962 film and televised his performances in
A Moon for the Misbegotten and
Hughie.
Robards also appeared on stage in a
1988 Broadway revival of
O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! directed by
Arvin Brown, as well as
Lillian Hellman's
Toys in the Attic,
Arthur Miller's
After the Fall, Clifford Odets'
The Country Girl and
Harold Pinter's
No Man's Land.
He made his film debut in the 1946 two-reel comedy
Follow That Music, but after his
Broadway success he was invited to make his feature debut in
The Journey in 1959. He became a familiar face to movie audiences throughout the 1960s, notably for his performances in
A Thousand Clowns (
1965) (repeating his stage performance),
The Night They Raided Minsky's (
1968), and
Once Upon a Time in the West (
1968).
Robards played three different US Presidents on film - namely
Abraham Lincoln in
The Perfect Tribute and a television production of
Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Ulysses S. Grant in
The Legend of the Lone Ranger (a role he also voiced in the
PBS miniseries
The Civil War), and
Franklin Delano Roosevelt in
FDR: The Final Years. He also created a sensation as the fictional president Richard Monckton (based on
Richard Nixon) in the television miniseries (1977). He also voiced a number of documentaries, including
Ken Burns'
Robards received eight
Tony Award nominations, more than any other male actor, and won in
1959 as Best Actor for his work in
The Disenchanted, which was also his only stage appearance with his
father. Robards received the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in consecutive years for
All the President's Men (
1976) and
Julia (
1977). He was also nominated for another Oscar for his role in
Melvin and Howard (
1980) and received the
Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for the
1988 production of
Inherit the Wind. He was among the recipients at the
Kennedy Center Honors in
1999.
Personal life
Robards had six children from his four marriages, including actor
Sam Robards by his third wife, actress
Lauren Bacall, whom he married in
1961 and from whom he was divorced in
1969.
In 1972, he was in a terrible automobile accident on a winding California road. He drove his car into the side of a mountain and nearly died. His acute drinking problem contributed to the accident. He slowly recovered after extensive surgery and facial reconstruction.
A resident of the
Southport section of
Fairfield, Connecticut, he died of
lung cancer in
Bridgeport, Connecticut. His death was mourned by both fans and actors, and at a memorial service at Broadway's Broadhurst Theater to honor Robards, it was actors who seemed to feel most profoundly the loss of one of the greats, one of their own. "He was the last of a breed of actors who dedicated themselves to a life in the theater," said Kevin Spacey.
Jennifer Jason Leigh chose her middle name in honor of Robards. Robards was a major
US Civil War buff and scholar. He ultimately did the voice of
Ulysses S. Grant for
Ken Burns' miniseries
The Civil War, and received an
Emmy nomination for playing
Abraham Lincoln in
Abe Lincoln in Illinois for The
Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1963.
The Jason Robards Award was created by the
Roundabout Theatre Company in honor of the late actor and his relationship with the theatre.
Work
Stage
Film
The Journey (1959)
By Love Possessed (1961)
Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
Tender Is the Night (1962)
Act One (1963) (as George S. Kaufman)
A Thousand Clowns (1965)
Any Wednesday (1966)
A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
Hour of the Gun (1967) (as Doc Holliday)
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) (as Al Capone)
Divorce American Style (1967)
Isadora (1968)
The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Fools (1970)
Julius Caesar (1970) (as Brutus)
, aka Operation Snafu (1970)
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) (as Gen. Walter Short)
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)
Jud (1971)
Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
The War Between Men and Women (1972)
The Death Merchants aka Tod eines Fremden, aka The Execution (1973)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) (as Lew Wallace)
Mr. Sycamore (1975)
A Boy and His Dog (1975)
All the President's Men (1976)
Julia (1977)
Comes a Horseman (1978)
Hurricane (1979)
Melvin and Howard (1980) (as Howard Hughes)
Raise the Titanic! (1980)
Caboblanco (1980)
The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) (as President Ulysses S. Grant)
Fitzcarraldo (1981) http://stockpunkt.com/2007/11/22/fotokiste-jason-robards/
Tempest (1982)
Something Wicked this Way Comes (1983)
Max Dugan Returns (1983)
The World of Tomorrow (1984) (voice narration)
America and Lewis Hine (1984) (voice-over)
Square Dance (1987)
The Good Mother (1988)
Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
Black Rainbow (1989)
Parenthood (1989)
Reunion (1989)
Dream a Little Dream (1989)
Quick Change (1990)
(1991) (voice narration)
Storyville (1992)
Philadelphia (1993)
The Trial (1993 film) (1993)
The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)
Little Big League (1994)
The Paper (1994)
Crimson Tide (1995)
A Thousand Acres (1997)
The Great American West (1997) (voice narration)
Heartwood (1998)
Enemy of the State (1998)
Beloved (1998)
The Real Macaw (1998)
Magnolia (1999)
(2000)
Television
A Doll's House (1959)
The Iceman Cometh (1960)
Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1964)
Noon Wine (1966)
The House Without a Christmas Tree (1972)
The Country Girl (1973)
The Holiday Treasure (1973)
A Moon for the Misbegotten (1975)
The Easter Promise (1975)
Addie and the King of Hearts (1976)
(1977)
A Christmas to Remember (1978)
Haywire (1980) (as Leland Hayward)
(1980) (as Franklin D. Roosevelt)
The Day After (1983)
You Can't Take It with You (1984)
Sakharov (1984) (as Andrei Sakharov)
Hughie (1984)
The Long Hot Summer (1985)
The Atlanta Child Murders (1985)
Johnny Bull (1986)
The Last Frontier (1986)
Breaking Home Ties (1987)
Laguna Heat (1987)
Thomas Hart Benton (1988)
The Christmas Wife (1988)
Inherit the Wind (1988)
The Civil War (1990)
Mark Twain and Me (1991) (as Mark Twain)
An Inconvenient Woman (1991)
(1991) (as Dr. Armand Hammer)
American Masters: Helen Hayes – First Lady of the American Theatre (1991) (voice narration)
When It Was a Game (1991) (voice)
The Perfect Tribute (1991) (as Abraham Lincoln)
(1992)
Lincoln (1992) (voice, as Abraham Lincoln)
When It Was a Game 2 (1992) (voice)
Heidi (1993)
The Enemy Within (TOS episode) (1994)
Baseball (1994) (voice)
Journey (1995)
My Antonia (1995)
TR (1996) (voice narration)
The West (1996) (voice)
Truman (1996) (voice narration)
(1998) (voice)
Going Home (TV Movie - his final performance on screen.) IMDB
(2000)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Jason Robards'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://jason_robards.totallyexplained.com">Jason Robards Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
