ROBERT RYAN - The Real Quiet Man
Posted: September 25th, 2007, 3:01 pm
"With his veiled stare, his weary face,and his bitter voice, Ryan trails behind him all the lassitude and solitude of the world."Thierry Génin, L'Avant Scène
Robert Ryan didn't like talking about himself, he let his work speak for itself, apparently. If left at that, many might get the impression this quiet actor was one of the meanest men in town, since the majority of his most vivid screen roles were tough, steely-eyed villains, bigots, psychotics and at least one "Jasper". Doing a little digging around I found the man himself to be quite different. Quietly, but firmly and decidedly, different.
Robert Ryan never rose to the ranks of fame as that of actors he deeply admired, men like Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy and Gary Cooper. But don't get the idea that bothered him. Without that fame and the fuss that comes with it, he managed to fill out great parts and tower in the lesser ones and keep doing the work he loved, almost until he died.
He was also a study in contradictions:
**A Dartmouth graduate who majored in literature. And who was, in four years of intercollegiate boxing competion, undefeated (a record).
**An Ivy Leaguer who during the Depression would take on jobs such as ranch hand, male model, gold prospector, sand hog (he helped dig the Linoln Tunnel - many commuters don't thank you for it, Bob), stoaker aboard a steamer, and even as a loan collector. He had this to say about the last job:
"Here I was collecting money from families who hadn't
eaten in days. It was too much. I was bugged by it
and quit after two weeks."
**The tough boxing champ and future screen menace was, in fact, very shy as well as bookish:
"I am an only child, which can have a very
damaging effect. Moss Hart once said that
he thought all the people in the theatre,
or at least successful people, came from
an unhappy childhood. I don't know whether
that's true or not and I can't say that mine
was that unhappy, but it was quite often
a lonely one."
**The incarnation of bigotry in movies like Crossfire and Odds Against Tomorrow , he was always very liberal in his values:
"I have been in films pretty well everything
I am dedicated to fighting against."
"Ryan is a disturbing mixture of anger
and tenderness who had reached stardom
by playing mostly brutal, neurotic roles that
were at complete variance with his true
nature." John Houseman
**Seldom given the romantic lead, and anything but warm and fuzzy in his style, he in fact enjoyed one of the more relatively stable marriages (to one wife, actress/children's book writer Patricia Cadwalader) and homes in Hollywood. He and his wife also founded and helped direct the Oakwood School (right in their backyard) for children, a progressive school which still flourishes today.
**So natural a fit in the gritty, urban world of the noir, he slipped into a saddle in a number of memorable westerns with ease:
"There's a whole body of Americans, at least,
who think I've never made anything but westerns ...
But I am an urban character. I was born in the big
city. I also have a long seamy face which adapts
itself to Westerns - but I don't for one moment
consider myself a Western actor essentially."
**Remembered only as a screen tough guy, his first love was the stage, to which he would return at the drop of a hat. He helped organize a theater group at UCLA, was one one of the founders---along with Henry Fonda and Martha Scott---of the Plumstead Playhouse Repertory Company.
"You say Shakespeare
and I'll play it in the men's
room at Grand Central."
**After serving in WWII in the Marines as a drill seargent and seeing the effects of combat on returning soldiers, Ryan became a dedicated pacifist. His wife, coming from a Quaker background, shared his views.
I have enjoyed spending a little time getting to know the man behind the tough guy image---which was only partly true, for though he was tough, he was also humane and that does shine through his finest work.
If you are not familiar with his movies, don't miss:
On Dangerous Ground
Clash by Night
The Set-Up
Crossfire
Beware, My Lovely
The Naked Spur
About Mrs Leslie
God's Little Acre
Any others who admire this actor and would care to discuss him and his movies?
P.S. If you are a fan, don't fail to visit this marvelous site, which provided me with many of the Robert Ryan quotes I included here: http://www.hillebrander.de/ryan.html
Robert Ryan didn't like talking about himself, he let his work speak for itself, apparently. If left at that, many might get the impression this quiet actor was one of the meanest men in town, since the majority of his most vivid screen roles were tough, steely-eyed villains, bigots, psychotics and at least one "Jasper". Doing a little digging around I found the man himself to be quite different. Quietly, but firmly and decidedly, different.
Robert Ryan never rose to the ranks of fame as that of actors he deeply admired, men like Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy and Gary Cooper. But don't get the idea that bothered him. Without that fame and the fuss that comes with it, he managed to fill out great parts and tower in the lesser ones and keep doing the work he loved, almost until he died.
He was also a study in contradictions:
**A Dartmouth graduate who majored in literature. And who was, in four years of intercollegiate boxing competion, undefeated (a record).
**An Ivy Leaguer who during the Depression would take on jobs such as ranch hand, male model, gold prospector, sand hog (he helped dig the Linoln Tunnel - many commuters don't thank you for it, Bob), stoaker aboard a steamer, and even as a loan collector. He had this to say about the last job:
"Here I was collecting money from families who hadn't
eaten in days. It was too much. I was bugged by it
and quit after two weeks."
**The tough boxing champ and future screen menace was, in fact, very shy as well as bookish:
"I am an only child, which can have a very
damaging effect. Moss Hart once said that
he thought all the people in the theatre,
or at least successful people, came from
an unhappy childhood. I don't know whether
that's true or not and I can't say that mine
was that unhappy, but it was quite often
a lonely one."
**The incarnation of bigotry in movies like Crossfire and Odds Against Tomorrow , he was always very liberal in his values:
"I have been in films pretty well everything
I am dedicated to fighting against."
"Ryan is a disturbing mixture of anger
and tenderness who had reached stardom
by playing mostly brutal, neurotic roles that
were at complete variance with his true
nature." John Houseman
**Seldom given the romantic lead, and anything but warm and fuzzy in his style, he in fact enjoyed one of the more relatively stable marriages (to one wife, actress/children's book writer Patricia Cadwalader) and homes in Hollywood. He and his wife also founded and helped direct the Oakwood School (right in their backyard) for children, a progressive school which still flourishes today.
**So natural a fit in the gritty, urban world of the noir, he slipped into a saddle in a number of memorable westerns with ease:
"There's a whole body of Americans, at least,
who think I've never made anything but westerns ...
But I am an urban character. I was born in the big
city. I also have a long seamy face which adapts
itself to Westerns - but I don't for one moment
consider myself a Western actor essentially."
**Remembered only as a screen tough guy, his first love was the stage, to which he would return at the drop of a hat. He helped organize a theater group at UCLA, was one one of the founders---along with Henry Fonda and Martha Scott---of the Plumstead Playhouse Repertory Company.
"You say Shakespeare
and I'll play it in the men's
room at Grand Central."
**After serving in WWII in the Marines as a drill seargent and seeing the effects of combat on returning soldiers, Ryan became a dedicated pacifist. His wife, coming from a Quaker background, shared his views.
I have enjoyed spending a little time getting to know the man behind the tough guy image---which was only partly true, for though he was tough, he was also humane and that does shine through his finest work.
If you are not familiar with his movies, don't miss:
On Dangerous Ground
Clash by Night
The Set-Up
Crossfire
Beware, My Lovely
The Naked Spur
About Mrs Leslie
God's Little Acre
Any others who admire this actor and would care to discuss him and his movies?
P.S. If you are a fan, don't fail to visit this marvelous site, which provided me with many of the Robert Ryan quotes I included here: http://www.hillebrander.de/ryan.html