0:00:18 > 0:00:20Robert Mitchum was a star who split opinion.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Critics called him a great screen actor.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33Mitchum himself claimed he had just two acting styles,
0:00:33 > 0:00:34on a horse and off.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Fellow actors and directors loved to work with him.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43Interviewers, as we shall see, dreaded him,
0:00:43 > 0:00:47uncertain if he'd answer their questions with the truth,
0:00:47 > 0:00:51lies or silence.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Before acting, Mitchum had worked as a professional boxer,
0:00:55 > 0:01:00a ghost-writer for an astrologer and even on a chain gang.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06His acting break came with small parts in B movie westerns,
0:01:06 > 0:01:10and here he is in 1987 talking about the early days
0:01:10 > 0:01:15and his first dealings with the bosses at RKO studios.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18First of all, they asked me if I...
0:01:18 > 0:01:20Why I hadn't had my nose fixed,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23and I just simply said it hadn't occurred to me.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25I could breathe through it fairly well.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28They were going to change my name to Robert Marshall.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33And, you know, they thought the, like,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Taylor, Gable, Garland, you know...
0:01:37 > 0:01:43And the man who wanted to change my name was named Herman Schlum.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46So he changed his son's name to Marshall Schlum
0:01:46 > 0:01:48and everything worked out.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53- PRODUCER: - What was your first contract?
0:01:54 > 0:01:5840 weeks out of 52 for 350 a week.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01What was your first film for RKO?
0:02:01 > 0:02:02The first one I was in drag, actually,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04in the beginning of the picture.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06- MAN IN FILM:- You look good to me!
0:02:06 > 0:02:11Well, I had sort of a prairie style flouncing skirt
0:02:11 > 0:02:13and I was done up in drag.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16You for me, ma'am, I like them big.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18Well, they don't come too big for me either, bud.
0:02:18 > 0:02:19MAN IN HAT CACKLES
0:02:19 > 0:02:21That's good! Got a voice to match your figure.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24I'm buying you the first drink, sweetie pie.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26It was sort of like a club, RKO.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30They had commitments, expensive commitments,
0:02:30 > 0:02:33like with Cary Grant, Crosby, people like that,
0:02:33 > 0:02:39and then they had what was more or less a B factory, which we did,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42we had the westerns and Larry Tourney did Dillinger
0:02:42 > 0:02:48and that sort of thing, and it was just a good, functioning factory.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51The crew was very familiar, we worked with the same crew more or less
0:02:51 > 0:02:56all the time, and it was sort of down home.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00What sort of areas could you chose what you wanted?
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Could you chose the directors you wanted to work with?
0:03:03 > 0:03:05It makes no difference.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09- No difference.- Still doesn't.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15You don't believe that the director makes the picture?
0:03:15 > 0:03:18I have no idea. Possibly does, you know.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23But I have the same general attitude that John Huston taught me,
0:03:23 > 0:03:25and Johnny said...
0:03:27 > 0:03:30"They want the bad pictures, we can me them too, kid.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32"They want them bad, it'll cost a little more,
0:03:32 > 0:03:36"but if they want them bad, we can make them bad."
0:03:36 > 0:03:38Doesn't concern me.
0:03:38 > 0:03:43In 1948, Mitchum was arrested for possession of marijuana.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46The Federal Narcotics Bureau said they had been watching him
0:03:46 > 0:03:49for some time, eight months in all.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52He was sentenced to 60 days in jail.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57It did have an effect on your career, did it not, though?
0:03:58 > 0:04:02It... Probably, yeah. It made it a bit more...
0:04:02 > 0:04:04Well, I couldn't play, for instance,
0:04:04 > 0:04:09Eagle Scouts or Baptist preachers.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13But I tell you one thing,
0:04:13 > 0:04:17it certainly enlisted an enormous number of new fans.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22Everybody thought that was the end of Mitchum's career.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24Well, it wasn't at all. Mitchum...
0:04:24 > 0:04:26Everybody was kind of fascinated by this.
0:04:28 > 0:04:34Maybe if it had been Farley Granger or some attractive young guy
0:04:34 > 0:04:36with a different kind of image, it would
0:04:36 > 0:04:39have been a different thing, but Mitchum, they liked Mitchum
0:04:39 > 0:04:42to be a little dangerous, a little reckless, a little...
0:04:42 > 0:04:44The kind of things that he was.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47That's the character he played and that's the kind of person he was.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49Perhaps as a result of his arrest,
0:04:49 > 0:04:55Mitchum found himself gravitating towards film noir, and a period of
0:04:55 > 0:04:59mostly tough guy roles that tapped into his reputation as a bad boy.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03But there was much more to him than that,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07as was demonstrated in later films like The Sundowners
0:05:07 > 0:05:10and Heaven Knows, Mr Allison.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Both featured the English rose Deborah Kerr,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17who called Mitchum her favourite co-star.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21In 1969, Mitchum was in Ireland,
0:05:21 > 0:05:25working on Sir David Lean's film Ryan's Daughter.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29He was interviewed on location by Film Night's Tony Bilbow
0:05:29 > 0:05:34in what wasn't the easiest encounter of the reporter's career.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38- TONY BILBOW:- Robert Mitchum, when you're offered a film,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42you're said to look at the contract to see how many days you get off.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44Not the contract, look at the script.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47That's the only days off I get.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50Was this a good script from that point of view?
0:05:50 > 0:05:53It was, but I was led down the garden path, you see.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59When I'm not working, I'm standing by. I'm under house arrest.
0:05:59 > 0:06:00TONY CHUCKLES
0:06:01 > 0:06:04- Do you find this irksome? - Rather, yeah.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09There's a kind of legend about you, which you...
0:06:10 > 0:06:13..help to perpetuate, I think, that, erm,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16you walk through your parts,
0:06:16 > 0:06:20that you don't really take your career or yourself very seriously.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22Value for value received.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25Could you explain that a bit more?
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Well, you know, they can have it any way they want it. If they want it...
0:06:28 > 0:06:30We make bad pictures too. Cost a little more, but...
0:06:31 > 0:06:34..if they're convinced that,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38you know, if they're insistent upon dull, bad, dreary making.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42I can't help feeling that this is a facade, erm,
0:06:42 > 0:06:47and that behind it all you really are a dedicated actor.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49I am indeed, I am desperately dedicated.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55Very sensitive to criticism or frustration.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57I cry myself to sleep at night.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03I've already designed a monument for myself.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06- What form will it take? - I cannot tell you that.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08Someone's liable to steal it.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10TONY CHUCKLES
0:07:10 > 0:07:15Somebody once said that, er, dignity has ruined more actors than drink.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19- Do you agree with that? - I think John Barrymore said that.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22Dignity or trained voices.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26But what I'm really getting at is, you see,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29I wonder whether this is what is behind
0:07:29 > 0:07:32what I still think of as a facade,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36that underneath all this you take your profession very seriously...
0:07:36 > 0:07:38Very seriously.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40- TONY LAUGHS - You're sending me up again!
0:07:40 > 0:07:43- But you're... - Well, you said it, not I.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45I think you take it very seriously
0:07:45 > 0:07:49- but you like to pretend that you don't.- OK.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51- Would you agree?- No, but...
0:07:51 > 0:07:54All right, I'll give you an example of what I mean.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Somebody like Humphrey Bogart, who I admired very much as an actor,
0:07:58 > 0:08:02who is generally agreed, I think, to have been a very fine actor,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05one of the finest we've ever had. And yet he, like you,
0:08:05 > 0:08:10used to give the impression that he didn't give a damn about his job.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14No, no, he was a professional actor from nine till six.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16After that he was Bogart.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18- Just himself.- Ah, so now we have it.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Would you admit that you're a professional actor?
0:08:21 > 0:08:23When I'm paid. Yeah, during working hours.
0:08:23 > 0:08:24TONY LAUGHS
0:08:24 > 0:08:29I think you did once say that if you could you'd rather write than act.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33Well, I... I had proposed to write, I began as a writer, but, er...
0:08:35 > 0:08:37..I was seduced, you know, led down the garden path
0:08:37 > 0:08:39and became a movie actress instead.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43- TONY CHUCKLES - When did this seduction take place?
0:08:43 > 0:08:47June 1942, I needed 500 and I found it.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49But how did this happen?
0:08:49 > 0:08:51You don't just suddenly walk into a film studio.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53No, but, er, somebody had said
0:08:53 > 0:08:56if I'd ever wanted to do anything professionally to let them know
0:08:56 > 0:08:59and they'd see if they couldn't get me a job, so I did.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Economic expedient, I needed the money.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07It was also very lucky in a way because you came in at the tail end
0:09:07 > 0:09:08of the era of the matinee idol...
0:09:08 > 0:09:11- Mm.- ..so that...- I came along with the ugly leading man.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14- TONY LAUGHS - You said it, I didn't.- That's right.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18I got out of the army, there I was, you know, in profile all the time.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22So did you feel that you were very much in the right time...?
0:09:22 > 0:09:25No, I just, er, I began as a...
0:09:25 > 0:09:28..sort of as a character actor. I began in the Hopalong Cassidys,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31all beard, very little dialogue, you know. 100 a week
0:09:31 > 0:09:34and all the horse manure I could carry home.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36It was great playing Cowboys and Indians
0:09:36 > 0:09:39and picnicking out in the fields. It was, you know, all right.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44And I just stayed on the tip, that's all.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47I don't want to pursue this any more than I need,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50but there's one extra thing I'd like to ask you.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54Somebody once said of you that there's very little chance
0:09:54 > 0:09:57that your real talent as an actor will be revealed
0:09:57 > 0:10:01because that would mean exposing more of your real personality.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03That's quite possible, yeah.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07- Could you give me just a little bit of...?- You just said it, you know.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10What are the things that you're afraid of exposing?
0:10:11 > 0:10:12Nothing at all, really.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16It's just a matter of, of, er, further involvement and complication,
0:10:16 > 0:10:18just personal involvement.
0:10:18 > 0:10:19And you don't want to be involved?
0:10:19 > 0:10:23- I don't want to charm anyone, no. - No, we're not talking about charm.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26- I don't want to interest anyone. - No, but as an actor.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29You've admitted you're a dedicated actor, a professional actor.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31I'm, you know, I'm a professional actor, that's all.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33I got a union card that says so.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37And a job that says so.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40- Mm.- That's the end of it. - Yes, but...
0:10:40 > 0:10:42As much as anyone need know as far as I...
0:10:42 > 0:10:44I mean, you know, my feeling.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48Are you aware of certain facets of your character or personality
0:10:48 > 0:10:50that you instinctively dislike?
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Oh, yes, the dark, dismal depths of depravity that I hide...
0:10:56 > 0:10:58THEY LAUGH
0:10:58 > 0:11:01..I don't wish to exhibit to children, you know.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03No, all right, you're making a joke,
0:11:03 > 0:11:06but is it possible there's a little bit of truth in that?
0:11:06 > 0:11:10- That if you really...- I, listen, I'm sure no more than in anyone else,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14I don't know. I mean, I don't regard myself, er, I mean, I don't have a...
0:11:14 > 0:11:18I'm not a thief and I'm not a compulsive liar or a cheat.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22I don't think that I burden anyone else with my, er,
0:11:22 > 0:11:24shortcomings or my sins.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29As I say, at six o'clock I just shut off and go home.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32Well, let's take a more superficial picture of you,
0:11:32 > 0:11:36the image produced by the films of the tough He-Man.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41Erm, and like a lot of other stars of your kind,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45who have this image, erm, a lot of people in private life
0:11:45 > 0:11:48like to take a swing at you, take a punch at you.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51What do you do in those situations?
0:11:51 > 0:11:52Fall down.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56But I mean, do you never retaliate?
0:11:56 > 0:11:58Never happens, really, or very rarely happens.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03But I mean you have this reputation in the press anyway...
0:12:03 > 0:12:07Oh, well, you know, according to the press Tom Dewey is president,
0:12:07 > 0:12:09you know, and...
0:12:09 > 0:12:12- all sorts of things.- Mm, cos in the past you've had to live down
0:12:12 > 0:12:15some rather unfortunate publicity.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18I'm thinking of that narcotics charge some years ago, and the...
0:12:18 > 0:12:22- That was a conspiracy charge. - Conspiracy charge?
0:12:22 > 0:12:24Yes, which was later dropped, rescinded,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28I received a clean bill of health and a letter of apology.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33No-one ever published that because it didn't sell any newspapers.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36- Did you feel bitter about that? - Not at all.- Didn't mind?
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Then there was the very silly,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42blown up thing about the Cannes Film Festival when some starlet...
0:12:42 > 0:12:45- I had nothing to do with that. - No, I know you didn't!
0:12:45 > 0:12:48When she flung herself into your arms, erm, she took her top,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50took her bra off, and there was this...
0:12:50 > 0:12:53She was going for the load but, er,
0:12:53 > 0:12:54I opted out.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58But I wonder, do you think...?
0:12:58 > 0:12:59To what extent would you take...
0:13:01 > 0:13:04..responsibility for that kind of thing happening to you?
0:13:04 > 0:13:06Well, just the...
0:13:06 > 0:13:10The, er, being a public freak, you know, being a...
0:13:11 > 0:13:14..a zoo animal on the loose, that's all.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17There was the time when you said that you wouldn't care
0:13:17 > 0:13:20if you never made another picture at all.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23I'd have said that the first day I ever went to work.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28I'm not, I was never starry-eyed and fascinated by
0:13:28 > 0:13:30the magic of the movies, you know.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32Take the money and run.
0:13:34 > 0:13:35So what would you do
0:13:35 > 0:13:39if you suddenly found that the offers weren't coming in?
0:13:40 > 0:13:42Weep, I suppose.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44All the way to the bank.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49Like Tony Bilbow, Michael Parkinson would also find Mitchum to be
0:13:49 > 0:13:51one of his more challenging guests.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56Parkinson later wrote that Mitchum had been up to his old tricks,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00smoking something exotic just before the interview,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04and thought this was one reason why it went the way it did.
0:14:04 > 0:14:05Good evening and welcome.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08My special guest tonight is one of the cinema's superstars.
0:14:08 > 0:14:09He's made so many films
0:14:09 > 0:14:12that he claims to have stopped counting after 130.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16In a changing industry he's remained a constant, a fixture,
0:14:16 > 0:14:18defying the ebb and flow of a shifting world.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21He once claimed that the only thing he'd changed
0:14:21 > 0:14:23since going to Hollywood was his underwear.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24Ladies and gentlemen, Robert Mitchum.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26APPLAUSE AND MUSIC
0:14:46 > 0:14:49I really can't see all those people, I guess I'd better...
0:14:49 > 0:14:52They can see you, that's the important thing.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54They always have. A frightening thing.
0:14:54 > 0:14:55You're not nervous, are you,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58- about appearing in front of a live audience?- Yes, I am.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00- That is as steady as a rock.- Mm-hm.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02Really, don't you like the live audience,
0:15:02 > 0:15:03don't you like the feel of it?
0:15:03 > 0:15:06I come from Los Angeles, a rock is not so steady.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08LAUGHTER
0:15:08 > 0:15:11How is it, do you think, that you've, I said in the intro there,
0:15:11 > 0:15:15that you've been, or you are, one of Hollywood's most durable stars,
0:15:15 > 0:15:17you've had a long career and it's not fluctuated.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21I mean, why is it, do you think, that you've remained so constant?
0:15:21 > 0:15:25I should think just that, endurance, you know. Just general durability.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29Some of them fell dead from playing tennis,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31found in bed with a blonde, you know.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Some are lost at sea, and I just, er...
0:15:35 > 0:15:39- You don't play tennis. - I don't leave the house too much.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42Why do you think, though, I mean, to be serious, if we can
0:15:42 > 0:15:45for a moment, have you ever tried to analyse your popularity?
0:15:45 > 0:15:47One time, I guess it was the first time
0:15:47 > 0:15:49that my wife and I went to Rome,
0:15:49 > 0:15:53and we met an Italian journalist, a lady, and, er, she said,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56"You have no problems at all walking through the streets of Rome."
0:15:56 > 0:16:00We were going down window shopping on the Via Condotti and were
0:16:00 > 0:16:03staying up at the Hassler Hotel at the top of the Spanish Stairs,
0:16:03 > 0:16:06and she cited, you know, the appearance
0:16:06 > 0:16:11and sort of walk about of Gary Cooper and Bogart and on and on.
0:16:11 > 0:16:12And she said,
0:16:12 > 0:16:17"Oh, no, the Italian people have great respect for the artiste."
0:16:17 > 0:16:18I said, "OK, fine,"
0:16:18 > 0:16:22so we went off and we wound up being sort of boxed in in the middle
0:16:22 > 0:16:27of the Via Condotti with about 2,000 people blocking both ends.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30And there's a big smiling Carabinieri standing next to me,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33and I went on speaking Polish for two hours, and finally,
0:16:33 > 0:16:37some guy jumped up, he said, "Well, he's been very kind, very..."
0:16:37 > 0:16:41My wife was hiding in a doorway back across the street.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44And this, you know, fella sort of let me off the hook.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47He said, "He's been very kind, he's given of his time,
0:16:47 > 0:16:48"I think we should let him go,"
0:16:48 > 0:16:51so they finally turned me loose to great cheers from the crowd,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54and we marched back up, back on up the stairs
0:16:54 > 0:16:57and back to the hotel and we met this newspaper woman.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00And I told her my experience, and I said,
0:17:00 > 0:17:05"I guess they don't consider me, you know, a grand artiste."
0:17:05 > 0:17:09"Oh, yes," she said, "the great, they have great respect for you.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13"Really great artiste but with the common touch."
0:17:13 > 0:17:15LAUGHTER
0:17:15 > 0:17:18Thanks a lot. So they feel they can hit you, you know,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22speak to you, those other cats they stand in awe of, but you...
0:17:24 > 0:17:26- ..they can touch. - Do you think that's true, though?
0:17:26 > 0:17:28I'm afraid it is true, yeah.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30- Yeah?- Yeah.- Why is it, then?
0:17:30 > 0:17:31Well, because I've been just about
0:17:31 > 0:17:35every place everyone else has, you know, except good.
0:17:35 > 0:17:40So, I, uh, you know, I pretty much know what it's like,
0:17:40 > 0:17:46and I've spent most of my life sort of giving odd asides from the balcony
0:17:46 > 0:17:50and, er, I think people pretty well understand what I'm talking about.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54Mm. Do you mean that they sort of look at you and identify with you?
0:17:54 > 0:17:56- They can... - Well, if the dialogue is really bad,
0:17:56 > 0:17:58you know, I speak the dialogue
0:17:58 > 0:18:02and then turn straight around to the audience like Jack Benny,
0:18:02 > 0:18:03and say, "How about that?"
0:18:03 > 0:18:08Really, you know, I think it's pretty well understood that I...
0:18:08 > 0:18:10..you know, I go to work in the morning
0:18:10 > 0:18:15and I come home at night, God willing, and, er, I have,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19- I reserve my own attitudes about what I'm doing.- Yes, yes.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23I mean, I remember one time in New York at the Paramount Theatre,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26and they have that stage that goes down at the end,
0:18:26 > 0:18:28and this was right after or during
0:18:28 > 0:18:30the Sinatra craze, you know, that period,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34and I had been there with Frank and I watched this whole thing.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37And, er, I did, I stood on the stage and said,
0:18:37 > 0:18:39"Well, now, that's about the end of it.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41"We've done our gig and that's it."
0:18:41 > 0:18:43And I said, "Now this foul film comes on, and I've seen it,
0:18:43 > 0:18:48"and I would advise you to split." And nobody left, nobody left!
0:18:48 > 0:18:52Nobody left, they just creamed, you know, "Gotta see it."
0:18:52 > 0:18:55But RKO didn't send me on too many more exploitations.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00You mentioned, though, this thing about being boxed in in Rome.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03- Does this lack of privacy, does it annoy you?- It's not a lack of...
0:19:03 > 0:19:05Well, it's frightening.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08You know, you can't see that many people all headed in your direction
0:19:08 > 0:19:13without, er, having some vague memory of a lynch mob,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15because you can't find, you really can't
0:19:15 > 0:19:19believe in your heart that there are that many people who mean you well.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21LAUGHTER
0:19:21 > 0:19:23- Not in concert, really.- No.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27Among them there's got to be some cut-purse or some stabber or...
0:19:27 > 0:19:30It's kind of, you know, nervous making, I think.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32But, I mean, if you ever took it to its extreme, though,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35if you ever really thought about it before you went out,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38you'd never go out, would you? So, I mean, how...?
0:19:38 > 0:19:41- I don't much, really.- You don't much go out?- No, I don't, no.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44No, I go out in drag a few times, you know.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46LAUGHTER
0:19:46 > 0:19:49Oh, I see.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Dicey musician over there.
0:19:51 > 0:19:52LAUGHTER
0:19:52 > 0:19:57There's no such thing as a dicey musician, they're dicey from birth.
0:19:57 > 0:19:58Do you in fact...?
0:19:58 > 0:20:03You said earlier on that you, erm, you regard what you do as a job,
0:20:03 > 0:20:05you go in the studio, turn up and you go home.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08Do you enjoy it, though? Do you enjoy making movies?
0:20:08 > 0:20:11Of course, of course. Certainly.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15I find myself, I have always found myself telling other people,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18other sort of novitiates that, erm,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21find themselves very awkward in the presence of, you know,
0:20:21 > 0:20:25120 crew and general technicians,
0:20:25 > 0:20:30and, er, they freeze up, you know, they become inhibited, and I said,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33"Look, it's your turn and all these people are here for you."
0:20:33 > 0:20:34Really, they're on your side,
0:20:34 > 0:20:39and once that's understood then the ambience of, you know...
0:20:39 > 0:20:41It's the only truly communal business.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46Everybody gets together for you at that time, and it works very well.
0:20:46 > 0:20:47- Mm.- And I sort of...
0:20:47 > 0:20:53My, sort of, my mature life was, er,
0:20:53 > 0:20:55in that climate and that atmosphere,
0:20:55 > 0:21:00and I must say I'm very grateful for it, really, because I found, er...
0:21:01 > 0:21:04..well, a great deal of human concern
0:21:04 > 0:21:09that people are just not ordinarily...
0:21:09 > 0:21:13- ordinarily exposed to. And I'm very grateful for it.- Mm.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17- I, you know, I think it's an improvement. It helps growth.- Mm.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19But what about movies themselves?
0:21:19 > 0:21:23- I mean, you've made a hell of a lot, haven't you? More than most.- Well...
0:21:25 > 0:21:29You know, you propose in front that this is dumb or that's stupid
0:21:29 > 0:21:31or that's, you know, er...
0:21:33 > 0:21:37And they, they argue.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39They don't even argue, really.
0:21:39 > 0:21:44They draw up, and, er, they pay.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46They steal but they pay.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50So, er, if you want less than the best, fine.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53I'm very well prepared to give less than the best if that's your game.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55Good, really.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57Really? You mean you don't...?
0:21:57 > 0:22:00- Why not?- Well...- I wouldn't want to embarrass a producer
0:22:00 > 0:22:02by being better than he expected me to be.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05LAUGHTER
0:22:05 > 0:22:08No, but you might like to satisfy yourself to be
0:22:08 > 0:22:09as good as you know you can be.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11I satisfy myself when it's dark.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15LAUGHTER
0:22:15 > 0:22:16Later.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21- Is that...? - I satisfy myself that I outlive them.
0:22:22 > 0:22:23Out-enjoy them.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26Outperform them.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31- Do you always want to be a movie star?- No, I wanted to be Queen.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34LAUGHTER
0:22:34 > 0:22:37No, I didn't, it never occurred to me.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Didn't make it. I didn't make the weight.
0:22:40 > 0:22:41APPLAUSE
0:22:41 > 0:22:43Couldn't make the weight.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46No, it never occurred to me until it came up, you know.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49With this extraordinary varied background that you had,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52how do you eventually arrive in movies?
0:22:52 > 0:22:56- Did they find you?- It was an economic expedient, I needed the job.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59My wife was going to have a baby and I needed 500
0:22:59 > 0:23:02and I just went up and knocked on the door and asked if they were
0:23:02 > 0:23:07taking any hands in the acting department, and they said, "Why not?"
0:23:07 > 0:23:09That was it, I went to work.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12- And you worked on, what, Hopalong Cassidy movies?- Never looked back.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14LAUGHTER
0:23:15 > 0:23:19100 a week and all the horse manure I could carry home.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Couldn't beat that with a stick.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25How long did it take to shoot those movies in those days?
0:23:25 > 0:23:29We made, er, two pictures, I think, in 21 days.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32- I think that's what it was. - That's going some.
0:23:32 > 0:23:33We went out into the locations...
0:23:36 > 0:23:39No, we did the interiors for one, then did both exteriors, and,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43you know, changed cast in the middle and came back and did
0:23:43 > 0:23:47the interiors for the second, so the location trip served for both films.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52Yeah. I suppose the first film that really lifted you out of that
0:23:52 > 0:23:56and got you a lot of recognition was The Story of GI Joe.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00I suppose it was. Some people say Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04Some people say it was my picture in the Police Gazette, you know.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07I guess it was. If you say so, I guess it was.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09- No, I only say so, I mean... - Cos other people say so?
0:24:09 > 0:24:12No, no, not at all, because it's the only picture you were
0:24:12 > 0:24:16- nominated for an Academy Award for. - Ah, ahhh...- Ah.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18That impresses me.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20Yeah, I guess so, right.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24I just wonder what you thought about Academy Awards and nominations?
0:24:24 > 0:24:27It has really not much to do with me.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31If someone should call me up and say, "You just got the Academy Award,"
0:24:31 > 0:24:33I'd jump up and down and go on...
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Put a sign outside the window, you know. But other than that
0:24:36 > 0:24:38I really don't know much about it.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41You don't take George Scott's attitude about it?
0:24:41 > 0:24:45I mean, he's antagonistic toward the whole system.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47Well, yeah, he has a position, you know,
0:24:47 > 0:24:49he has a position of antagonism.
0:24:49 > 0:24:50I have no position at all.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54There it is, you know.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01It's like a choice of restaurants, or, I don't know...
0:25:01 > 0:25:04I'm sure that it's valid and very important
0:25:04 > 0:25:07and it's important to people who...
0:25:08 > 0:25:10Who are...
0:25:10 > 0:25:13Every year we give each other awards. You're OK, Charlie.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17And er...
0:25:17 > 0:25:18Which is good enough,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21sort of a private club patting each other on the head.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26And, if you...
0:25:27 > 0:25:30..if you wear out a lot of foot leather
0:25:30 > 0:25:34or spend at least part of your time
0:25:34 > 0:25:38in seeking further jobs and further work,
0:25:38 > 0:25:40that's a good thing to have in your portfolio.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44Academy Award winner, Golden Gloves, 1903, you know?
0:25:44 > 0:25:46But if you don't care,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49then it really doesn't help much, does it?
0:25:49 > 0:25:53What about the changes that you've seen in the industry, Mr Mitchum,
0:25:53 > 0:25:55over the years?
0:25:55 > 0:25:57The only thing I've noticed is that they call me "Sir".
0:25:57 > 0:25:59"Yes, Sir."
0:25:59 > 0:26:00Mr Mitchum, Sir.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05They used to call me, "Hey, Rob, would you get your over here."
0:26:05 > 0:26:07That's about the only changes I've seen.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11That and the sort of cyclical return
0:26:11 > 0:26:14to amateurism which is...
0:26:14 > 0:26:17..largely prevalent now and I should think that out of it
0:26:17 > 0:26:20comes hard-working, young people
0:26:20 > 0:26:23with a sense of doing
0:26:23 > 0:26:25and they do it.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28I suppose they eventually will wind up being
0:26:28 > 0:26:32the relatives of the needle trades advocates
0:26:32 > 0:26:35who built Hollywood, and on and on I suppose.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Even in the sense that nothing is new?
0:26:38 > 0:26:41Not really, not really.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44Because all the giants were built out of really...
0:26:45 > 0:26:49..trash catchers who sold it back to you in wholesale lots
0:26:49 > 0:26:50and made you pay for it.
0:26:52 > 0:26:53And...
0:26:53 > 0:26:57You know, that wasn't too bad, was it?
0:26:57 > 0:27:00I would think that a new group
0:27:00 > 0:27:04coming in with all the waste and all the amateurism
0:27:04 > 0:27:08should develop some straight,
0:27:08 > 0:27:10good movie-makers
0:27:10 > 0:27:14because I'm convinced that the audiovisual medium...
0:27:14 > 0:27:16There's nothing else
0:27:16 > 0:27:18until we find ourselves
0:27:18 > 0:27:21in some sort of mental medium that
0:27:21 > 0:27:25transcends that, but up until that I should think that
0:27:25 > 0:27:28the audiovisual medium is better than all the languages in the world
0:27:28 > 0:27:32because people can see it, they can make it up in their own heads.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36And I have great faith in it, I really do, you know.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38And I see people
0:27:38 > 0:27:43who progress far beyond the material progress of it.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46You have sons, also, who are sort of carrying on in the...
0:27:46 > 0:27:48Looking for jobs.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Looking for jobs.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54I wonder was there any advice you gave them when they became actors?
0:27:54 > 0:27:56Just remember your lines
0:27:56 > 0:27:58and don't write home for money.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02LAUGHTER
0:28:02 > 0:28:05- That's all they need to know. - Neither of which they took to heart.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08No, they do as they will.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10That's their lives, isn't it?
0:28:11 > 0:28:13They could have been burglars. as long as...
0:28:13 > 0:28:16I said, "Whatever you do, don't get caught at it."
0:28:16 > 0:28:18GIGGLING
0:28:18 > 0:28:20No-one's ever caught me acting.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23LAUGHTER
0:28:23 > 0:28:26Did you ever contemplate retiring?
0:28:26 > 0:28:28This morning I did.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30And every morning.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32I am retired really.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34- Really?- Yes.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36You keep on making movies.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41On my own terms, generally.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44- And that's the best way? - I would think so, yes.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47- I would agree with you, yes. - It's kind of juicy, really.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Of course Mitchum hadn't retired.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53Amongst other things, the following year saw him
0:28:53 > 0:28:56starring in a series of well-received crime dramas,
0:28:56 > 0:28:58including two adaptations
0:28:58 > 0:29:01of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03And there was, of course,
0:29:03 > 0:29:07Night Of The Hunter directed by the actor Charles Laughton.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11It had flopped on its original release in 1955,
0:29:11 > 0:29:15but developed a cult following and over the years came to be
0:29:15 > 0:29:19reappraised as one of American cinema's great classics.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22Here we find Mitchum with his fellow cast and crew
0:29:22 > 0:29:27discussing the film for the programme Moving Pictures.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29We took...
0:29:30 > 0:29:32..a most unusual subject
0:29:32 > 0:29:34and we took what we had to work with
0:29:34 > 0:29:36and, er...
0:29:36 > 0:29:38Mr Laughton
0:29:38 > 0:29:40made a gem of it.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42Oh, God.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46We had a mutual appreciation society.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50We all knew we were involved in a great classic that was timeless.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52They never had to shout for silence.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56I was very much taken by
0:29:56 > 0:30:00Davis Grubb's writing
0:30:00 > 0:30:03and by his, er...
0:30:03 > 0:30:06..delineation of the characters.
0:30:06 > 0:30:07It was right on.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10When I read the novel,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13I was so impressed by the beautiful horror of the writing.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16He was a master at words
0:30:16 > 0:30:18and it was like beauty
0:30:18 > 0:30:21and fear all together
0:30:21 > 0:30:22and Laughton got that.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26The original script was done by James Agee
0:30:26 > 0:30:29and I saw it and I read it
0:30:29 > 0:30:31and I held it in my hands.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35It was at least 250 pages long, an extraordinarily long,
0:30:35 > 0:30:37detailed script.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40I think it was probably a masterpiece, but it wasn't a film script.
0:30:40 > 0:30:45Jim Agee was sleeping on the couch in my den
0:30:45 > 0:30:46and he turned in
0:30:46 > 0:30:50a script that looked like a WPA project.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53The goddam thing must have weighed 18 pounds.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56And then my understanding from Laughton was that
0:30:56 > 0:31:00he went back to the book which is a very, very cinematic book.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03It's one of those books that you almost tear the pages out,
0:31:03 > 0:31:05paste it in a notebook and shoot.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08And he went back to the original book
0:31:08 > 0:31:11and wrote the screenplay.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14Charles really is responsible for the script.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16Looky here.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18Do you know what that is?
0:31:18 > 0:31:20Do you want to see something cute? Now, looky.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25How about that?
0:31:25 > 0:31:27This is what I use on meddlers.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29John might be a meddler.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31Ah, no, no!
0:31:31 > 0:31:33No, little lamb, don't touch it.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36Don't touch my knife, that makes me mad. It makes me very, very mad.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41Just tell me, where is the money hidden?
0:31:41 > 0:31:43But that's why I promised John I wouldn't tell.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45John doesn't matter!
0:31:46 > 0:31:51Can I get that through your head, you poor, silly, disgusting, little wretch.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53'It was an unusual part
0:31:53 > 0:31:55'and I was very grateful for it.'
0:31:55 > 0:31:57It, er...
0:31:57 > 0:31:59gave me a little exercise.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05I... It took me off, you know,
0:32:05 > 0:32:08smiling and kissing the horse at the end.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11And I knew the character fairly well,
0:32:11 > 0:32:13having grown-up
0:32:13 > 0:32:16and rambled around in that territory when I was a kid.
0:32:16 > 0:32:21Yeah, I made several trips out on freight trains.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24Bummed all through that country.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30Charles Laughton would call Mitchum one of the best actors in the world,
0:32:30 > 0:32:32a tender man
0:32:32 > 0:32:34and a great gentleman.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38And when Mitchum died in 1997 aged 79,
0:32:38 > 0:32:41the tributes were equally glowing.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45He was described as one of the true greats of Hollywood's Golden Age,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48and the soul of American Film Noir.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53Not bad for a man who when asked what he thought of his profession
0:32:53 > 0:32:55would always answer,
0:32:55 > 0:32:57"It sure beats working for a living."