Clifford Parker "
Cliff"
Robertson III was an American actor with a film and
television career that spanned half a century. Robertson portrayed a
young
John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film
PT 109, and won the 1968
Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie
Charly. On television, he portrayed retired astronaut
Buzz Aldrin in the 1976 adaptation of Aldrin's autobiographic
Return to Earth, played a fictional character based on
Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms in the 1977 adaptation of
John Ehrlichman's
Watergate novel
The Company, and portrayed
Henry Ford in the 1987
Ford: The Man and the Machine. His last well-known film appearances were in 2002 through 2007 as
Uncle Ben in the
Spider-Man film trilogy.
(September
9, 1923 – September 10, 2011)
Early life
Robertson was born on September 9, 1923 in
La Jolla, California,
the son of Clifford Parker Robertson, Jr. (1902–1968), and his first wife, the former Audrey Olga Willingham (1903-1925).
[6][7] His Texas-born father was described as "the idle heir to a tidy sum of ranching money".
[8]
Robertson recalled that his father "was a very romantic figure—tall,
handsome. He married four or five times, and between marriages he'd pop
in to see me. He was a great raconteur, and he was always surrounded by
sycophants who let him pick up the tab. During the Depression, he tapped
the trust for $500,000, and six months later he was back for more."
[9] The actor's parents divorced when he was one, and Robertson's mother died of
peritonitis a year later in El Paso, Texas, at the age of 21.
[3][9][10]
He was raised by his maternal grandmother, Mary Eleanor "Eleanora"
Willingham (née Sawyer, 1875–1957), in California, and he and his father
rarely saw one another.
[3][9][11] He graduated from
La Jolla High School in 1941,
[12] where he was known as "The Walking Phoenix".
[13][why?] He then served in the
merchant marine in
World War II[3] before attending
Antioch College in
Ohio and dropping out to work as a
journalist for a short time.
[14][15]
Career
Robertson had a bit part in
Mr. Roberts (1950) in Boston.
Feature films
Robertson was President
John F. Kennedy's personal choice to play him in 1963's
PT 109 as a young
Lieutenant PT boat captain. Kennedy chose Robertson over
Edd "Kookie" Byrnes,
Warren Beatty (
Jacqueline Kennedy's choice), and
Jeffrey Hunter.
[16]
The next year, Robertson played a presidential candidate in
The Best Man.
He won the
1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a mentally disabled man in
Charly, an adaptation of the
science fiction novel
Flowers for Algernon.
Other films included
Picnic (1955),
Autumn Leaves (1956),
Gidget (1959),
Sunday in New York (1963),
Devil's Brigade (1968),
Too Late the Hero (1970),
J. W. Coop (1972),
Three Days of the Condor (1975),
Obsession (1976),
Star 80 (1983) and
Malone (1987). Late in his life Robertson's career had a resurgence. He appeared as
Uncle Ben Parker in the
first movie adaptation of Spider-Man (2002), as well as in the sequels
Spider-Man 2 (2004) and
Spider-Man 3 (2007). He commented on his website: "Since
Spider-Man 1 and
2, I seem to have a whole new generation of fans. That in itself is a fine residual."
[17] He was also in the horror film
Riding the Bullet (2004).
In 1989, he was a member of the jury at the
39th Berlin International Film Festival.
[18]
Television
Robertson's early television appearances include a starring role in the live
space opera Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers (1953–1954), as well as recurring roles on
Hallmark Hall of Fame (1952),
Alcoa Theatre (1959), and
Playhouse 90 (1958, 1960),
The Outlaws (three episodes as Chad Burns). Other appearances included
The Twilight Zone episodes "
A Hundred Yards Over the Rim" (1961) and "
The Dummy" (1962) followed by guest-starring roles in such series as the
NBC medical drama about
psychiatry The Eleventh Hour (1963) in the role of Jeff Dillon, "The Man Who Came Home Late". In 1958, he portrayed Joe Clay in the very first broadcast of
Playhouse 90's
Days of Wine and Roses, in what some critics
[who?] cite as a superior version of this story about alcoholism. Other network appearances included
The Greatest Show on Earth (1963) and
ABC's
Breaking Point (1964) and the
ABC Stage 67 episode "The Trap of Gold" (1966).
He had starring roles in episodes of both the 1960s and 1990s versions of
The Outer Limits. He was awarded an
Emmy for his leading role in a
1965 episode from
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre entitled "The Game".
He appeared twice as a guest villain on
Batman as the gunfighter "Shame" (1966 and 1968), the second time with his wife,
Dina Merrill, as "Calamity Jan".
In 1976, he portrayed a retired
Buzz Aldrin in an adaptation of Aldrin's autobiography
Return to Earth. The next year, he portrayed a fictional
Director of Central Intelligence (based on
Richard Helms) in
Washington: Behind Closed Doors, an adaptation of
John Ehrlichman's
roman a clef The Company, in turn based on the
Watergate scandal. In 1987, he portrayed
Henry Ford in
Ford: The Man and The Machine.
Later he appeared on
Falcon Crest (1983–1984) as Dr. Michael Ranson.
In 1984, he narrated an
AT&T
promotional video documenting some of its technological improvements at
the time. Robertson then became AT&T's national television
spokesman for ten years, winning the Advertising Age award for best
commercial. He was to be the keynote speaker at an AT&T
stockholders' meeting during a strike by AT&T workers, but he
refused to cross the picket line and did not speak.
In 2003, he appeared on the short-lived series
The Lyon's Den.
[citation needed]
Columbia Pictures scandal
In 1977, Robertson discovered that his signature had been forged on a
$10,000 check payable to him, although it was for work he had not
performed. He also learned that the forgery had been carried out by
Columbia Pictures head
David Begelman, and on reporting it he inadvertently triggered one of the biggest Hollywood scandals of the 1970s.
[19]
As a result of Robertson's whistle-blowing, Begelman was charged with
embezzlement: he later was fired from Columbia. Robertson was
subsequently
blacklisted for several years before he finally returned to film in
Brainstorm (1983).
[15][20] The story of the scandal is told in David McClintick's 1982 bestseller
Indecent Exposure.
Personal life
In 1957, Robertson married actress
Cynthia Stone, the former wife of actor
Jack Lemmon. They had a daughter, Stephanie, before divorcing in 1959; by this marriage he also had a stepson,
Chris Lemmon.
In 1966, he married actress and
Post Cereals heiress
Dina Merrill, the former wife of
Stanley M. Rumbough, Jr.; they had a daughter, Heather (1969-2007), before divorcing in 1989.
[3] By this marriage, he also had stepchildren Stanley Hutton Rumbough, David Post Rumbough, and Nedenia (Nina) Colgate Rumbough.
One of Robertson's main hobbies was flying and, among other aircraft, he owned several
de Havilland Tiger Moths, a
Messerschmitt Bf 108, and a genuine World War II era Mk.IX
Supermarine Spitfire MK923.
[21][22] He even entered balloon races, including one in 1964 from the mainland to
Catalina Island that ended with him being rescued from the Pacific Ocean. A certified private pilot, Robertson was a longtime member of the
Experimental Aircraft Association, working his way through the ranks in prominence and eventually co-founding the EAA's
Young Eagles program, which he chaired from its 1992 inception to 1994 (succeeded by former test pilot
Gen. Chuck Yeager). He was flying a private
Beechcraft Baron directly over New York City on the morning of September 11, 2001. He was directly over the
World Trade Center, climbing through 7,500 feet, when the first
Boeing 767
struck. He was ordered by air traffic control to land immediately at
the nearest airport following a nationwide order to ground all civilian
and commercial aircraft following the attacks.
[23]
Death
On September 10, 2011, just one day after his 88th birthday, Robertson died of natural causes in
Stony Brook, New York.
[24]
Filmography
Awards
Robertson received an award from Antioch College Alumni in 2007 for
his contributions to his field of work. In addition to his Oscar and
Emmy and several lifetime achievement awards from various
film festivals, Robertson has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. He was also awarded the 2008 Ambassador of Good
Will Aviation Award by the National Transportation Safety Board Bar
Association in Alexandria, Virginia, on May 18, 2008, for his leadership
in and promotion of general aviation.
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