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.
The Wild Bunch
(Deke Thornton)
The Dirty Dozen
(Col. Everett Dasher Breed)
Billy Budd
(John Claggart, Master of Arms)
House of Bamboo
(Sandy Dawson)
The Naked Spur
(Ben Vandergroat)
Clash by Night
(Earl Pfeiffer)
The Professionals
(Ehrengard)
On Dangerous Ground
(Jim Wilson)
Hour of the Gun
(Ike Clanton)
The Racket
(Nick Scanlon)
Odds Against Tomorrow
(Earle Slater)
The Longest Day
(Brig. Gen. James M. Gavin)
Act of Violence
(Joe Parkson)
The Outfit
(Mailer)
A New Dimension in Noir: Filming Inferno in 3D
(Self)
The Woman on Pier 13
(Bradley Collins / Frank Johnson)
Battle of the Bulge
(General Grey)
Crossfire
(Montgomery)
Anzio
(Gen. Carson)
The Iceman Cometh
(Larry Slade)
Executive Action
(Foster)
Berlin Express
(Robert Lindley)
The Great Gatsby
(Jay Gatsby)
King of Kings
(John the Baptist)
Bad Day at Black Rock
(Reno Smith)
The Busy Body
(Charley Barker)
Lawman
(Sabbath Marshal Cotton Ryan)
The Woman on the Beach
(Scott Burnett)
God's Little Acre
(Ty Ty Walden)
Horizons West
(Dan Hammond)
The Tall Men
(Nathan Stark)
Born to Be Bad
(Nick Bradley)
Caught
(Smith Ohlrig)
The Iron Major
(Father Timothy 'Tim' Donovan)
Inferno
(Donald Whitley Carson III)
Beware, My Lovely
(Howard Wilton)
The Sky's the Limit
(Reginald Fenton)
Day of the Outlaw
(Blaise Starrett)
The Boy with Green Hair
(Dr. Evans)
Men in War
(Lt. Benson)
Bombardier
(Joe Connors)
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
(Harry Walters)
Back from Eternity
(Bill Lonagan)
Ice Palace
(Thor Storm)
Flying Leathernecks
(Capt. Carl 'Griff' Griffin)
The Set-Up
(Stoker)
City Beneath the Sea
(Brad Carlton)
A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die
(New Mexico Gov. Lem Carter)
The Secret Fury
(David McLean)
Captain Nemo and the Underwater City
(Captain Nemo)
And Hope to Die
(Charley)
A Regular Bouquet: Mississippi Summer
(Narrator (voice))
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
(Sandy Dawson (archive footage) (uncredited))
The Inheritance
(Narrator (voice))
Lonelyhearts
(William Shrike)
Tender Comrade
(Chris Jones)
Gangway for Tomorrow
(Joe Dunham)
Trail Street
(Allen Harper)
Escape to Burma
(Jim Brecan)
About Mrs. Leslie
(George Leslie)
The Proud Ones
(Marshal Cass Silver)
Best of the Badmen
(Jeff Clanton)
Alaska Seas
(Matt Kelly)
Lolly-Madonna XXX
(Pap Gutshall)
Her Twelve Men
(Joe Hargrave)
Return of the Bad Men
(Sundance Kid)
The Crooked Road
(Richard Ashley)
The Dirty Game
(General Bruce)
Behind the Rising Sun
(Lefty O'Doyle)
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
(Self (from Clash by Night [1952]) (archive footage))
Marine Raiders
(Capt. Dan Craig)
The Man Without a Country
(Lt. Cmdr. Vaughan)
The Canadians
(Inspector William Gannon)
The Texas Rangers Ride Again
(Eddie (uncredited))
The Reason Why
(Roger)
The Love Machine
(Gregory 'Greg' Austin)
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line
(Self (archive footage))
Golden Gloves
(Pete Wells)
The Ghost Breakers
(Intern (uncredited))
The Notorious Lone Wolf
(Plainclothesman (uncredited))
North West Mounted Police
(Constable Dumont)
Lincoln's Doctor's Dog
(Abraham Lincoln)
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire
(Self (archive footage))
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
(Self (archive footage))
Simon and Garfunkel: Songs of America
(Self - Host)
Custer of the West
(Mulligan)
The House Without a Name
Hard, Fast and Beautiful
(Seabright Tennis Match Spectator (uncredited))
Queen of the Mob
(Jim)
Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade
(Self (archive footage))
Kraft Suspense Theatre
(Thomas Bollington)
The David Susskind Show
(Self)
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
World War One
(Narrator)
Alcoa Theatre
(Trilbridge)
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
(Matt Jessop)
The Steve Allen Show
(Self)
The Oscars
(Self)
Alcoa Theatre
(Mike Ripetti)
Goodyear Theatre
(Frank Berry)
World War I: The Complete Story
(Narrator)
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
(Cob Oakley)
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
(Sheriff Amos Parney)
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
(Captain William Kraig)
What's My Line?
(Self - Mystery Guest)
What's My Line?
(Self - Panelist)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
(Self)