Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2010 August 25 • Wednesday

48 years ago, Mitchum made the cover of The Saturday Evening Post. The article inside, by Bill Davidson, promises "An exclusive account of the turbulent career of Hollywood's rugged nonconformist". It covers the basic biographical information. Mitchum's mother was from Norway, his father worked for the railroad and was crushed to death between two cars about two years after Mitchum was born. School didn't work out so Mitchum took to being a hobo, was arrested for vagrancy in Georgia, escaped from a chain gang and worked various jobs: coal miner, dishwasher, ditch digger.

He drifted into acting and The Story of G.I. Joe made him a star and got him his only nomination for an Academy Award. He was famously busted for marijuana use and possession and the Post article devotes many of its column inches to this episode.

Mitchum's general outrageousness takes up a lot of the remaining space. Bill Davidson writes that "He told me he subscribes to the policy of the late Humphrey Bogart, who said, 'I don't care what it is. Just be against it.' In this vein Mitchum recently replied to a woman who asked him to contribute to the S.P.C.A., 'Don't you think all dogs should be shot?'"

And then there are the contradictions. Mitchum is sensitive and shy; he writes poetry. A large number of his co-workers, thespians and directors, praise his generosity and professionalism.

This is what makes Mitchum fascinating, the paradoxes and contradictions. Pauline Kael once said that he had a gut that was an honorary chest—and Mitchum is all stomach and heart, all at the same time.

There are some good photos in the Saturday Evening Post article.

Tomorrow's my birthday, so here's a random Mitchum thing, an autographed owl card with an August 26 date on it.