Robert Walker (actor)

Infobox actor
bgcolour = silver
name = Robert Walker

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imagesize = 250px
caption = from the trailer for the film "Strangers on a Train" (1951)
birthdate = birth date|1918|10|13
location = Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
deathdate = death date and age|1951|8|28|1918|10|13
deathplace = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
spouse=Barbara Ford (8 July 1948 - 16 December 1948)
Jennifer Jones (2 January 1939 - 20 June 1945)

Robert Hudson Walker (October 13 1918 – August 28 1951) was an American actor.

Early Life

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Zella (McQuarrie) and Horace Walker, he was the youngest of four sons. He developed an interest in acting which led to his maternal aunt Hortense (McQuarrie) Odlum (the president of Bonwit Teller) to offer to pay for his enrollment at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City in 1937.

Career and Personal Life

It was at the academy that Walker met fellow aspiring actress Phylis Isley, later to be known as Jennifer Jones. After a brief courtship, the two were married in Tulsa, Oklahoma on January 2 1939 and moved to Hollywood to find work in films. Their prospects proved to be meager however and they soon returned to New York where Walker found work in radio and Phylis gave birth to two sons in quick succession, actor Robert Walker, Jr., born April 15 1940, and Michael Walker, born March 13 1941. Phylis then returned to auditioning where her luck changed when she was discovered in 1941 by producer David O. Selznick, who changed her name to Jennifer Jones and groomed her for stardom. During their initial meetings Selznick was highly attracted to Jones and they quietly began an affair. She eventually landed the plum role of Bernadette Soubirous in the Twentieth Century Fox production "The Song of Bernadette" (1943). Many speculate that her film success was the result of her affair with Selznick, who managed every aspect of her life and furthered her career.Fact|date=July 2008

The couple returned to Hollywood, and Selznick's connections helped Walker secure a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he started work on the war drama "Bataan" (1943). Walker's charming demeanor and boyish good looks caught on with audiences, and he worked steadily playing "boy-next-door" roles in films such as "See Here, Private Hargrove" (1944) and "Her Highness and the Bellboy" (1945). He also appeared in Selznick's "Since You Went Away" (1944) in which he and his wife gave poignant performances as doomed young lovers. By that time Selznick and Jones' affair was common knowledge, and Jones and Walker separated in November 1943, in the midst of production. ["Jennifer Jones Sues To Divorce Actor Walker", "The Washington Post", April 22, 1945, p. M4.] The filming of their love scenes was torturous as Selznick insisted that Walker perform take after take of each love scene with Jones.

Jones filed for divorce in April 1945, and although Walker continued to work steadily in Hollywood, he was distraught by the divorce and prone to drinking and emotional outbursts. The year 1945 also saw Walker star in the film "The Clock" opposite Judy Garland in her first straight dramatic film that proved to be a critical success.

In 1946 he starred in "'Till the Clouds Roll By", where he played the lead as the song writer Jerome Kern in a role that required him to age from a young man to an old man. Walker starred as composer Johannes Brahms in "Song of Love" (1947), which co-starred Katharine Hepburn and Paul Henreid. In 1948, Walker starred with Ava Gardner in the film "One Touch of Venus", directed by William A. Seiter. The movie was a non-musical comedy adapted from a Broadway show with music by Kurt Weill.

He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1949 but following his release from the Menninger Clinic he was hired by director Alfred Hitchcock for "Strangers on a Train" (1951). His performance as the evil yet oddly sympathetic Bruno Anthony was highly lauded and considered to be his finest role.

His emotional problems largely behind him, and his career in an upswing following an acclaimed performance, Walker spent the summer with his sons, and was considering the possibility of remarrying. (He had married Barbara Ford, the daughter of director John Ford, in July 1948, but they divorced five months later.) ["Robert Walker's Wife Is Granted Divorce", "The Washington Post", December 17, 1948, p. 26.]

Death

On the night of August 28, 1951, Walker’s housekeeper found him in an extremely agitated state. Failing to calm him down, she called his psychiatrist, who, upon arrival administered sodium amytal. Unfortunately, he had been drinking as well and suffered an acute allergic reaction to the drug. Walker stopped breathing, and all efforts to resuscitate him failed. [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0908153/bio] Walker was buried at Washington Heights Memorial Park in Ogden, Utah. [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2102]

Filmography

*"Winter Carnival" (1939) (uncredited)
*"These Glamor Girls" (1939) (uncredited)
*"Dancing Co-Ed" (1939) (uncredited)
*"Bataan" (1943)
*"Madame Curie" (1943)
*"See Here, Private Hargrove" (1944)
*"Since You Went Away" (1944)
*"Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" (1944)
*"The Clock" (1945)
*"Her Highness and the Bellboy" (1945)
*"What Next, Corporal Hargrove?" (1945)
*"The Sailor Takes a Wife" (1945)
*"Till the Clouds Roll By" (1946)
*"The Beginning or the End" (1947)
*"The Sea of Grass" (1947)
*"Song of Love" (1947)
*"One Touch of Venus" (1948)
*"Please Believe Me" (1950)
*"The Skipper Surprised His Wife" (1950)
*"Vengeance Valley" (1951)
*"Strangers on a Train" (1951)
*"My Son John" (1952)

References

Books

* Beverly Linet, "Star Crossed: The Story of Robert Walker and Jennifer Jones" (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1985) ISBN 0-399-13194-9

External links

* [http://www.robertwalkertribute.com/ Robert Walker tribute]
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* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2102 Robert Walker's Gravesite]