Robert Ryan Photo

Robert Ryan

Acting

3.9 Popularity Nov 11, 1909 (63 years old) Chicago, Illinois, USA

Robert Bushnell Ryan 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 a...

Biography

Robert Bushnell Ryan 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.

Filmography 106

2004
2002
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller Movie

as Sandy Dawson (archive footage) (uncredited)

1997
Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down The Line Movie

as Self (archive footage)

1991
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire Movie

as Self (archive footage)

1986
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend Movie

as Self (from Clash by Night [1952]) (archive footage)

1973
The Iceman Cometh Movie

as Larry Slade

1973
Executive Action Movie

as Foster

1973
The Outfit Movie

as Mailer

1973
The Man Without a Country Movie

as Lt. Cmdr. Vaughan

1973
Lolly-Madonna XXX Movie

as Pap Gutshall

1972
And Hope to Die Movie

as Charley

1971
The Love Machine Movie

as Gregory 'Greg' Austin

1971
Lawman Movie

as Sabbath Marshal Cotton Ryan

1970
The Reason Why Movie

as Roger

1969
1969
1969
The Wild Bunch Movie

as Deke Thornton

1968
Anzio Movie

as Gen. Carson

Photos 11

Robert Ryan Photo
Robert Ryan Photo
Robert Ryan Photo
Robert Ryan Photo
Robert Ryan Photo
Robert Ryan Photo
Robert Ryan Photo
Robert Ryan Photo
Robert Ryan Photo
Robert Ryan Photo
Robert Ryan Photo

Personal Details

Known For Acting
Gender Male
Birthday November 11, 1909 (63 years old)
Died July 11, 1973
Place of Birth Chicago, Illinois, USA
Also Known As Robert Bushnell Ryan, Роберт Райан, رابرت رایان
Years Active 1940 - 2017
Popularity 3.9
Career Stats
106 Total Credits
89 Movie Roles
17 TV Roles
11 Photos