An E-mail, Price Mitchum & how blogging is changing my life

Something amazing happened on Saturday. I got an e-mail from none other than Robert Mitchum's eldest son, James Mitchum. THE James Mitchum. I've written about him before if you recall. He starred with his dad in the film Thunder Road (1958) and I shared some screen shots to demonstrate how much James resembled his father. As it turns out, his brother, Christopher Mitchum, saw some of my posts (i.e. The Case of the Robert Mitchum Look-A-Like and Robert Mitchum is Dead) and forwarded my blog to James. James sent me a lovely e-mail which I proceded read over and over and over again. In the e-mail, he mentions that his son Price Mitchum is an up-and-coming actor studying in LA. I looked him up online and Price has the characteristic Mitchum look. He's going to be a heartbreaker for sure. (Go to my Tumblr heckyeahrobertmitchum to see a photo of Price).

Words cannot express how happy I am that both of Robert Mitchum's sons have read some of my posts!

This is not the first time I've been contacted by family members of a classic Hollywood star. The grandsons of Charles Emmett Mack (McNerney) have both written to me. Back in November, I sort of took Charles Emmett Mack on as a pet project. So little is known about him and so few people recognize the name. I wanted to change that! I started watching as many of his movies as I could and I'm still on the search for the Holy Grail which is a biographical article in Motion Picture Classics magazine. I love talking to Michael and I hope one day I can find some more information on Mack so I can help Michael and his brother learn more about their grandfather.

I guess it goes to show that when you share something in a public space, people take notice. When people read my posts and contact me directly, it makes me want to watch more classic films, do more research and write more posts. You spur me on. You are changing my life. And I just want to say: Thank You!

Robert Mitchum Video #6 ~ Mitchum on What's My Line?

Robert Mitchum was known amongst his drinking buddies as a great impersonator. He had an art for doing impressions and various accents and voices (although he couldn't quite master the Irish accent or the Boston accent in movies such as Ryan's Daughter and The Friends of Eddie Coyle, respectively). This is a cute clip in which you see Mitchum do various voices. Notice that he sort of plugs his Calypso album?! Enjoy.

Robert Mitchum is Dead

Well deh.

People have been talking about a Norwegian film entitled Robert Mitchum is Dead. The film will premiere on May 15th at the Cannes Film Festival. What is the movie about? I have no idea! What does it have to do with Robert Mitchum? Beats me!


After some research, the only description I could find was this one from Yahoo! Movies:

Franky is an actor suffering from insomnia. Franky is his manager Arsene's friend, spiritual son and source of income. When Arsene steals a car and takes Franky to the Arctic Circle under the pretence that the two are going to meet a famous director shooting an American film there, an adventurous journey ensues across Europe as Franky has problems distinguishing between what's real and what's not. 

As my good friend Jonas can attest, Norwegians are strange! But is it Norwegian? It's filmed by a Norwegian company, in Poland and the dialogue is in French. Really? I feel a headache coming on.

After even more research, I found a whole bunch of clips online. Here is one. Here is another. Here is one more. Can you make sense of it? Is it called "Robert Mitchum is Dead" because that is a truth and the film is trying to show a truth? That's the best I can do because otherwise this goes right over my head.

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Regardless of the movie, Robert Mitchum really is dead. He passed away on July 1st, 1997 from lung cancer and emphysema. He had been sick for some time but it was only the spring of 1997 in which doctors had diagnosed him with lung cancer. Robert Mitchum had been smoking cigarettes for many years, as one can tell from his incessant smoking in films such as Out of the Past (1947). In his last months, his illness caused him to deteriorate so quickly that he became unrecognizable. He died peacefully at his home, his wife Dorothy by his side.

On July 2nd, 1997, Robert Mitchum's death made headlines. His death was eclipsed by Jimmy Stewart who passed away on July 2nd, the day after Mitchum, and the newspaper headlines and TV reports that followed focused even more on the uber-famous Jimmy. Mitchum was cremated and his ashes were scattered over the Pacific ocean. Only his wife, a few family members and one close friend, actress Jane Russell, were present at the quiet ceremony.

God Speed Robert Mitchum.

Robert Mitchum Video #5 ~ Mitchum on the Dick Cavett Show

This is a really great interview with Robert Mitchum done by the legendary Dick Cavett. It's pretty clear that Cavett is a bit afraid of bad boy Robert Mitchum. Mitchum was such a great storyteller though and Cavett really brought that out of the people he interviewed, by asking the right questions and allowing the interviewee to go on rants but also keeping them on track.

While this is only a clip, you can watch the entire interview in The Dick Cavett Show: Hollywood Greats .