Jason Robards

Jason Robards, Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor whose wizened, iconic quality kept him in the forefront of the acting profession for nearly fifty years. He made his name playing in the works of American dramatist Eugene O'Neill, and would regularly return to O'Neill's works throughout his career. Robards' versatility was such that he was cast to equal effect in common-man roles and as well-known historical figures.

Contents

1 Childhood 2 Naval service in World War II 3 Early acting career 4 Awards and honors 5 List of credits 5.1 Broadway Theatre 5.2 Film 5.3 Films for Television 6 References

Childhood

Born in Chicago, his father Jason Robards, Sr. was among the better-known actors of the first half of the twentieth century, starring regularly on the stage and in such early films as "The Gamblers" (1929). The family moved to New York City when young Jason was still a toddler, and then moved for good to Los Angeles when he was six years old. As a teen he was a star athlete at Hollywood High School, running a 4:18 mile during his junior year.

Later interviews with Robards suggested that the divorce of his parents, which occurred during his grade-school years, was a trauma that left an indelible mark on Robards' personality and worldview. The young Jason also witnessed firsthand the decline of his father's acting career. Jason Sr. had enojoyed considerable success during the era of silent films, but he fell out of favor after the advent of "talkies," leaving Jason, Jr. soured on the Hollywood film industry. Although his athletic prowess attracted overtures from many universities, upon his graduation in 1940 decided to join the U.S. Navy.

Naval service in World War II

Serving as a radio operator, Robards was assigned to the USS Northampton, a heavy cruiser homeported at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Although he is often referred to as a survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941 Northampton was at sea with the aircraft carrier Enterprise; the two ships returned to Pearl Harbor the following day. However, Robards would indeed see considerable action in the Pacific theater of World War II, initially during the engagements at Wake Island and Midway. Northampton was later directed into the Guadalcanal campaign, where it was involved in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.

During the Battle of Tassafaronga on the night of November 30, 1942, Northampton was sunk by hits from two Japanese torpedoes. Robards found himself treading water until near daybreak, when he was rescued by an American destroyer. He would remain in the Navy through the end of the war, and be discharged in 1946.

Early acting career

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Awards and honors

Robards received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in consecutive years for All the President's Men (1976) and Julia (1977). He was also nominated for another Oscar for his role in Melvin and Howard (1980) and received the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for the 1988 production of Inherit the Wind. He was among the recipients at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1999.

List of credits

Broadway Theatre

• Long Day's Journey Into Night (1956)
• The Disenchanted (1958)
• Toys in the Attic (1960)
• Big Fish, Little Fish (1961)
• A Thousand Clowns (1962)
• Hughie (1964)
• But For Whom Charlie (1964)
• After The Fall (1964)
• The Devils (1965)
• We Bombed in New Haven (1968)
• The Country Girl (1972)
• A Moon for the Misbegotten (1973)
• A Touch of the Poet (1977)
• You Can't Take It With You (1984)
• The Iceman Cometh (1985)
• A Month of Sundays (1987)
• Ah, Wilderness! (1988)
• Long Day's Journey Into Night (1988)
• Love Letters (1989)
• Park Your Car in Harvard Yard (1991)
• No Man's Land (1994)

Film

• The Journey (1959)
• By Love Possessed (1961)
• Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
• Tender Is the Night (1962)
• Act One (1963) (as George S. Kaufman)
• A Thousand Clowns (1965)
• Any Wednesday (1966)
• A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
• Hour of the Gun (1967) (as Doc Holliday)
• The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) (as Al Capone)
• Divorce American Style (1967)
• Isadora (1968)
• The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968)
• Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
• Fools (1970)
• Julius Caesar (1970) (as Brutus)
• Rosolino Paternò: Soldato... , aka Operation Snafu (1970)
• Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) (as Gen. Walter Short)
• The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
• Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)
• Jud (1971)
• Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
• The War Between Men and Women (1972)
• The Death Merchants aka Tod eines Fremden, aka The Execution (1973)
• Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) (as Lew Wallace)
• Mr. Sycamore (1975)
• A Boy and His Dog (1975)
• All the President's Men (1976) (as Ben Bradlee) Academy Award, Best Supporting Actor
• Julia (1977) (as Dashiell Hammett) Academy Award, Best Supporting Actor
• Comes a Horseman (1978)
• Hurricane (1979)
• Melvin and Howard (1980) (as Howard Hughes) Academy Award nomination, Best Supporting Actor
• Raise the Titanic (1980)
• Caboblanco (1980)
• The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) (as President Ulysses S. Grant)
• Something Wicked this Way Comes (1983)
• Max Dugan Returns (1983)
• The World of Tomorrow (1984) (voice narration)
• America and Lewis Hine (1984) (voice-over)
• Square Dance (1987)
• The Good Mother (1988)
• Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
• Black Rainbow (1989)
• Parenthood (1989)
• Reunion (1989)
• Dream a Little Dream (1989)
• Quick Change (1990)
• Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991) (voice narration)
• Storyville (1992)
• Philadelphia (1993)
• The Trial (1993)
• The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)
• Little Big League (1994)
• The Paper (1994)
• Crimson Tide (1995)
• A Thousand Acres (1997)
• The Great American West (1997) (voice narration)
• Heartwood (1998)
• Enemy of the State (1998)
• Beloved (1998)
• The Real Macaw (1998)
• Magnolia (1999)
• They Drew Fire: Combat Artists of World War II (2000) (voice narration)

Films for Television

• A Doll's House (1959)
• The Iceman Cometh (1960)
• Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1964) (as Abraham Lincoln) Emmy Award nomination, Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
• Noon Wine (1966)
• The House Without a Christmas Tree (1972)
• The Country Girl (1973)
• The Holiday Treasure (1973)
• A Moon for the Misbegotten (1975) Emmy Award nomination, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama or Comedy Special
• The Easter Promise (1975)
• Addie and the King of Hearts (1976)
• Washington: Behind Closed Doors (1977) Emmy Award nomination, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series
• A Christmas to Remember (1978)
• Haywire (1980) (as Leland Hayward)
• F.D.R.: The Last Year (1980) (as Franklin D. Roosevelt) Emmy Award nomination, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Special
• The Day After (1983)
• You Can't Take It with You (1984)
• Sakharov (1984) (as Andrei Sakharov)
• Hughie (1984)
• The Long Hot Summer (1985)
• The Atlanta Child Murders (1985)
• Johnny Bull (1986)
• The Last Frontier (1986)
• Breaking Home Ties (1987)
• Laguna Heat (1987)
• Thomas Hart Benton (1988)
• The Christmas Wife (1988)
• Inherit the Wind (1988) Emmy Award, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Special
• The Civil War (1990) (voice, as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant)
• Mark Twain and Me (1991) (as Mark Twain)
• An Inconvenient Woman (1991)
• Chernobyl: The Final Warning (1991) (as Dr. Armand Hammer)
• American Masters: Helen Hayes – First Lady of the American Theatre (1991) (voice narration)
• When It Was a Game (1991) (voice)
• The Perfect Tribute (1991) (as Abraham Lincoln)
• Rabbit Ears: Jonah and the Whale (1992)
• Lincoln (1992) (voice, as Abraham Lincoln)
• When It Was a Game 2 (1992) (voice)
• Heidi (1993)
• The Enemy Within (1994)
• Baseball (1994) (voice)
• Journey (1995)
• My Antonia (1995)
• TR (1996) (voice narration)
• The West (1996) (voice)
• Truman (1996) (voice narration)
• The Irish in America: Long Journey Home (1998) (voice)
• Going Home (2000)

References

• Template:Imdb name
• Internet Broadway Database (http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=68627)
• American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards Website (http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/archive/dyk/)de:Jason Robards

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