Product Description
One of the movies' greatest actors and most colorful characters, a real-life tough guy with the prison record to prove it, Robert Mitchum was a movie icon for an almost unprecedented half-century, the cool, sleepy-eyed star of such classics as The Night of the Hunter; Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison; Cape Fear; The Longest Day; Farewell, My Lovely; and The Winds of War. Mitchum's powerful presence and simmering violence combined with hard-boiled humor and existential detachment to create a new style in movie acting: the screen's first hipster antihero-before Brando, James Dean, Elvis, or Eastwood-the inventor of big-screen cool.

Robert Mitchum: "Baby, I Don't Care" is the first complete biography of Mitchum, and a book as big, colorful, and controversial as the star himself. Exhaustively researched, it makes use of thousands of rare documents from around the world and nearly two hundred in-depth interviews with Mitchum's family, friends, and associates (many going on record for the first time ever) ranging over his seventy-nine years of hard living. Written with great style, and vividly detailed, this is an intimate, comprehensive portrait of an amazing life, comic, tragic, daring, and outrageous.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (40)

One of the best...
This is one of the best, if not THE best Hollywood biographies I have ever read.The stories about this guy...incredible!!!What a life.You will not be bored reading this book...I highly recommend it.

baby, I do care!
First, I am a huge fan of Lee Server's writing. I was not a big fan of Mitchum's until I became addicted to Turner Classic Movies, 15 yrs ago. This was a very compelling story of a man who was seemingly able to take acting and his life in general, not seriously. I had been told that he was very much like my late husband in looks and lifestyle. I didn't believe it, as I thought my husband was much more handsome. However, I was very shocked to learn that they were very much alike, from their beginnings, they were about the same age, to the bittersweet end!
I could not put this book down. May read it again in a year or two.

Out of the Past: Build My Gallows High, Baby
Lee Server has done a commendable job capturing the essence of an enigmatic and iconic Hollywood star. His task was not an easy one: Mitchum's wife and immediate family did not cooperate with Server and made themselves inaccessible. Nonetheless, Server soldiered on and managed to write a creditable biography of a mercurial and oftentimes inexplicable performer.

Mitchum was a living contradiction in terms. Having lived a vagabond life as a hobo during the Great Depression, which included a conviction for vagrancy and a stretch on a Southern chain gang, Mitchum rode the rails to Los Angeles. After marrying his high school sweetheart, Dorothy, who defined the role of a long suffering and supportive spouse, and working in a defense plant, Mitchum broke into acting as a bit player in inexpensive Westerns. Gradually his roles were expanded until he scored successes in films such as "The Story of G. I. Joe" and the low budget film noir thriller "When Strangers Marry." A long term contract with RKO Studios helped establish Mitchum as one of the leading actors in the film noir genre in pictures such as "Crossfire," "The Racket," "The Big Steal" and the definitive noir "Out of the Past."

In the latter film, Mitchum narrated the picture and delivered some excellent lines such as the following response to a statement concerning the femme fatale, Kathy Moffat (Jane Greer): "She can't be all bad. No one is." To which Mitchum replied: "Well, she comes the closest." In several exchanges with Moffat, Jeff Bailey (Mitchum) scores again: "You can never help anything, can you? You're like a leaf that the wind blows from one gutter to another" or "Just get out, will you? I have to sleep in this room."

Late in his career, Mitchum was given the opportunity to revisit noirland in a visually stunning adaptation of Raymond Chandler's "Farewell, My Lovely." Mitchum treated the acting profession with contempt and disdain, preferring to spend his idle hours reading, womanizing, drinking and smoking. From his youth, Mitchum had smoked marijuana and eventually he ended up serving a prison term for doing so while in Hollywood. Mitchum survived this scandal and continued to prosper.

Server's book recounts some wonderful anecdotes about Mitchum's encounters with the reclusive studio chief Howard Hughes, the penniless bon vivant Orson Welles, John Wayne and many others. The film contains an extensive filmography and summarizes all of Mitchum's important film roles. This book is an excellent read that will be enjoyed by any serious film enthusiast and noir aficionado.

Baby I Don't Care, But You Will About This Bio
If Robert Mitchum was a favorite actor, if you're interested in Hollywood history, or larger, funnier than life true stories, or if you just like well written and superbly researched biographies,then this book is for you.

My only criticism is Lee Server leaves you wanting for more, for revealing the tantalizing crazy tales shared to him in interviews, but for concerns of privacy and libel suits, he could not disclose.

I look forward to reading his new book on Ava Gardner, even though I don't care much for Hollywood.

You'll Learn Alot About This Interesting Person
Robert Mitchum was NOT one of my favorite actors before reading this book.I didn't appreciate his films very much nor his acting ability. But, after reading the book, I learned that I was wrong.He was a great actor and he was in SOME wonderful films!Plus, the guy was a "maverick" which makes him even more interesting as a personality.This book is worth your time.You'll go back and rent some of the movies in which Mr. Mitchum appeared and enjoy them more than you would have before reading this book.Recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
Robert Mitchum's "bad boy" reputation that colors his public profile has been both earned and undeserved. Author Roberts describes the actor's career, his cult status, his under-appreciated talent, his forgotten films, and his nonchalance. This book catalogues previously published information on Mitchum, and concentrates on taking a full measure of the actor, including the events that occasionally brought him more notoriety than his movies. The book's biographical essay and annotated filmography scrutinize his performing style. The actor himself--in an interview with the author--comments on the various rumors surrounding his public persona. ... Read more

Product Description
Robert Mitchum was the original Hollywood bad-boy and one of the greatest screen actors of the twentieth century. But his pre-fame life is cloaked in mystery, the truth hidden within conflicting tales of time spent as a Depression-era hobo, prizefighter, escaped felon - and secret poet. Writer and broadcaster Lloyd Robson trailed the Eastern Seaboard in search of Mitchum, his poetry, America, a surrogate father, and how to be a man. Oh Dad! is the result - a boozy, drug-fuelled attempt to define masculinity in the modern age and to match the standards set by the ultimate man, Robert Mitchum. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Oh Dad!...Oh hell yeah
Lloyd Robson has not only turned out a masterful work, but he has created a completely new genre of writing.In Oh Dad!: A Search For Robert Mitchum, he has taken us on a journey with him in search for not only Robert Mitchum, but the search for his own illusive spirit as well.It is a marvelous vehicle for such a trip and it allows us to join in on that search so that we, his readership, look inside our own selves and confront those demons we have been avoiding.It is at once extraordinarily readable, tremendously entertaining, and thoroughly thought provoking.Five hundred odd pages and I read it in two sittings.It is impossible to put down, and you get at least double your money's worth. This is a journey that you won't soon forget, and you just might find your own father, the spirit of Mitchum of course, and Lloyd Robson.He is the real treasure here:scatalogical, a devilish sense of humor, and a spiritual quality that one doesn't come across very often.Pick this up at once.Do yourself a real favor, you'll find it truly wonderful.

a little traveling music........
A fabulous read on so many levels.An appreciation for RobertMitchum and what he meant and means.A grown man's search for himself and at the same time his search for his own father and the symbol of what a father is.A search that haunted Robert Mitchum (his own father died when he was only 2 years old) as he rode the rails of steel and Hollywood stardom.It is a search that universally haunts us all.The author's journey leads him along the trail of Mitchum's eastern seaboard youth.Robson's21st century "Travels With Charley" winds through bus stops and bars, libraries and bedrooms.A supertramp in a land where there are no longer hobos, just orphans asking questions.Robson's a Welshman, a gentleman, and gonzo rascal.He will take you on a journey you won't forget. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Them Onery Mitchum Boys
Fascinating look at one of the most legendary celebrities of our time. Robert Mitchum has always had one of the most unusual backgrounds. Getting a first hand look from the one (his brother) who shared it with him is fascinating and rare.
John Mitchum also gives us a unique look into the behind-the-scenes lives of some of Hollywood's greatest stars as well.
A totally absorbing read.

A very interesting and at times humorous book
This is one of the most interesting books that I have read in a long while. While OOP I was still able to obtain it here. It was hard to put it down once you started reading it, and at times made you laugh out loud. Anhonest and sincere story about two brothers growing up during hard times,their childhood pranks to their achievements as adults. Well worth thesearch to find it!

This is a great book! Funny, sincere, and good reading!
This is the best book that I've read in a long time!! It has humor, makes you laugh out loud, and basically a great book to read!! It is based onthe true stories about two brothers growing up. It is honest, sincere, andtruthful with no fluff added. It is hard to put it down once you havestarted reading it. The pictures are an added joy. I would rate it higherthan 5 stars. Too bad it's out of print, though I got it here. ... Read more

Product Description
Follows one of cinema's great actors from his early days in Westerns to the end of his life. Along the way, this illustrated biography reflects on how his real life echoed the nefarious characters he played. Readers will especially enjoy the "chronoMitchology" timeline, and a "Mitchabet," the A-to-Z of the actor.
... Read more