A former college boxing champion at Dartmouth University who found work as a ship stoker and ranch hand before breaking into acting, Robert Ryan was born in Chicago on Nov. 11, 1909, and made his film debut in Golden Gloves (1940).But his career didn't really take off until he returned from serving as a Marine in World War II, first earning an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of an anti-Semitic killer in Crossfire (1947), then playing an aging boxer in The Set-Up (1949) and a conflicted cop in On Dangerous Ground (1952).
The 1960s found Ryan appearing in a string of all-star war films, including The Longest Day (1962), Battle of the Bulge (1965) and The Dirty Dozen (1967), as well as classic Westerns such as Richard Brooks's The Professionals (1966) and Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969). He died on July 11, 1973, at the age of 63.
Bad Day at Black RockWhen John J. Macreedy (Spencer Tracy) steps off the train at the backwater hamlet of Black Rock, he inadvertently opens a Pandora's box of fear and suspicion. He's there to deliver a military award for heroism to a man whose son died earning the medal in World War II. But the town harbors an ugly... Read More
Flying LeathernecksThey've gotta hate you to love you! John Wayne is a Marine fighter-pilot officer who earns the enmity of his men via his obsession with downing Japanese flyboys in World War II. Actual combat footage is interspersed in the film, which also follows Wayne's comrades as they fight their personal... Read More
Executive ActionBased on the novel Rush to Judgment, this chilling drama purports that JFK's assassination was a conspiracy concocted by military and industrial leaders. Burt Lancaster, Will Geer and Robert Ryan star as the three right-wing architects of the scheme. Viewing Kennedy's policies as a threat to... Read More
On Dangerous GroundA jaded, bitter detective (Robert Ryan) is on the hunt for a killer, following a trail from the grimy city streets to the snow-blanketed countryside. In an odd psychological twist, he meets the killer's sister, a sweet blind woman (Ida Lupino) who takes care of her brother and wants his life spared.... Read More
The RacketScheming to put a crooked district attorney on the bench, a big-time crime syndicate moves into town and installs resident underworld boss Nick Scanlon (Robert Ryan) as its front man -- but standing in the mob's way is incorruptible cop Thomas McQuigg (Robert Mitchum). When the hotheaded Scanlon's... Read More
Executive Action (1973) | PG | |
Lawman (1970) | PG | |
R | ||
PG-13 | ||
UR | ||
NR | ||
Hour of the Gun (1967) | NR | |
The Busy Body (1967) | NR | |
G | ||
The Professionals (1966) | PG-13 | |
Battle of the Bulge (1965) | NR | |
The Longest Day (1962) | G | |
Billy Budd (1962) | NR | |
King of Kings (1961) | NR | |
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) | NR | |
Day of the Outlaw (1959) | NR | |
Lonelyhearts (1958) | NR | |
God's Little Acre (1958) | NR | |
Men in War (1957) | NR | |
Zane Grey Theatre: Season 1 (1956) | NR | |
The Proud Ones (1956) | NR | |
House of Bamboo (1955) | NR | |
NR | ||
About Mrs. Leslie (1954) | NR | |
Alaska Seas (1954) | NR | |
Bad Day at Black Rock (1954) | NR | |
The Naked Spur (1953) | NR | |
NR | ||
Clash by Night (1952) | NR | |
On Dangerous Ground (1952) | NR | |
Best of the Badmen (1951) | TV-PG | |
Flying Leathernecks (1951) | NR | |
The Racket (1951) | NR | |
Caught (1949) | NR | |
The Set-Up (1949) | NR | |
The Boy with Green Hair (1948) | NR | |
Return of the Bad Men (1948) | TV-PG | |
NR | ||
Crossfire (1947) | NR | |
