“ROBERT WALKER: OLD HOLLYWOOD'S TRAGIC BOY NEXT DOOR” (#030)

From Beneath the Hollywood Sign

EPISODE 30 - “Robert Walker: Old Hollywood’s Tragic Boy Next Door” - 04/08/2024

No one played sensitive, lost souls quite like ROBERT WALKER. However, he is best known for playing one of the most complicated, psychopaths in film history, Bruno Antony in ALFRED HITCHCOCK’s masterpiece “Strangers On A Train” (1951). His journey from playing sensitive innocents to playing Bruno is reflective of his troubled, turbulent life, and the heartbreak from which he never recovered. This week, we’ll discuss the artistry and the tragedy of this incredible actor.

SHOW NOTES:

Sources:

Star-Crossed: The Story of Robert Walker and Jennifer Jones (1986), by Beverly Linet;

Portrait of Jennifer (1995), by Edward Z. Epstein;

Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick (1992), by David Thomson;

Hollywood On The Couch: A Candid Look at the Overheated Love Affair Between Psychiatrists and Moviemakers (1993), by Marc Green and Stephen Farber;

“Biography of Robert Walker,” April 1951, Paramount Pictures;

“I Know Myself Now”, by Marva Anderson, July 1950, Movieland Magazine;

“Actor Walker Dies After Drug Dosage,” August 3, 1951, by Gladwin Hill, New York Times;

“Robert Walker: A Great Star Lost,” August 15, 1999, by David Thomson, The Independent On Sunday (London);

“An Affair to Forget?” March 1998, by Nick Clooney, American Movie Classics Magazine;

“Utahn’s Rising Career in Films Came to a Sudden Tragic End,” July 23, 1999, by E. Hunter Hale, Deseret News;

“Robert Walker, Jr. ‘Star Trek’ Actor and Son of Superstars, Dies at 79,” December 6, 2019, The Hollywood Reporter;

IMDBPro.com;

Wikipedia.com;

Movies Mentioned:

Strangers On A Train (1951), starring Robert Walker, Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll, Pat Hitchcock, and Kasey Rogers;

New Frontier (1939), starring John Wayne and Phylis Isley (Jennifer Jones);

Dick Tracy’s G-Men (1939), starring Ralph Byrd and Phylis Isley (Jennifer Jones);

Winter Carnival (1939), starring Ann Sheridan, Richard Carlson, and Helen Parrish;

These Glamour Girls (1939), starring Lana Turner, Lew Ayres, Marsha Hunt, Ann Rutherford, Mary Beth Hughes, Richard Carlson, and Jane Bryan;

Dancing Co-Eds (1939) staring Lana Turner, Richard Carlson, Ann Rutherford, Lee Bowman, and Artie Shaw;

The Song of Bernadette (1943), starring Jennifer Jones, Charles Bickford, Vincent Price, Anne Revere, William Eythe, Lee J. Cobb, and Gladys Cooper;

Bataan (1943), Staring Robert Taylor, George Murphy, Thomas Mitchell, Desi Arnaz, and Robert Walker;

Madame Curie (1943), starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Henry Travers, and Robert Walker;

See Here Private Hargrove (1944), staring Robert Walker and Donna Reed;

Since You Went Away (1945), starring Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Shirley Temple, Joseph Cotten, and Robert Walker;

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), starring Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, and Robert Walker;

The Clock (1945), starring Judy Garland and Robert Walker;

Her Highness and the Bell Boy (1945), starring June Allyson, Hedy Lamarr, and Robert Walker;

The Sailor Takes A Wife (1945), starring June Allyson and Robert Walker;

Til The Clouds Roll By (1946); Robert Walker, June Allyson, Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Van Heflin, Van Johnson, Lucille Bremer, Cyd Charisse, and Angela Lansbury;

One Touch of Venus (1948), starring Robert Walker, Ava Gardner, Tom Conway, and Eve Arden;

Please Believe Me (1950), starring Deborah Kerr, Robert Walker, Peter Lawford, and Mark Stevens;

The Skipper Surprises His Wife (1950), starring Robert Walker and Joan Leslie;

Vengeance Valley (1951), starring Burt Lancaster, Joanne Dru, and Robert Walker;

My Son John (1952), staring Helen Hayes, Robert Walker, and Van Heflin;

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