Robert Aldrich

Režisér, Producent, Scénárista, Herec

9. srpna 1918 — 5. prosince 1983 (65 let)
Robert Aldrich was an American film director, writer and producer, notable for such films as Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Big Knife (1955), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), The Dirty Dozen (1967).

Born in Cranston, Rhode Island, the son of Lora Lawson and newspaper publisher Edward Burgess Aldrich. He was a grandson of U.S. Senator Nelson W. Aldrich and a cousin of Nelson Rockefeller. He studied economics at the University of Virginia. In 1941, he dropped out of college for a $50-a-week job at RKO Radio Pictures. In doing so, he was also dropped by his family, losing a potential stake in Chase Bank he would have inherited. It's been said that "No American film director was born as wealthy as Aldrich—and then so thoroughly cut off from family money."

He quickly rose in film production as an assistant director, and worked with Jean Renoir, Abraham Polonsky, Robert Rossen, Joseph Losey and Charlie Chaplin as an assistant on Limelight. He became a television director in the 1950s, directing his first feature film, Big Leaguer, in 1953. During the 1950s, Aldrich directed mostly action films like Apache and Vera Cruz with Burt Lancaster. Aldrich soon gained recognition as an auteur filmmaker, depicting his liberal humanist thematic vision in many genres, in films such as Kiss Me Deadly (1955), a film noir classic, The Big Knife (1955), an adaptation of Clifford Odets's play about Hollywood business, and Attack (1956), a WWII infantry combat film exploring how U.S. Army careerism determined who attacked and who ordered the attack.

In the 1960s, he directed several commercially successful films, such as the gothic horror stories What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as spiteful sisters and faded child-actresses, Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, with Bette Davis as a Southern woman who lives in a mansion and thinks she is going insane (both Joan Crawford and Davis were to appear, but Crawford left the film); the controversial The Killing of Sister George (1968); and the hugely popular war film The Dirty Dozen (1967).

The success of The Dirty Dozen allowed him to establish his own production studio for some time, but several failures forced his return to conventionally commercial Hollywood films. Nevertheless, his humanism is evident in The Longest Yard (1974), about the rigged-game politics, and Ulzana's Raid (1972) an uncompromising film based on the real life break-out from an Indian reservation of a band led by chief Ulzana, the extreme violence and torture they exacted upon isolated pioneer families in the Arizona territory, and their pursuit by the US cavalry.

From his marriage to Harriet Foster (1941–65), Robert Aldrich had four children, all of whom work in the film business: Adell, William, Alida and Kelly. Aldrich died of kidney failure on December 5, 1983 in a Los Angeles hospital. Film critic John Patterson summarized his career in 2012: "He was a punchy, caustic, macho and pessimistic director, who depicted corruption and evil unflinchingly, and pushed limits on violence throughout his career. His aggressive and pugnacious film-making style, often crass and crude, but never less than utterly vital and alive, warrants – and will richly reward – your immediate attention."

Filmy a seriály na Plexu

  • Co se vlastně stalo s Baby Jane?
    Co se vlastně stalo s Baby Jane?1962
  • Světla ramp
    Světla ramp1952
  • Body and Soul
    Body and Soul1947
  • Apač
    Apač1954
  • Muž z Jihu
    Muž z Jihu1945
  • The Red Pony
    The Red Pony1949
  • Four Star Playhouse
    Four Star Playhouse4 řady
  • New Mexico
    New Mexico1951

Známý pro

  • Let Fénixe
    Let Fénixe1965
  • Líbej mě až k smrti
    Líbej mě až k smrti1955
  • Nejtěžší yard
    Nejtěžší yard1974
  • Sladká Charlotte
    Sladká Charlotte1964
  • Rabín a zloděj
    Rabín a zloděj1979
  • Světla ramp
    Světla ramp1952
  • Útok!
    Útok!1956
  • Vládce severní dráhy
    Vládce severní dráhy1973
  • The Big Knife
    The Big Knife1955
  • Ulzanův nájezd
    Ulzanův nájezd1972
  • Apač
    Apač1954
  • Autumn Leaves
    Autumn Leaves1956
  • Příliš pozdní hrdina
    Příliš pozdní hrdina1970
  • Twilight's Last Gleaming
    Twilight's Last Gleaming1977
  • Force of Evil
    Force of Evil1948
  • Poslední západ slunce
    Poslední západ slunce1961
  • Hustle
    Hustle1975
  • Body and Soul
    Body and Soul1947
  • The Killing of Sister George
    The Killing of Sister George1968
  • ...All the Marbles
    ...All the Marbles1981

Filmografie

1963
4 for Texas · as Screenplay
1959
Ten Seconds to Hell · as Screenplay

2023
Remembering Gene Wilder · as Self - Director, The Frisco Kid
2020
2019
2002
1963
1956
Cinépanorama · as Self

1951
The Big Night · as Ringsider At Fight

1970
Too Late the Hero · as Story
1956
The Gamma People · as Original Story
1952
The Steel Trap · as Production Supervisor
1952
Limelight · as Assistant DirectorNa Plexu
1952
The Doctor (1952) · as Written By
1951
The Prowler · as Assistant Director
1951
New Mexico · as Assistant DirectorNa Plexu
1951
M · as Assistant Director
1949
Red Light · as Second Unit First Assistant Director
1949
The Red Pony · as Assistant DirectorNa Plexu
1949
Caught · as Assistant Director
1948
Force of Evil · as Assistant Director
1948
No Minor Vices · as Assistant Director
1948
So This Is New York · as Assistant Director
1947
Body and Soul · as Assistant DirectorNa Plexu
1947
The Private Affairs of Bel Ami · as Assistant Director
1945
Pardon My Past · as Assistant Director
1945
The Southerner · as Assistant DirectorNa Plexu
1943
Gangway for Tomorrow · as Second Assistant Director
1943
Bombardier · as Second Assistant Director
1942
The Big Street · as Second Assistant Director
1942
The Falcon Takes Over · as Second Assistant Director
1942
Joan of Paris · as Second Assistant Director