Robert Aldrich

Regie, Produzent, Autor, Darsteller

9. August 1918 — 5. Dezember 1983 (65 Jahre)
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."

Filme & Serien auf plex.tv

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    Rampenlicht1952
  • Jagd nach Millionen
    Jagd nach Millionen1947
  • Massai
    Massai1954
  • Der Mann aus dem Süden
    Der Mann aus dem Süden1945
  • Gabilan, mein bester Freund
    Gabilan, mein bester Freund1949
  • Four Star Playhouse
    Four Star Playhouse4 Staffeln
  • Der Todesfelsen von Colorado
    Der Todesfelsen von Colorado1951

Bekannt aus

  • Der Flug des Phönix
    Der Flug des Phönix1965
  • Rattennest
    Rattennest1955
  • Die Kampfmaschine
    Die Kampfmaschine1974
  • Wiegenlied für eine Leiche
    Wiegenlied für eine Leiche1964
  • Ein Rabbi im Wilden Westen
    Ein Rabbi im Wilden Westen1979
  • Rampenlicht
    Rampenlicht1952
  • Ardennen 1944
    Ardennen 19441956
  • Ein Zug für zwei Halunken
    Ein Zug für zwei Halunken1973
  • Hollywood-Story
    Hollywood-Story1955
  • Keine Gnade für Ulzana
    Keine Gnade für Ulzana1972
  • Massai
    Massai1954
  • Herbststürme
    Herbststürme1956
  • Zu spät für Helden
    Zu spät für Helden1970
  • Die Macht des Bösen
    Die Macht des Bösen1948
  • El Perdido
    El Perdido1961
  • Das Ultimatum
    Das Ultimatum1977
  • Straßen der Nacht
    Straßen der Nacht1975
  • Jagd nach Millionen
    Jagd nach Millionen1947
  • Das Doppelleben der Sister George
    Das Doppelleben der Sister George1968
  • Kesse Bienen auf der Matte
    Kesse Bienen auf der Matte1981

Filmography

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