Known for Acting
John Newman Mitchum was the September child of a Norwegian mother and an Irish/Blackfoot father whom he never knew, as he was killed in a tragic train yard accident in 1919. His two-years-older brother Robert filled the role as best as he could, while their older sister Annette studied the lively arts and eventually joined a traveling vaudeville team. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the young family moved to Rising Sun, Delaware, where farm life didn't agree with the young boys. Scarce opportunities took them to New York City, where the streets of Hell's kitchen taught the brothers to fight, a skill they developed so well they earned the moniker 'them ornery Mitchum boys'. Eventually, when the Great Depression deepened, the family was forced to separate with the intention of meeting up with sister Annette, who had married a sailor and moved to California, changing her name to Julie. The teenage boys set out with little more than clean handkerchiefs to find their way across the country by the only means they could: hitchhiking and riding the rails. Their somewhat aimless journey took them to places they had never been; where their Eastern accents were not welcome, so they quickly learned that accurately mimicking the local dialect would keep them out of trouble--some of the time! While brother Robert fairly quickly discovered his place in Hollywood legend, John sought his destiny on the high seas, professionally boxing, or conducting a choir. When the opportunity for acting came along John found his perfect niche as a character actor, mostly playing heavies since he was an imposing figure of a man. John's roles had him playing alongside a wide range of celebrities, from Humphrey Bogart in "Knock On Any Door" (1949) to Gladys Knight in "Pipe Dreams" (1976), Clint Eastwood of "Dirty Harry" (1971) to John Wayne in "Chisum" (1970), appearing in 58 films overall. It was during production of "Chisum" that John Wayne offered his voice for an anthology of John's poetry that seeks to uplift US culture, "America, Why I Love Her", a recording for which Mitchum was nominated for a Grammy in 1973. John was a consummate storyteller (as was his brother Robert), and with his fascination with US history in particular he was ever-ready to regale anyone with a thoughtful, interesting, and insightful anecdote, especially if a guitar was available. It was the wedding of music and history that brought him to create the recording "Our Land, Our Heritage" with Dan Blocker; big "Hoss" from "Bonanza", in 1964. Mitchum had some recurring roles throughout his television career; such as "Pickalong" from "Riverboat", or "Hoffenmueller" from "F-Troop", over 150 appearances in all during the span of a half-century career. The brothers Mitchum legacy has been well-preserved in his often hilarious autobiography, "Them Ornery Mitchum Boys", published in 1989. The subjects range from brother Robert escaping a Georgia chain-gang to his "poontang" interview; from John surviving an attacking whale on a three-masted schooner to his adventures riding the rails, developing a great love and respect for the people of the United States.
Born
September 6, 1919
Died
November 29, 2001 (age 82)
Birthplace
Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA
Filmography
58 films, 44 shows


Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast
2019 · 1h 37m
country: United States
In the late 1990s, iconic photographer Bruce Weber barely managed to convince legendary actor Robert Mitchum (1917-97) to let himself be filmed simply hanging out with friends, telling anecdotes from his life and recording jazz standards.


Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
1991 · 59m
country: United States
A retrospective on the career of Robert Mitchum through interviews with friends and co-workers, scenes from his films and the actor himself.


A Family for Joe
1990 · 1h 40m
country: Unknown
To keep from being separated, four orphans get a homeless maverick to pose as their guardian.


Hoodwinked
1989 · 2h
country: United States
Burnt-out private dick Jacob Aloysius Spanner teams up with his brother to help an old adversary track down his one remaining loved one, his kidnapped granddaughter. But who's the hood and who's being hoodwinked?


The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains
1987 · 1h 55m
country: Unknown
The true story of Robert Elliot Burns, the prisoner who, after being sentenced to a Georgia chain gang, attempted two daring escapes.


Escapes
1986 · 1h 12m
country: United States
An anthology of six tales of terror, each originally produced for video. The titles are "Hobgoblin Bridge," "Something's Fishy," "Coffee Break," "Who's There," "Jonah's Dream," and "Think Twice." "Hobgoblin Bridge" had been cut from some early VHS copies.


Where's Willie?
1978 · 1h 37m
country: United States
An 8-year old boy invents a hand-held computer which can control any electronic device, and uses it to affect the entire town where he lives.


Telefon
1977 · 1h 42m
country: United States
Nicolai Dalchimski, a mad KGB agent steals a notebook full of names of "sleeping" undercover KGB agents sent to the U.S. in the 1950's. These agents got their assignments under hypnosis, so they can't remember their missions until they're told a line of a Robert Frost poem. Dalchimski flees to the U.S. and starts phoning these agents who perform sabotage acts against military targets.


The Enforcer
1976 · 1h 36m
country: United States
Dirty Harry Callahan returns again, this time saddled with a rookie female partner. Together, they must stop a terrorist group consisting of angry Vietnam veterans.


The Outlaw Josey Wales
1976 · 2h 15m
country: United States
After avenging his family's brutal murder, Wales is pursued by a pack of soldiers. He prefers to travel alone, but ragtag outcasts are drawn to him - and Wales can't bring himself to leave them unprotected.


Crackle of Death
1976 · 1h 32m
country: Unknown
The first of two Kolchak: The Night Stalker compilation TV films. It combines two episodes of the Kolchak TV series, Firefall (about the ghost of an arsonist that tries to take over a renowned conductor's body as his doppelgänger) and The Energy Eater (about a Native American bear-spirit haunting a newly built hospital) and adds new narration by Darren McGavin.


Breakheart Pass
1975 · 1h 35m
country: United States
At the height of the frontier era, a train races through the Rocky Mountains on a classified mission to a remote army post. But one by one the passengers are being murdered, and their only hope is the mysterious John Deakin, who's being transported to face trial for murder.


The Hanged Man
1974 · 1h 13m
country: United States
A gunfighter who survives his own hanging helps a young widow who is trying to keep a ruthless land baron from taking her ranch.


Magnum Force
1973 · 2h 4m
country: United States
"Dirty" Harry Callahan is a San Francisco Police Inspector on the trail of a group of rogue cops who have taken justice into their own hands. When shady characters are murdered one after another in grisly fashion, only Dirty Harry can stop them.


High Plains Drifter
1973 · 1h 46m
country: United States
A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tried to kill him, the townsfolk decide to hire the Stranger to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.


Savage!
1973 · 1h 13m
country: United States
A television reporter uncovers a compromising photograph of a Supreme Court nominee, only for the woman in the picture to die under mysterious circumstances. As he investigates, he’s drawn into a web of political intrigue and media manipulation. Originally conceived as a TV series pilot, the 1973 thriller aired as a standalone film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Martin Landau.


Bloody Trail
1972 · 1h 31m
country: United States
A Union soldier travels through the South right after the Civil War ends, and runs up against angry ex-slaves, murderous former Confederates and desperate women.


Dirty Harry
1971 · 1h 42m
country: United States
When a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan – famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law enforcement – is tasked with hunting down the psychopath.


Chandler
1971 · 1h 25m
country: United States
A private eye is hired to follow a mobster's former mistress.


Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate
1971 · 1h 13m
country: United States
Four elderly ladies with a lot of time on their hands get the idea to create a fictional "girl" for a computer dating service. However, things take a turn for the worse when their description of the "girl" attracts a psychopath.


One More Train to Rob
1971 · 1h 48m
country: United States
Harker Flet and compatriots Timothy X. Nolan and Katy, along with three other men, steal $40,000 in money and jewelry from a California train in the gold-mining country of the 1880's. The six split up and while they are hiding out awaiting the rendezvous to divide the loot, Hark is cornered, framed and sent to prison. He is released after two-and-a-half years and sets out to find Katy and Nolan and get his share of the loot.


Bigfoot
1970 · 1h 24m
country: United States
Bigfoot kidnaps some women and some bikers decide to go on a rescue mission to save them.


Chisum
1970 · 1h 51m
country: United States
Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County Land War in the New Mexico Territory of 1878.


Paint Your Wagon
1969 · 2h 44m
country: United States
A Michigan farmer and a prospector form a partnership in the California gold country. Their adventures include buying and sharing a wife, hijacking a stage, kidnapping six prostitutes, and turning their mining camp into a boom town. Along the way there is plenty of drinking, gambling, and singing. They even find time to do some creative gold mining.


Bandolero!
1968 · 1h 46m
country: United States
Posing as a hangman, Mace Bishop arrives in town with the intention of freeing a gang of outlaws, including his brother, from the gallows. Mace urges his younger brother to give up crime. The sheriff chases the brothers to Mexico. They join forces, however, against a group of Mexican bandits.


The Way West
1967 · 2h 2m
country: United States
In the mid-19th century, Senator William J. Tadlock leads a group of settlers overland in a quest to start a new settlement in the Western US. Tadlock is a highly principled and demanding taskmaster who is as hard on himself as he is on those who have joined his wagon train. He clashes with one of the new settlers, Lije Evans, who doesn't quite appreciate Tadlock's ways. Along the way, the families must face death and heartbreak and a sampling of frontier justice when one of them accidentally kills a young Indian boy.


Warning Shot
1967 · 1h 40m
country: United States
Hounded by the press for shooting a doctor, an ousted Los Angeles policeman works his own case.


El Dorado
1966 · 2h 6m
country: United States
Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Harrah. Together with a fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.


The Plainsman
1966 · 1h 32m
country: United States
Calamity Jane tries to help Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickock stop an Indian war.


Brainstorm
1965 · 1h 45m
country: United States
Scientist Jim Grayam saves his boss' wife from suicide but then falls in love with her.


My Fair Lady
1964 · 2h 53m
country: United States
A snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.


Cattle King
1963 · 1h 28m
country: United States
A rich landowner of Wyoming fights to prevent the Texas herds from trampling his rich meadows.


Hitler
1962 · 1h 47m
country: United States
Richard Basehart stars as one of the most influential and one of the most reviled men in history in this probing psychological study of a man who nearly gained dominance over the entire western world--at the cost of millions of lives--Hitler.


Battle Flame
1959 · 1h 18m
country: United States
The trials and tribulations of a platoon of U.S. Marines, led by 1st Lt. Frank Davis, during the Korean War.


The Gunfight at Dodge City
1959 · 1h 21m
country: United States
Fleeing to Dodge City after killing a man in self defence Masterson finds his brother Ed (Harry Lauter) running for sheriff of the town. When Ed is killed by hired guns of the corrupt incumbent Bat is determined to settle the score with violence but he is convinced by the townspeople that the best way to avenge his brother's death is by taking Ed's place on the ballot. Bat agrees and wins the election but his new role on the right side of the law will lead him to unexpected confrontations as he finds himself torn between his loyalties to his friends and his duties as sheriff.


Guns Girls and Gangsters
1959 · 1h 10m
country: United States
Chuck Wheeler gets out of the Pen and sets up an elaborate heist of Vegas casino money travelling by armored truck. He enlists the help of shady club owner Joe Darren and his ex-cellmate's wife, Vi. Vi's husband Mike is a trigger happy and jealous hothead and will not grant her a divorce. Mike escapes from prison right before the armored truck job goes into motion and promises trouble as he tries to locate his associates and his wandering wife.


Johnny Rocco
1958 · 1h 24m
country: United States
Gangster and police look for a gangster's son who witnessed a murder.


The Bonnie Parker Story
1958 · 1h 19m
country: United States
In the 1930s, amoral blonde tommy-gun girl Bonnie Parker cut a swath of bodies across the South-West. Starting out on gas stations and bars with side-kick Guy Darrow she graduated to bank hold-ups with Darrow's brother and, after bloodily springing him, her jailed husband. But there was never any doubt who was in charge.


Cole Younger, Gunfighter
1958 · 1h 18m
country: United States
An outlaw must decide whether to stick his neck out for an innocent man.


Up In Smoke
1957 · 1h 1m
country: United States
In order to be able to get the names of winning horses at the track, Sach agrees to sell his soul to the devil.


The Tall Stranger
1957 · 1h 23m
country: United States
A Union soldier returns to his western home at the end of the Civil War and finds himself caught in the middle of a land war between his greedy half-brother and a wagon train of Confederate homesteaders.


Ride Out for Revenge
1957 · 1h 18m
country: United States
When an Indian chief is murdered in a hateful town, a sympathizing ex marshal tries to stop the Indians from attacking for revenge.


Death in Small Doses
1957 · 1h 19m
country: United States
A government agent investigates the use of illegal amphetamines among long-haul truck drivers.


Operation Mad Ball
1957 · 1h 45m
country: United States
In this wacky military spoof, Lemmon plays a terminally bored Army private waging a war of wits as he tries to throw a party under the nose of his obnoxious commanding officer.


5 Steps to Danger
1956 · 1h 21m
country: United States
Can a couple keep important secrets from Communist spies?


The Man Is Armed
1956 · 1h 10m
country: United States
Crime drama in which a man unknowingly helps a gang pull off a big heist. The gang discovers that the man is more trouble than he is worth and as a result, things don't go as smoothly as planned.


Nightmare
1956 · 1h 29m
country: United States
Clarinetist Stan has a nightmare about killing a man in a mirrored room. But when he wakes up and finds blood marks on himself and a key from the dream, he suspects that it may have truly happened.


Perils of the Wilderness
1956 · 4h 18m
country: United States
In the 56th (and next-to-last serial) made by Columbia Pictures, Montana Deputy Dan Lawson, posing as an outlaw called Laramie, goes to the Canadian northwest on the trail of Bart Randall who is wanted for murder and bank robbery in the states. In Canada, Randall is a little more upscale and uses a hydra-plane and a fake totem to over-awe the Indians. Laramie is aided in his search by RCMP Sergeant Gray and by Donna Blane, who is suspected at first of giving information to Randall, but who is actually a Canadian secret agent investigating Randall's gun-trading with the Indians.


The Lusty Men
1952 · 1h 53m
country: United States
Retired rodeo champion Jeff McCloud agrees to mentor novice rodeo contestant Wes Merritt against the wishes of Merritt's wife who fears the dangers of this rough sport.


The Pace That Thrills
1952 · 1h 3m
country: Unknown
Chills and spills in the fast-paced world of motorcycle racing.


Submarine Command
1951 · 1h 27m
country: United States
Submarine commander Ken White is forced to suddenly submerge, leaving his captain and another crew member to die outside the sub during WW II. Subsequent years of meaningless navy ground assignments and the animosity of a former sailor, leave White (now a captain) feeling guilty and empty. His life spirals downward and his wife is about to leave him. Suddenly, he is forced into a dangerous rescue situation at the start of the Koren War.... reassigned to the same submarine where all of his problems began.


Flying Leathernecks
1951 · 1h 42m
country: United States
Major Daniel Kirby takes command of a squadron of Marine fliers just before they are about to go into combat. While the men are well meaning, he finds them undisciplined and prone to always finding excuses to do what is easy rather than what is necessary. The root of the problem is the second in command, Capt. Carl 'Griff' Griffin. Griff is the best flier in the group but Kirby finds him a poor commander who is not prepared to make the difficult decision that all commanders have to make - to put men in harm's way knowing that they may be killed.


Born to Be Bad
1950 · 1h 34m
country: United States
Christabel Caine has the face of angel and the heart of a swamp rat. She'll step on anyone to get what she wants, including her own family. A master of manipulation, she covertly breaks off the engagement of her trusting cousin, Donna, to her fabulously wealthy beau, Curtis Carey. Once married to Curtis herself, Christabel continues her affair with novelist Nick Bradley, who knows she's evil, but loves her anyway.


In a Lonely Place
1950 · 1h 33m
country: United States
A violent screenwriter and a female neighbor fall in love after she clears him of murder, but she begins to have second thoughts.


The Devil's Sleep
1949 · 1h 19m
country: United States
Innocent youth trapped in a hopped-up hell.


Knock on Any Door
1949 · 1h 40m
country: United States
An attorney defends a hoodlum of murder, using the oppressiveness of the slums to appeal to the court.


Shed No Tears
1948 · 1h 10m
country: United States
A man listens to his wife and fakes his own death so that she can get her hands on his insurance policy.


The Prairie
1947 · 1h 5m
country: United States
The Prairie is set at the time of the Louisiana Purchase. Hoping to find their destiny in the new territory, the Bush Family heads southward in a covered wagon. Sharing the family's numerous dangers and hardships are Ellen Wade (Lenore Aubert), sole survivor of an Indian attack, and army mapmaker Paul Hover (Alan Baxter). Cousins Abiram (Russ Vincent) and Asa (Jack Mitchum) duke it out over Ellen's affections