Robert Aldrich

Directing·Aug 9, 1918·Cranston, Rhode Island, USA

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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."

Film	Credit
Operation Dirty Dozen2006 · Self	Self
...All the Marbles1981 · Director	Director
The Frisco Kid1979 · Director	Director
The Choirboys1977 · Director	Director
Twilight's Last Gleaming1977 · Director	Director
Hustle1975 · Producer, Director	Producer, Director
The Longest Yard1974 · Director	Director
Emperor of the North1973 · Director	Director
Ulzana's Raid1972 · Director	Director
The Grissom Gang1971 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Too Late the Hero1970 · Director, Screenplay, Producer	Director, Screenplay, Producer
The Greatest Mother of 'em All1969 · Director	Director
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?1969 · Producer	Producer
The Killing of Sister George1968 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
The Legend of Lylah Clare1968 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
The Dirty Dozen1967 · Director	Director
Lionpower from MGM1967 · Self (uncredited)	Self (uncredited)
The Flight of the Phoenix1965 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte1964 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
4 for Texas1963 · Director, Screenplay, Producer	Director, Screenplay, Producer
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?1962 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Sodom and Gomorrah1962 · Director	Director
The Last Sunset1961 · Director	Director
The Angry Hills1959 · Director	Director
Ten Seconds to Hell1959 · Director, Screenplay, Producer	Director, Screenplay, Producer
The Garment Jungle1957 · Director	Director
The Ride Back1957 · Producer	Producer
Attack1956 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Autumn Leaves1956 · Director	Director
The Big Knife1955 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Kiss Me Deadly1955 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Vera Cruz1954 · Director	Director
Apache1954 · Director	Director
World for Ransom1954 · Director, Producer	Director, Producer
Big Leaguer1953 · Director	Director
The Big Night1951 · Ringsider at Fight	Ringsider at Fight