Robert Aldrich

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 US 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 50aweek 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 Its been said that No American film director was born as wealthy as Aldrichand 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 Odetss play about Hollywood business and Attack 1956 a WWII infantry combat film exploring how US 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 childactresses 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 riggedgame politics and Ulzanas Raid 1972 an uncompromising film based on the real life breakout 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 194165 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 filmmaking style often crass and crude but never less than utterly vital and alive warrants and will richly reward your immediate attention