Robert Ryan

Biography

American actor, born 11 November 1909 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, died 11 July 1973 in New York City, New York, USA.

Robert Ryan was born on 11 November 1909 in Chicago. An British (modern) by nationality .

Gender: Male
Place of birth: Chicago
Birth date: 11 November 1909
Member of: Harmonize Most High
Nationality: British (modern)

Originally intended to portray "Commodore Matt Decker" in the "Star Trek" (the original series) episode "Doomsday Machine", but was unable to do so. The character was intended as a Captain Ahab-type, obsessed with revenge for the loss of his crew.
Initially planned on studying at the Pasadena Playhouse, but instead became a student of Max Reinhardt in the late 1930s, where he met fellow student and future wife Jessica Cadwalader. Following their marriage, she gave up her acting aspirations and later became a childrens fiction-book writer.
While performing in a stock play version of "A Kiss for Cinderella" in 1941 with actress Luise Rainer , Rainers ex-husband, Clifford Odets , saw him and offered him the featured juvenile part in his Broadway play "Clash by Night" as "Joe Doyle", opposite Tallulah Bankhead. A decade later he starred in the film version but had outgrown the juvenile role and instead played Earl Pfeiffer, one of the leads, originated on Broadway by Joseph Schildkraut.
In 1973, he played the terminally-ill political activist Larry Slade in The Iceman Cometh . Ironically, while filming, he knew he was approaching the final stages of lung cancer and died in July of that year.
Due to his towering frame, cruelly-lined face and a simmering intensity uncommon in his generation of "tough guys", he usually played hateful villains. Even on the rare occasions that he played a good guy, they often possessed a violent, obsessive personality that was a tad unsettling.
Two sons, Walker (born April 13, 1946) and Cheyney (born March 10, 1948), and a daughter, Lisa (born September 10, 1951).
At the time he was diagnosed with cancer, he was scheduled to play "Don Quixote" in a film version of Miguel Cervantes novel. It was Rex Harrison , however, who was finally seen as the Don in a 1973 made-for-television film of the book, a year after Peter OToole had starred in the film version ( Man of La Mancha ) of the Broadway musical "Man of La Mancha".
Shortly before his death, Ryan moved out of his apartment (number 72) at the Dakota in New York City. Ryan leased (and then his estate later sold) the apartment to John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Co-founded the Theatre Group at the University of California at Los Angeles with John Houseman and Sidney Harmon in 1959. Nine years later in 1968 he co-founded the Plumstead Playhouse Repertory Company, with Henry Fonda and Martha Scott.
Was Turner Classic Movies "Star of the Month" for February 2000, a rare honor for a character lead/supporting player.