In Memoriam: CLIFF ROBERTSON (1923 - 2011)

[AaronHandy3]

Shame has headed for The Last Roundup. Courtesy of The Big Cartoon Forum:

Actor Cliff Robertson, whose brilliant performance as a mentally ******** man in 1968's Charly earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, died Saturday afternoon, a day after his 88th birthday.

Robertson died at Stony Brook University Medical Center on Long Island, said Evelyn Christel, his personal secretary of 53 years. He died of natural causes, according to his family.

He voiced the Pilot/Narrator in 1979's half-hour stop-action animation The Little Prince, co-produced by Billy Budd Films and Will Vinton Productions.

He provided an Emmy Award-winning performance in The Game, a 1965 drama on Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre.

Robertson -- one of America's foremost dramatic actors -- was the only actor to have won the Academy Award (Oscar), the Emmy Award (Best Actor, TV), and the Theater World Award (Stage), as well as the Advertising Age Award (Best T.V. Commercial). He was a true Renaissance man whose acting, writing and directing skills were applauded on TV, stage and in over 70 motion pictures.

He was personally chosen by John F. Kennedy to portray the president in the motion picture P.T. 109 -- the story of Kennedy's heroic Second World War exploits as a P.T. Boat skipper. It was followed by many award-winning performances in motion pictures, TV, and Broadway. He supplemented his big screen work with roles on television, including the lead male role in the original prize-winning Days of Wine and Roses on Playhouse 90.

Robertson showed his remarkable versatility as the star of Samuel Fuller's acclaimed Underworld U.S.A. He gave one of his finest performances in Gore Vidal's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Best Man opposite Henry Fonda. He starred in the outstanding 633 Squadron; in The Devil's Brigade, opposite William Holden; and as a modern-day Mosca opposite Rex Harrison in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's updated version of Jonson's Volpone, The Honey Pot.

Returning to films, he then starred in Too Late The Hero opposite Michael Caine, The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid opposite Robert Duvall, Three Days of the Condor opposite Robert Redford, and Obsession with Geneviève Bujold.

He also starred in, directed and wrote the acclaimed rodeo drama J.W. Coop, and directed and starred in The Pilot. Other films included Star 80, Escape From L.A., Spiderman 1 and 2 (as kindly Uncle Ben), and Stephen King's Riding the Bullet.

Robertson's brave stand against corporate corruption in Hollywood was honored by the late Congressman Morris Udall in the Congressional Record.

Born Clifford Parker Robertson III in La Jolla, California on September 9, 1923, he maintained homes in his birthplace and Water Mill, Long Island. An obdurate family man, he was close to his two daughters, Stephanie Saunders, in Charleston, South Carolina, and Heather, in New York City.

Robertson was a licensed commercial pilot. He maintained and flew a stable of classic vintage aircraft, as well as his record-setting glider. He won many aviation honors, including the Experimental Aircraft Association Award, the Soaring Society of America Award, and the A.O.P.A. William Sharples Award for Rescue Flying in Africa.

An avid sportsman -- tennis and skiing -- he appeared in many charity competitions. Although he maintained a busy schedule of after-dinner speaking engagements between his other activities, Robertson devoted much time to over fifty national charities.

Cliff Robertson's two marriages, to Cynthia Stone in 1957 and Dina Merrill in 1966, ended in divorce.

His funeral is scheduled for Friday in East Hampton.

Clifford Parker Robertson III becomes the 28th Batvillain to ride off into the sunset. And Then There Were Nine:

• Julie Newmar (Catwoman #1)
• Lee Meriwether (Catwoman #2)
• Joan Collins (The Siren)
• Zsa Zsa Gabor (Minerva)
• Glynis Johns (Lady Penelope Peasoup)
• Barbara Rush (Nora Clavicle)
• Malachi Throne (False Face)
• Eli Wallach (Mr. Freeze #3)
• John Astin (Riddler #2)

Happy Trails, Shame. To absent friends...

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by AaronHandy3

And Then There Were Nine:

• Julie Newmar (Catwoman #1)
• Lee Meriwether (Catwoman #2)
• Joan Collins (The Siren)
• Zsa Zsa Gabor (Minerva)
• Glynis Johns (Lady Penelope Peasoup)
• Barbara Rush (Nora Clavicle)
• Malachi Throne (False Face)
• Eli Wallach (Mr. Freeze #3)
• John Astin (Riddler #2)

That should be 10, you forgot Dina Merrill (Calamity Jan)