Robert Young

Biography for Robert Young

Quiet, soft-spoken Robert grew up in California and had some stage experience with the Pasadena Playhouse before entering films in 1931. His movie career consisted of playing characters who were charming, good-looking--and bland. In fact, his screen image was such that he usually never got the girl. Louis B. Mayer would say, "He has no sex appeal," but he had a work ethic that prepared him for every role that he played. And he did play in as many as eleven films per year for a decade starting with The Black Camel (1931). He was notable as the spy in Alfred Hitchcock's Secret Agent (1936), but the '40s was the decade in which he was to have most of his best roles. These included Northwest Passage (1940); Western Union (1941); and H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941). Good roles followed, from the husband of Dorothy McGuirein Claudia (1943) to the detective in Crossfire (1947), but they were becoming scarce. In 1949, Robert started a radio show called "Father Knows Best" wherein he played Jim Anderson, an average father with average situations--a role which was tailor-made for him. Basically retiring from films, he starred in this program for five years on radio before it went to television in 1954. After a slight falter in the ratings and a switch from CBS to NBC, it became a mainstay of television until it was canceled in 1960. He continued making guest appearances on various television shows and working in television movies. In 1969, he starred as Dr. Marcus Welby in the TV movie Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969) (TV). The Marcus Welby series that followed ran from 1969 through 1976 and featured James Brolin as his assistant, Dr. Steven Kiley--the doc with the bike. After the series ended, Robert, now in his seventies, finally licked his 30-year battle with alcohol and occasionally appeared in television movies through the 1980s.

After brief beginnings in the theater, Robert Young was hired by the Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer studio in 1930. With a beautiful physique, he initially interpreted the roles of young first. He is then the honest husband or the nice father in many films from the 1930s. In the 1940s, he expanded his register by interpreting more varied roles: comedies, police or romantic films and westerns. Robert Young is in a very large number of films (he runs up to eleven per year) the character who embodies kindness and good manners. With a few exceptions (after us the deluge (1933) of Howard Hawks, the pioneers of the Western Union (1941) by Fritz Lang), he did not know any important success during his film career. He guides his career towards television In 1954. His role in the series Doctor Marcus Welby earned him to be famous in many countries.

Robert Young was an American actor known for his roles in many television and films series. He was born on February 22, 1907 in Chicago, Illinois, and died on July 21, 1998 in Westlake Village, California.

Young began his acting career in the 1930s, appearing in several theatrical films and productions. His career was a great success in the 1940s and 1950s, with roles in films such as "The Canterville Ghost" and "The Enchanted Cottage".

He became famous for his role as Jim Anderson in the television series "Father Knows Best", which was broadcast from 1954 to 1960. In this series, Young embodied a model, loving and attentive family, whose adventures and Daily challenges with his wife and three children were followed by millions of viewers.

After the end of "Father Knows Best", Young continued to play in other television series, notably "Marcus Welby, M.D." in the 1970s. He also appeared in films such as "Crossfire" and " So big ”.

In addition to his acting career, Young was also a producer and a talented director. He produced several episodes of "Father Knows Best" and also directed episodes of "Marcus Welby, M.D." and other television series.

In summary, Robert Young was a prolific and talented actor, known for his roles in popular television series from the 1950s and 1960s. His career lasted more than five decades and he continued to work until his death in 1998, at the age of 91.

Photos

Filmography

Trivia

• Interred at Forest Lawn (Glendale), Glendale, California, USA, in the Graceland section, lot #5905.
• Originating his "Father Knows Best" (1954) role on radio, he was the only member of the radio cast to transfer his role to TV.
• Jim Anderson, Young's character on "Father Knows Best" (1954), was ranked #6 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" [20 June 2004 issue].
• Following his sobriety, he was once chosen Honorary Chairman of National Health Week.
• Sold Sanka coffee on TV for 5 years.
• Had a nervous breakdown in 1966 and it took him nearly 4 years to recover.
• In later years, Robert and Elizabeth lived in a house in Westlake Village, California called "The Enchanted Cottage," named after the 1945 film in which he starred with Dorothy McGuire.
• Attempted suicide in 1991 as a result of a chemical imbalance and while battling Alzheimer's disease and heart problems.
• His patented shyness and painful insecurity turned his social drinking into a chronic alcohol problem during his MGM years that lasted nearly three decades. He recovered with the aid and encouragement of his wife Elizabeth and through spiritual metaphysics (Science of Mind), not to mention Alcoholics Anonymous. He often held AA meetings in his home.
• Took a seven year sabbatical from TV in 1962 following the failure of his second TV series "Window on Main Street" (1961). Triumphantly returned in 1969 as "Marcus Welby, M.D." (1969).
• Did not renew his MGM contact after filming The Canterville Ghost (1944) and chose to free-lance instead. After a great start in post-war pictures, his film career declined rapidly and he wisely moved to radio in 1949 and eventually TV.
• Was a favorite co-star among Tinseltown's biggest female stars, including Margaret Sullavan, Joan Crawford, Janet Gaynor, Loretta Young, Norma Shearer Katharine Hepburn and Claudette Colbert, primarily because his acting was always reliable, complimentary and professional...plus the fact that he never tried to steal the spotlight.
• Was employed as a bank clerk and a reporter during his fledgling actor days and even found extra work in Keystone Cops movies.
• MGM talent agents spotted him in a 1931 touring stage production of "The Ship" and signed him up.
• Living in Los Angeles by the age of 10, he attended Lincoln High School in Santa Monica, where he met his future wife Elizabeth. It was she who prodded the shy guy into trying acting at the Pasadena Community Playhouse after graduation.
• His Irish Protestant carpenter father abandoned the family when Robert was 10 years old. He was a newspaper boy during this time in order to help the family income.
• Was the fourth of five children born to Thomas and Margaret (Fyfe) Young. His family moved from his native Chicago to Seattle, Washington, when he was less than a year old.

Quotes

"All those years at MGM I hid a black terror behind a cheerful face."

"I was an introvert in an extrovert profession."

"I really owe my first big opportunity to Irving Thalberg's technique of remaking pictures to his satisfaction. I was hired for a bit part as Helen Hayes' son in The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and, after shooting was completed, Thalberg kept adding scenes and reshooting so that, by accident my bit part became a significant role."

"Films were already changing into what they are today when I became 'available' in 1962. The kind of role I was supposedly best suited for -- light romantic comedy leads -- no longer existed. There wasn't a place for me. Feature films, you might say, passed me by." RY, when asked why he returned to TV in the late 1960s.

Family

• Spouse : Elizabeth Louise Henderson (1933 - 4 April 1994) (her death) 4 children
• He has four daughters: Betty Lou Gleason, Carol Proffitt, Barbara Beebe, and Kathy Young. He has six grandchildren.
• Older brother of actor Roger Moore (no relation to the popular British actor who is a former James Bond).

Author of the card

• Creation date: 27/12/2007 by Scottie