Robert Aldrich was born in
Cranston, Rhode Island on August 9, 1918. He entered the film industry sometime in 1941 as a
production clerk at
RKO Pictures. Aldrich pursued his way up to
script clerk,
assistant director,
production manager, and then
associate producer. Aldrich's most notable accomplishments before his own directing career took off was acting as the assistant director for both
Charlie Chaplin and
Renoir.
The 1950's brought about Aldrich's first opportunity to direct a feature, "
Big Leaguer". He went on to direct such classics as "
Kiss Me Deadly", "
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", "
The Dirty Dozen" and "
All the Marbles". Earnings from "The Dirty Dozen" allowed Aldrich to purchase an entire studio which he named
Associates & Aldrich, but he was never able to make it a successful venture.
Other interesting tidbits about the director includes his presidential term at the
Director's Guild of America (1975 - 1979), that his uncle was
John D. Rockefeller, and as a result, Aldrich was a cousin to the former New York governor and Vice President
Nelson D. Rockefeller, as well as a cousin of the former US Vice President (1974-77) and governor of New York (1959-73)
Nelson A. (A = Aldrich) Rockefeller.
Robert Aldrich died on December 5, 1983 at the age of sixty-five from
kidney failure.
"A director is a
ringmaster, a
psychiatrist and a
referee."
- Robert Aldrich
The following is Robert Aldrich's directing filmography.
Big Leaguer (1953)
World for Ransom (1954)
Apache (1954)
Vera Cruz (1954)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955) -
Mickey Spillane
The Big Knife (1955)
Autumn Leaves (1956)
Attack (1956)
The Garment Jungle (1957) (uncredited)
The Angry Hills (1959)
The Phoenix (1959)
The Last Sunset (1961)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah (1962)
4 for Texas (1963)
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968)
The Killing of Sister George (1968)
The Grissom Gang (1971)
Ulzana's Raid (1972)
Emperor of the North Pole (1973)
The Longest Yard (1974)
Hustle (1975)
Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)
The Choirboys (1977)
The Frisco Kid (1979)
All the Marbles (1981)