Robert Walker

Fresh-faced actor who carved a niche as a wholesome lead in several MGM productions, notably "Bataan" (1939, his debut) and, opposite Judy Garland in Vincente Minnelli's charming "The Clock" (1945). An emotionally unstable figure, Walker was devastated when his wife, actress Jennifer Jones, left him for producer David O Selznick. (His pain is documented in 1944's "Since You Went Away," produced by Selznick and, with cruel irony, featuring Jones as Walker's estranged sweetheart.) Walker then took to drinking and suffered several nervous breakdowns; in 1948 he entered into a marriage with Barbara Ford, daughter of director John Ford, which was annulled after five weeks. After a memorable performance as a disarming psychopathic murderer in "Strangers on a Train" (1951), Walker died at age 32, suffering respiratory failure after receiving a sedative injection of sodium amytal from his psychiatrist. He was the father, by Jones, of actors Robert Walker Jr, and Michael Walker.

• Also Credited As:
  Robert Hudson Walker
• Born:
  October 13, 1918 in Salt Lake City, Utah
• Died:
  August 28, 1951.
• Job Titles:
  Actor

Education

• American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York, New York, 1938

Milestones

• 1939 Film debut, "Winter Carnival" (bit part)
• 1943 First major film role, "Bataan"
• 1948 Arrested after fleeing the Menninger Clinic and smashing the local police station when arrested for drunkenness (December)
• 1952 Final film, "My Son John"
• Earned fifty cents a performance at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village
• Worked on a freighter
• Worked on radio with Isley in Tulsa, OK, and later on "Myrt and Marge" in NY