41. He Was a Bona-Fide Country Star
Mitchum’s foray into the music world wasn’t totally problematic. After dropping his fake Trinidadian accent, Mitchum next affected a country twang. Mitchum’s country songs were far more successful and even charted. To his credit, Mitchum really did have a great singing voice, even if he was butchering an accent.
42. He Worked in Horrific Conditions
Before he made it in Hollywood, Mitchum had to do odd jobs to makes ends meet—but these were no regular office stints. While still a teenager, Mitchum suffered through working the coal fields in Pennsylvania. To make matters worse, he had claustrophobia and was constantly sick. Obviously, this was far from his only horrific workplace experience.
43. He Went to Desperate Measures for Shelter
Life on the road—or the railroad tracks—wasn’t an easy life for Robert Mitchum. Sometimes, the runaway just wanted a place to rest. When that happened, he came up with an ingenious plan. When he just needed a warm place to sleep, Mitchum would turn himself into the authorities and ask for a cell to get some shut-eye.
44. He Was Soft on the Inside
For all his tough-guy image, Mitchum was a surprisingly sensitive man. He frequently wrote poetry, and during his early years train-hopping, he confessed he often cried himself to sleep thinking about how worried his mother must have been about him. Not that any of this excuses his exploits when he got to Hollywood...
History's most fascinating stories and darkest secrets, delivered to your inbox daily.
45. He Lost His Hearing
At the beginning of WWII, Mitchum took on what was possibly his worst job yet—and the consequences were devastating. He started working for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation as a machine operator, but the noise from the machines was so loud, it actually permanently damaged his hearing. And then it all really hit the fan.
Getty Images
46. He Suffered a Nervous Breakdown
Eventually, the stress of the job threw the outwardly gruff, inwardly sensitive Mitchum into a total nervous breakdown. This wasn't just a little case of overwork, either, and Mitchum suffered from stress-induced blindness for a time. Fortunately, he did regain his vision so that he could see all of the movies that he was about to make.
47. He Was a New-Age "Prophet"
Today’s Horoscope: Saturn is in your system and if you read this article to the end you will go on to fame and fortune. Ok, so that's totally inaccurate and I know nothing about horoscopes and astrology. But do you know who did? Robert Mitchum. One of Mitchum’s first writing gigs was as a ghost writer for “astrologer to the stars,” Carroll Righter.
48. He Was Demanding From Beyond the Grave
By 1997, the aging Mitchum's health was finally failing after a lifetime of making not-so-good decisions about his body. The American legend passed on July 1, 1997 at the age of 79. Never one for frills or falseness, Mitchum requested a simple cremation and strictly forbade his wife Dorothy from giving him any kind of memorial.
49. He Was Obsessed With His Hair
Mitchum had some strange personal habits, but his obsession with his chest hair really takes the cake. As a young buck, Mitchum was so proud of his pec whiskers that he refused to shave them for shirtless scenes, even though clean-cut was the look of the time. Then, just to ensure that no director would even ask him to go shirtless, the strapping Mitchum got himself a potbelly.
50. His Co-Star Despised Him
Legendary actress Katharine Hepburn didn't suffer fools, and she definitely didn't suffer Robert Mitchum. While on set, she once got annoyed at his lackadaisical efforts and yelled, “You can’t act! You know you can't act, and if you hadn't been good-looking, you would have never gotten a picture".
If you feel a classic Mitchum reaction shot coming on, you'd be right: The actor just shrugged his shoulders in response.
.jpg){kind=link}
