Robert Aldrich

Biography

Robert Aldrich was an American film director, writer and producer, notable for such films as Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Big Knife (1955), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), The Dirty Dozen (1967). Born in Cranston, Rhode Island, the son of Lora Lawson and newspaper publisher Edward Burgess Aldrich. He was a grandson of U.S. Senator Nelson W. Aldrich and a cousin of Nelson Rockefeller. He studied economics at the University of Virginia. In 1941, he dropped out of college for a $50-a-week job at RKO Radio Pictures. In doing so, he was also dropped by his family, losing a potential stake in Chase Bank he would have inherited. It's been said that "No American film director was born as wealthy as Aldrich—and then so thoroughly cut off from family money." He quickly rose in film production as an assistant director, and worked with Jean Renoir, Abraham Polonsky, Robert Rossen, Joseph Losey and Charlie Chaplin as an assistant on Limelight. He became a television director in the 1950s, directing his first feature film, Big Leaguer, in 1953. During the 1950s, Aldrich directed mostly action films like Apache and Vera Cruz with Burt Lancaster. Aldrich soon gained recognition as an au…

Directed

1. The Dirty Dozen (1967) — Director
2. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) — Director
3. Kiss Me Deadly (1955) — Director
4. The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) — Director
5. The Longest Yard (1974) — Director
6. Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) — Director
7. Vera Cruz (1954) — Director
8. The Frisco Kid (1979) — Director
9. Ulzana's Raid (1972) — Director
10. Apache (1954) — Director
11. Emperor of the North (1973) — Director
12. Attack (1956) — Director
13. The Big Knife (1955) — Director
14. The Last Sunset (1961) — Director
15. Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977) — Director
16. Too Late the Hero (1970) — Director
17. Hustle (1975) — Director
18. The Killing of Sister George (1968) — Director
19. Autumn Leaves (1956) — Director
20. 4 for Texas (1963) — Director
21. ...All the Marbles (1981) — Director
22. Sodom and Gomorrah (1962) — Director
23. The Grissom Gang (1971) — Director
24. The Choirboys (1977) — Director
25. Ten Seconds to Hell (1959) — Director
26. The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968) — Director
27. The Garment Jungle (1957) — Director
28. World for Ransom (1954) — Director
29. The Angry Hills (1959) — Director
30. Four Star Playhouse (1952) — Director
31. Big Leaguer (1953) — Director
32. Adventures in Paradise (1959) — Director
33. Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (1951) — Director
34. Hotel de Paree (1959) — Director
35. The Greatest Mother of 'em All (1969) — Director
36. China Smith (1952) — Director

Also appeared in

1. The Big Night (1951) — Ringsider at Fight
2. Operation Dirty Dozen (2006) — Self
3. Lionpower from MGM (1967) — Self (uncredited)
4. Cinépanorama (1956) — Self