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He was gaunt, stood about 5' 10" tall, and his characters didn't smile much. That didn't mean he didn't have a powerful screen presence. Kept out of the war by a perforated eardrum, he managed to portray some genuinely human miltary men who did their jobs at a high personal cost.
For me, his best work was in the 50s and 60s. He played great characters in movies that I enjoyed watching over and over (and this before VCRs, much less DVDs). At the top of his game, his characters made tough and often unpopular decisions. You could see that behind his tough exterior he was haunted by the burden he bore. His school teacher turned Marine Lieutenant in Halls of Montezuma might well be seen as the model for Tom Hanks' Captain Miller, except he kept it all inside. No superman, just an ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances.
Among a long line of films, he covered some truly interesting subjects -
Halls of Montezuma
The Frogmen
Red Skies of Montana (smoke jumpers)
Destination Gobi (US Navy Met team in WW2)
Hell and High Water (Grade A Cold War adventure)
The Alamo (Jim Bowie)
The Bedford Incident (grim Cold War story)
For me, his best work was in the 50s and 60s. He played great characters in movies that I enjoyed watching over and over (and this before VCRs, much less DVDs). At the top of his game, his characters made tough and often unpopular decisions. You could see that behind his tough exterior he was haunted by the burden he bore. His school teacher turned Marine Lieutenant in Halls of Montezuma might well be seen as the model for Tom Hanks' Captain Miller, except he kept it all inside. No superman, just an ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances.
Among a long line of films, he covered some truly interesting subjects -
Halls of Montezuma
The Frogmen
Red Skies of Montana (smoke jumpers)
Destination Gobi (US Navy Met team in WW2)
Hell and High Water (Grade A Cold War adventure)
The Alamo (Jim Bowie)
The Bedford Incident (grim Cold War story)
