Happy Birthday, Mark Robson! Born today in 1913 as Marcus Rabinovitch, this Canadian-born editor, producer and film director began his forty-five-year career in Hollywood as a film editor. He later began working as a producer and director.
Born in Montréal, Québec, Canada, Robson, years later, began his studies with political science and economics at the University of California.
He later took a law course at Pacific Coast University, and, at one time, also attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Ultimately, Robson's interests led him elsewhere, since he ended up in the movie industry in the prop department at 20th Century-Fox. Robson later subsequently joined RKO, where he moved through various departments before settling into editing.
Asking American film producer and studio executive Darryl F. Zanuck for a promotion turned out to be a bad move, since Robson was promptly fired.
However, later playing golf with Danish RKO executive Herman Zobel, conversely, opened the door to a position at the studio's film library, where he was to earn a meager sixty-six cents per hour.
In 1932, Robson became a respected craftsman who began his career as a prop man at Fox. Three years later, he became an editor at RKO.
In the early 1940s, Robson worked with Robert Wise ('The Day the Earth Stood Still', 'West Side Story', 'The Haunting', 'The Sound of Music') on the editing of Orson Welles' 'Citizen Kane' (1941).
Robson and Wise also edited Welles' next feature 'The Magnificent Ambersons' (1942). They were later part of the drastic cuts of the ending of the film, with which Welles disagreed.
For 'Citizen Kane' and 'The Magnificent Ambersons', Robson was paid $1.25 per hour. However, he slaved over a grueling 110 to 120-hour week.
Later, Robson, along with Wise, were swept up in the turmoil surrounding Welles' ouster from the studio. Robson then landed a spot as an editor working for Russian-American novelist, film producer and screenwriter Val Lewton's B-movie unit at RKO.
Robson (later joined by Wise) succeeded French film director Jacques Tourneur as Lewton's director for his low budget horror movies -- today regarded as some of the finest pictures ever made by the studio.
Both Tourneur and Wise benefited tremendously from Lewton, who was supervising a series of low budget horror films at RKO that would become legendary.
The first one was 'Cat People' (1942), directed by Tourneur and a tremendous success. Robson edited Lewton's next two films, both directed by Tourneur, most notably being 'I Walked with a Zombie' (1943).
Later that same year, Robson directed the film of which he is best known. This was the 1943 American black and white horror/noir film 'The Seventh Victim'.
Lewton had been so impressed with Robson's prior work that he promoted him to direct the film. Because of this, Robson was now paid $200 a week.
After young Mary Gibson (Kim Hunter) discovers that her older sister Jacqueline (Jean Brooks) has disappeared, she leaves her boarding school and heads to Greenwich Village to track down her missing sibling.
Arriving at Jacqueline's apartment, Mary finds ominous signs of trouble, with her sister nowhere in sight.
Aided by psychiatrist Dr. Louis Judd (Tom Conway) and others, Mary gets drawn deeper into the mystery, and evidence begins to point to the involvement of an underground sinister cult of devil worshippers.
American film and television screenwriter and novelist Charles O'Neal had written the film's script as a murder mystery, set in California, that followed a woman hunted by a serial killer.
American film screenwriter and television writer DeWitt Bodeen (of whom had written 'Cat People') revised the script, basing the story on a Satanic society he had encountered in New York City.
Upon release, 'The Seventh Victim' failed to garner significant income at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics, who found its narrative incoherence a primary fault.
It was later revealed that Robson and an editor, John Lockert, had removed four substantial scenes from the final cut, including an extended conclusion.
In spite of its mixed reception, the film became a cult film in England, noted by critics for its homoerotic undertones.
Robson later moved into the director's chair at the behest of Lewton, for whom he engineered two powerful Boris Karloff vehicles. These were 'Isle of the Dead' (1945) and 'Bedlam' (1946).
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Robson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960. It is located at 1722 Vine Street.
Four years later, American prime-time soap opera Peyton Place (1964–1969) aired on ABC.
Like the novel and film of the same name, this nighttime soap is set in the small New England town of Peyton Place, whose quaint charm masks a complicated web of extramarital affairs, shady business deals, scandals, even murder.
The show starred Mia Farrow, Barbara Perkins, Ryan O’Neal, Dorothy Malone and Ed Nelson.
Robson passed from a heart attack in London, England United Kingdom on June 22, 1978. He was 64. His death occurred just two days before the scheduled end of shooting 'Avalanche Express' (1979). This was his last feature.
Monte Helleman ('Two-Lane Blacktop') had co-directed, but went uncredited. Abraham Polonsky ('Force of Evil') had written the screenplay.
Contrary to what has been written elsewhere, Robson's last days were under the direction of the film's cameraman, Jack Cardiff, a former director.
Some people working on 'Avalanche Express' claimed that Robson's heart condition (which he knew to be severe) had been aggravated by shooting conditions, notably the heavy drinking by his two argumentative leading men, Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw.
It was also claimed that Robson had seemed uncharacteristically enervated during shooting. To make matters worse, Shaw then also died (at 51), with most of his dialogue needing to be post-synchronized. The film was posthumously released one year after Robson's passing.
Throughout his career, Robson had directed seven different actors in Oscar-nominated performances. These included Kirk Douglas, Arthur Kennedy, Susan Hayward, Russ Tamblyn, Lana Turner, Hope Lange and Diane Varsi.
Robson directed thirty-four films during his forty-five-year career in Hollywood.
Among his credits, he is known for directing 'The Harder They Fall' (Humphrey Bogart's final film) and 'Peyton Place' (1957). It was the latter film that had moved Robson into big-budget, high-profile features.
Robson is also known for directing 'Champion' (1949), 'Home of the Brave' (1949), 'The Sixth Inn of Happiness' (1958), 'Valley of the Dolls' (1967), and 'Earthquake' (1974).
For 'The Harder They Fall', the film received an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography, Black and White. However, it didn't win. This occurred at the 29th Academy Awards in late March 1957.
For 'Peyton Place' Robson was nominated an Oscar for Best Directing. However, he didn't win. This occurred at the 30th Academy Awards in late march 1958.
The following year, Robson received another nomination for directing Ingrid Bergman in 'The Inn of the Sixth Happiness'. However, Robson didn't win again. This occurred at the 31st Academy Awards in early April 1959.
For 'Peyton Place' and 'The Sixth Inn of Happiness', Robson also received his third and fourth Directors Guild of America nomination. Unfortunately, he never won.
Upon release, 'Valley of the Doll's was panned by critics but was a success at the box office. As for 'Earthquake', it was filmed in "Sensurround" for greater impact.
Robson had been active from 1941–1978.
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