Robert Burgess Aldrich (August 9, 1918 – December 5, 1983) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. An iconoclastic and maverick auteur working in many genres during the Golden Age of Hollywood, he directed mainly films noir, war movies, westerns and dark melodramas with Gothic overtones. His most notable credits include Vera Cruz (1954), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Big Knife (1955), Autumn Leaves (1956), Attack (1956), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), and The Longest Yard (1974).
Containing a "macho mise-en-scène and resonant reworkings of classic action genres," Aldrich's films were known for pushing the boundaries of violence in mainstream cinema, as well as for their psychologically complex interpretations of genre film tropes. The British Film Institute wrote that Aldrich's work displays "a subversive sensibility in thrall to the complexities of human behaviour." Several of his films later influenced the French New Wave.
Aside from his directorial work, Aldrich was also noted for his advocacy as a member of the Directors Guild of America, serving as its president for two terms (between 1975 and 1979), and becoming the namesake for its Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award.
Early life Family Robert Burgess Aldrich was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, into a family of wealth and social prominence – "The Aldriches of Rhode Island".Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 2, p. 3 His father, Edward Burgess Aldrich (1871–1957) was the publisher of The Times of Pawtucket and an influential operative in state Republican politics. His mother, Lora Elsie (née Lawson) of New Hampshire (1874–1931), died when Aldrich was 13 and was remembered with fondness by her son. Ruth Aldrich Kaufinger (1912–1987) was his elder sister and only sibling.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 3-4
Among his notable ancestors were the American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene and the theologian Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island Colony.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 2
His grandfather, Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich, was a self-made millionaire and art investor. A Republican member of the U.S. Senate for thirty years (1881–1911), he was dubbed "General Manager of the Nation" by the press for his dominant role in framing federal monetary policy.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 2-3: "...effectively voiced the interests of big business [and] author of the 'Aldrich Plan' [on] banking reform in the early twentieth century."Walsh, 2018. "...a leading member of the Republican Party around the turn of the 20th century, referred to by the press as the "General Manager of the Nation" for his dominance in determining federal government monetary policy."
A number of Aldrich's paternal uncles had impressive careers, among them a successful investment banker, an architect and Harvard instructor, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and a chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank who also served as U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain. An aunt, Abigail Greene "Abby" Aldrich married John D. Rockefeller Jr., scion of the Standard Oil fortune, and was a leading figure in the establishment of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Nelson Rockefeller, a four-term governor of New York State and U.S. vice-president under Gerald Ford, and Rockefeller's four brothers were the director's first cousins.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 3Silver and Ursini, 1995. p. 3
Education As the only male heir to the Lawson-Aldrich family line, Aldrich was under pressure to compete with his numerous cousins in a family of high achievers.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 3: His family ties "a burden as well as a blessing... [his] position in the family was from the beginning a difficult one." And p. 4: "...as the only son in his branch of the family, Aldrich must have felt a tremendous pressure to follow family traditions."
Following family tradition and expectations, Aldrich was educated at Moses Brown School in Providence from 1933 to 1937. There he served as captain of the track and football teams and was elected president of his senior class.
Failing to matriculate to Yale due to mediocre grades, Aldrich attended the University of Virginia from 1937 to 1941, majoring in economics. He continued to excel in sports and played a leading role in campus clubs and fraternities.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 5: Aldrich describes himself as "not being bright enough to get into Yale."Silver and Ursini, 1995. p. 4
During the Great Depression, the adolescent Aldrich began to question the justice of his family's "politics and power" which clashed with his growing sympathies with left-wing social and political movements of the 1930s. Aldrich's disaffection from the Aldrich-Rockefeller right-wing social and political orientation contributed to a growing tension between father and son.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 4: Aldrich's "relationship with his demanding and authoritative father... [became] strained." and quoting Aldrich, 'I discovered that [family] politics and power meant money...there was little discussion of art or culture or theatre or music in my [childhood] home."Williams, 2004. p. 2: Aldrich "often sympathized with outsiders victimized by a family unit seeking to destroy human potential...He was fully aware of changing historical forces affecting American cinema and society, often for the worse..." And "The cultural movements of the New Deal had an effect on his work as well as the trauma caused by the blacklist."
Having satisfactorily demonstrated his aptitude for a career in finance, Aldrich defied his father by dropping out of college in his senior year without taking a degree.
Aldrich approached his uncle Winthrop W. Aldrich, who got his 23-year-old nephew a job at RKO Studios as a production clerk at $25 a week.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 5 For this act of defiance, Aldrich was promptly disinherited. Aldrich reciprocated by expunging public records of his connection with the Aldrich-Rockefeller clan, while stoically accepting the breach. He rarely mentioned or invoked his family thereafter.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 4: "Aldrich always played down his impressive heritage" and had little personal contact with his father..."omitted his parents' names from Who's Who in America and any mention of the Aldrich-Rockefeller connection." And p. 5: His uncle warned him "I never want to see you again..." after procuring the position at RKO. It has been said that "No American film director was born as wealthy as Aldrich — and then so thoroughly cut off from family money."Silver and Ursini, 1995. p. 3-4
RKO Pictures: 1941–1943
At the age of 23, Aldrich began work at RKO Pictures as a production clerk, an entry-level position, after declining an offer through his Rockefeller connections to enter the studio as an associate producer.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 1, p. 6: "...the first job offered him as a rich man's son [was] as an associate producer...[as] a production clerk he started at the bottom."Williams, 2004. p. 47: "...as a production clerk, a position little better than a gofer."
He married his first wife, Harriet Foster, a childhood sweetheart, shortly before he departed for Hollywood in May 1941.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 5 (see footnote 14)
Though the smallest of Hollywood's top studios, RKO could boast an impressive roster of directors (George Cukor, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks) as well as movie stars (Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and the Marx Brothers). The 23-year-old Aldrich assumed his duties shortly after Orson Welles, at 26, signed a six-movie contract with RKO after the release of the widely acclaimed Citizen Kane (1941).Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 5-6
When the United States entered the Second World War in December 1941, Aldrich was inducted into the Air Force Motion Picture Unit, but was quickly discharged when an old football injury disqualified him for military service. The film studios' manpower shortage allowed Aldrich to win assignments as third- or second-tier director's assistant to learn the basics of filmmaking.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 6Silver and Ursini, 1995. p. 5
Second assistant director In just two years he participated on two dozen movies with well-known directors. He was second assistant director on Joan of Paris (1942, directed by Robert Stevenson), The Falcon Takes Over (1942, directed by Irving Reis), The Big Street (1942), directed by Reis, Bombardier (1943, directed by Richard Wallace), Behind the Rising Sun (1943, directed by Edward Dmytryk), A Lady Takes a Chance (1943, directed by William A. Seiter), The Adventures of a Rookie (1943, directed by Leslie Goodwins), Gangway for Tomorrow (1943, directed by John H. Auer), and Rookies in Burma (1943, directed by Goodwins).
First assistant director Towards the end of the war, Aldrich had risen to first assistant director making comedy shorts with director Leslie Goodwins.
In 1944, Aldrich departed RKO to begin free-lancing on feature films at other major studios, including Columbia, United Artists, and Paramount.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 5-6: "...gone as far as he could at RKO and decided to free-lance on at the other studios.Williams, 2004. p. 47Silver and Ursini, 1995. p. 5-6
Assistant director: 1944–1952 Aldrich was fortunate to serve as an assistant director to many notable and talented Hollywood filmmakers. During these assignments, which spanned nine years, Aldrich gained both practical and aesthetic fundamentals of filmmaking: "set location and atmosphere" (Jean Renoir, The Southerner, 1945), the "techniques of pre-planning a shot" (Lewis Milestone's The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, 1946), "action scenes" (William A. Wellman's The Story of G.I. Joe, 1946), the "importance of communication with actors" (Joseph Losey's The Prowler, 1951), and "establishing visual empathy between camera and audience" (Charlie Chaplin's Limelight, 1952).Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 7
He also worked on Pardon My Past (1945, directed by Leslie Fenton) and The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947, directed by Albert Lewin).
Aldrich approached these projects and directors with a fine discrimination, enabling him to learn from both their strengths and weaknesses.Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 6: Aldrich quote: "Working with great directors – and terrible directors – is the greatest education possible." And p. 8-9: "Aldrich's education, finally, involved the process of sorting out, in the case of each director, the good qualities from the bad…."
During these years Aldrich forged lasting professional relationships with talented artists who would serve him throughout his filmmaking career, namely, cinematographer Joseph Biroc, film editor Michael Luciano, music director Frank De Vol, art director William Glasgow and screenwriter Lukas Heller. A troupe of loyal, mostly male, players were enlisted for his film leads and supporting roles: Burt Lancaster, Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, Eddie Albert, Richard Jaeckel, Wesley Addy, Ernest Borgnine and Charles Bronson.Williams, 2004. p. 83Arnold and Miller, 1986. p. 8, p. 19
Enterprise Productions: 1946–1948