Jason Robards

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Birthday:

26 July 1922, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Birth Name:

Jason Nelson Robards Jr.

Height:

174 cm

Powerful and highly respected American actor Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Hope Maxine (Glanville) and stage and film star Jason Robards Sr. He had Swedish, English, Welsh, German, and Irish ancestry. Robards was raised mostly in Los Angeles. A star athlete at Hollywood High School, he served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, where he saw combat as a radioman (though he is not listed in official rolls of Navy Cross winners, despite the claims some -- not he -- have made. Neither was he at Pearl Harbor during the Dec. 7, 1941 attack, his ship being at sea at the time.) Returning to civilian life, he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and struggled as a small-part actor in local New York theatre, TV and radio before shooting to fame on the New York stage in Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh" as Hickey. He followed that with another masterful O'Neill portrayal, as the alcoholic Jamie Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" on Broadway. He entered feature films in The Journey (1959) and rose rapidly to even greater fame as a film star. Robards won consecutive Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for All the President's Men (1976) and Julia (1977), in each case playing real-life people. He continued to work on the stage, winning continued acclaim in such O'Neill works as "Moon For the Misbegotten" and "Hughie." Robards died of lung cancer in 2000. Show less «

An actor doesn't change thought, theme, or mood unless the character does, and the character only does it within the words of the play.

I've always played disintegrated characters.

Once you're on [stage], nobody can say, "Cut it". You're out there on your own, and there's always that thrill of a real live audience.

All I know is, I don't do a lot of analysis. I know those words have to move me. I rely on the author. I don't want actors reasoning with me...Show more »

All I know is, I don't do a lot of analysis. I know those words have to move me. I rely on the author. I don't want actors reasoning with me about "motivation" and all that bull. All I want 'em to do is learn the goddamn lines and don't bump into each other. Show less «

The theatre has kept me alive, and it's allowed me to work at my craft.

[about Arthur Miller's semi-autobiographical play "After the Fall"] They should have called it "After the Money"!

Sometimes you do junk just to keep alive. You know it's junk when you go in. You just hope you will do the best you can, and that the film w...Show more »

Sometimes you do junk just to keep alive. You know it's junk when you go in. You just hope you will do the best you can, and that the film will be entertaining. Many times, it isn't, but you just do those things to pay the bills. Show less «

I would much rather be on the stage. I do films, but I've really been on stage most of my life. It's not only more of an emotional experienc...Show more »

I would much rather be on the stage. I do films, but I've really been on stage most of my life. It's not only more of an emotional experience, but it's also a communication. It's the satisfaction of saying something about the human condition through the author, with the actors acting as the instrument, and then hearing the audience response. Show less «