Robert Burgess Aldrich (August 9, 1918 – December 5, 1983) was an American film director, writer and producer, notable for such films as Vera Cruz (film) (1954), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Big Knife (1955), 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). Film critic John Patterson summarized his career in 2012: "He was a punchy, caustic, macho and pessimistic director (the end of Kiss Me Deadly is the end of the world), who depicted corruption and evil unflinchingly, and pushed limits on violence throughout his career. His aggressive and pugnacious film-making style, often crass and crude, but never less than utterly vital and alive, warrants – and will richly reward – your immediate attention."
[on Joan Crawford's withdrawal from Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)] There's no doubt in the world that Crawford was sick, seriously sick. If she'd been faking either the insurance company would never have paid the claim or she would never have been insurable again. Insurance companies are terribly tough, there's no such thing as a made-up ailment that they pay you off on.
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[on Charles Chaplin, for whom he worked as assistant director on Limelight (1952)] He's the greatest actor in the world but he doesn't know how to direct.
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[1974 comment on Kim Novak] Is Kim Novak a joke in her own time?
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[on Lewis Milestone] From Lewis Milestone I learned diplomacy in dealing with actors.
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[on Burt Lancaster] He has matured gracefully, plays men his own age and understands the need not to win the girl. He is much more tolerant of other people's point of view.
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[on Lee Marvin] Look, this feller is a pretty good boozer, he's got a short fuse, but he can be handled okay.
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[on Frank Sinatra] Unpleasant man. No one has yet worked out what really makes him tick. But he sings well.
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[on Bette Davis] Now Davis is a tough old broad and you fight. But when you see what she puts on the screen you know it was worth taking all the bull.
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I think I am a much more humorous and funny fellow, and I would like to do a comedy or a musical, and I think I could easily adapt to that because of my knowledge of music. But it has nothing to do with what you think of yourself, but only what others think of you.
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The power is for the director to do what he wants to do. To achieve that he needs his own cutter, he needs his cameraman, he needs his own assistant and a strong voice in his choice of writer; a very, very strong voice on who's the actor. He needs the power not to be interfered with and the power to make the movie as he sees it.
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The struggle for self-determination, the struggle for what a character wants his life to be . . . I look for characters who feel strongly enough about something not to be concerned with the prevailing odds, but to struggle against those odds.
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[on What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)] Judging by the initial press reaction. I wasn't sure whether I was going to produce and direct a motion picture or referee a fight.
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A director is a ringmaster, a psychiatrist and a referee.
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Fact
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He was a left-wing Democrat who opposed US involvement in the Vietnam War.
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Two of Aldrich's movies--Vera Cruz (1954) and Kiss Me Deadly (1955)--are considered to be among the most influential films of the 1950s.
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Three films Aldrich directed were chosen for inclusion in the 10 best list in 1955 compiled by François Truffaut for "Cahiers du Cinema" magazine: Apache (1954), The Big Knife (1955) and Vera Cruz (1954).
$17 Million
