Cliff Robertson

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Cliff Robertson

American actor

Also known as: Clifford Parker Robertson III

Written by Karen Sparks

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Dec 5, 2024 • Article History

Quick Facts

In full:: Clifford Parker Robertson III

Born:: September 9, 1923, La Jolla, California, U.S.

Died:: September 10, 2011, Stony Brook, New York (aged 88)

Awards And Honors:: Academy Award (1969); Emmy Award (1965); Academy Award (1969): Actor in a Leading Role; Emmy Award (1966): Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama

Married To:: Dina Merrill (1966–1989); Cynthia Stone (1957–1960)

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "Spider-Man 3" (2007); "Riding the Bullet" (2004); "Spider-Man 2" (2004); "The Lyon's Den" (2003); "13th Child" (2002); "Spider-Man" (2002); "Mach 2" (2000); "Family Tree" (1999); "The Outer Limits" (1999); "Assignment Berlin" (1998); "Race" (1998); "Nova" (1997); "Escape from L.A." (1996); "Pakten" (1995); "Biography" (1995); "The American Revolution" (1994); "Renaissance Man" (1994); "Wind" (1992); "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken" (1991); "Malone" (1987); "Shaker Run" (1985); "Falcon Crest" (1983–1984); "Brainstorm" (1983); "Class" (1983); "Star 80" (1983); "The Pilot" (1980); "Dominique" (1979); "Washington: Behind Closed Doors" (1977); "Fraternity Row" (1977); "Obsession" (1976); "Midway" (1976); "Shoot" (1976); "Three Days of the Condor" (1975); "Out of Season" (1975); "Man on a Swing" (1974); "Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies" (1973); "The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid" (1972); "J W Coop" (1971); "Too Late the Hero" (1970); "Charly" (1968); "The Devil's Brigade" (1968); "Batman" (1966–1968); "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre" (1964–1967); "The Honey Pot" (1967); "ABC Stage 67" (1967); "Up from the Beach" (1965); "Masquerade" (1965); "Love Has Many Faces" (1965); "Suspense" (1964); "633 Squadron" (1964); "The Best Man" (1964); "Breaking Point" (1964); "Sunday in New York" (1963); "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1963); "The Outer Limits" (1963); "PT 109" (1963); "The Eleventh Hour" (1963); "My Six Loves" (1963); "The Interns" (1962); "The Twilight Zone" (1961–1962); "Alcoa Premiere" (1962); "Ben Casey" (1962); "Golden Showcase" (1962); "Bus Stop" (1962); "Outlaws" (1960–1962); "The United States Steel Hour" (1956–1961); "The Dick Powell Show" (1961); "The Big Show" (1961); "All in a Night's Work" (1961); "General Electric Theater" (1961); "Underworld U.S.A." (1961); "Riverboat" (1960); "Playhouse 90" (1958–1960); "The Untouchables" (1959); "Alcoa Theatre" (1959); "As the Sea Rages" (1959); "Battle of the Coral Sea" (1959); "Gidget" (1959); "Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse" (1959); "Wagon Train" (1958); "The Naked and the Dead" (1958); "The Girl Most Likely" (1958); "Kraft Television Theatre" (1957); "Autumn Leaves" (1956); "Celebrity Playhouse" (1956); "Picnic" (1955); "Armstrong Circle Theatre" (1951–1955); "Robert Montgomery Presents" (1952–1954); "Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers" (1953–1954); "Lux Video Theatre" (1950)

Cliff Robertson (born September 9, 1923, La Jolla, California, U.S.—died September 10, 2011, Stony Brook, New York) was an American actor who enjoyed a creditable career onstage and in television and movies.

After high school, Robertson longed to go to sea and signed aboard the freighter Admiral Cole. The freighter was bombed but not sunk by a Japanese plane off the coast of the Philippines on December 7, 1941, the same day as the Pearl Harbor attack. Because of his poor eyesight, Robertson did his World War II service in the merchant marine. After the war he briefly attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Encouraged by the dean to pursue an acting career, he moved to New York, New York, where he studied at The Actors Studio.

Robertson did much of his early work in television beginning in 1950. He made his Broadway debut in Late Love (1953) and two years later his film premiere in the romantic drama Picnic (1955). He played the lead role of guitar player Val Xavier in the original stage production of Tennessee Williams’s Orpheus Descending (1957) and received acclaim for his television performance as an alcoholic in Playhouse 90’s Days of Wine and Roses (1958).

Empty movie theater and blank screen (theatre, motion pictures, cinema).

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Robertson had leading parts in films such as The Naked and the Dead (1958), Gidget (1959), and Underworld U.S.A (1961), but his breakout film role was as Lieut. John F. Kennedy in the movie PT 109 (1963), about the president’s service in World War II aboard a torpedo boat sunk by the Japanese. Kennedy personally picked him for the role and advised Robertson not to imitate his distinctive accent, a choice with which Robertson heartily agreed.

Robertson earned an Emmy nomination in 1961 for his performance in The United States Steel Hour’s “The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon,” which was based on Daniel Keyes’s short story “Flowers for Algernon” (1959). Robertson played a mentally disabled floor sweeper who becomes a genius through the aid of surgery, only to revert after a time to his previous state. He was so impressed by the character and the story that he bought the film rights. Robertson had been passed over for the film adaptations of Orpheus Descending (The Fugitive Kind [1960]) and Days of Wine and Roses (1962) and thus was determined to play Charlie in a film adaptation. In 1966 Robertson earned an Emmy Award for his lead role as a businessman enmeshed in a high-stakes baccarat game in the drama “The Game” (1965), which was featured on Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre. “Flowers for Algernon” was adapted as Charly (1968) with Robertson in the lead, and his dedication to the project was rewarded with the Academy Award for best actor.

On the big screen Robertson was often cast as ambitious, talented, but obsessive men, notably as a sinister political candidate in The Best Man (1964), an amoral CIA official in Three Days of the Condor (1975), and a widower tormented by the death of his wife in Obsession (1976).

Robertson was briefly blacklisted in Hollywood after he filed a complaint in 1977 against David Begelman, the president of Columbia Pictures. Robertson accused Begelman of having forged his name on a $10,000 studio check. Robertson’s pursuit of the matter led to the revelation that Begelman had embezzled $61,000 from Columbia; he was fined $5,000 and given three years’ probation. Robertson returned to moviemaking in 1980 in The Pilot, which he directed. His later film credits include Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken (1991), Renaissance Man (1994), and Escape from L.A. (1996). In Spider-Man (2002) and its sequels (2004 and 2007), he played Peter Parker’s ill-fated Uncle Ben and delivered the famous line “With great power comes great responsibility.” Robertson also served as a spokesperson for the telecommunications company AT&T.

Karen Sparks The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica