Robert Mulligan

Robert Mulligan (born August 23, 1925, Bronx, New York, U.S.—died December 20, 2008, Lyme, Connecticut) was an American director who was best known for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Although his films do not bear a personal stamp, he was noted for his craftsmanship and ability to elicit strong performances from his cast.

After serving in the U.S. Marines during World War II, Mulligan earned a bachelor’s degree (1948) from Fordham University. He then began working in television, starting at CBS as a messenger and then rising to director in the early 1950s. He subsequently helmed episodes for such prestigious live-drama showcases as Suspense, Studio One in Hollywood, and Playhouse 90. In 1957 Mulligan made his first feature film, Fear Strikes Out, with Anthony Perkins as Boston Red Sox baseball outfielder Jimmy Piersall, who suffered from bipolar disorder. Like many of Mulligan’s future pictures, it was produced by Alan J. Pakula.

Mulligan returned to television for a few years, and he won an Emmy Award for directing the TV movie The Moon and Sixpence (1959), which was based on the W. Somerset Maugham novel of the same name and starred Laurence Olivier. In 1960 Mulligan returned to the big screen with The Rat Race, a romantic comedy starring Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds; it was based on a play by Garson Kanin, who also wrote the screenplay. Mulligan reteamed with Curtis on The Great Impostor (1961), a biopic about impersonator Ferdinand Waldo Demara, Jr. Next was Come September (1961), a sprightly romantic comedy set in Italy; it starred Rock Hudson as a wealthy businessman, Gina Lollobrigida as his mistress, and Bobby Darin (in his first credited film role) and Sandra Dee as young lovers. The film was a box-office hit, but the next collaboration between Mulligan and Hudson, The Spiral Road (1962), was a forgettable and overly long drama.

Then came the film for which Mulligan was best remembered, To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), an acclaimed adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Gregory Peck gave one of his defining performances as the principled Atticus Finch, and Mary Badham (in her film debut) was well cast as his precocious daughter, Scout. A critical and commercial success, the film earned eight Academy Award nominations, and Mulligan received his only nod for best director. Its three Oscar wins included best screenplay (Horton Foote) and best actor (Peck). Mulligan’s next film was the downbeat romance Love with the Proper Stranger (1963), featuring Natalie Wood as a young Roman Catholic woman who becomes pregnant following a one-night stand with a musician (played by Steve McQueen). The film ably blended humour with more-serious subjects, notably abortion, and it was another box-office hit. McQueen returned for the bleak drama Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965), playing a country singer recently released from prison; Lee Remick was his supportive wife. Mulligan tapped Foote for the screenplay, which Foote adapted from his own play.

In 1965 Mulligan made the musical Inside Daisy Clover, in which Wood played a woman who becomes a movie star and experiences the dark side of celebrity; it was perhaps most notable for Robert Redford’s acclaimed performance as a homosexual movie star. The film was a box-office disappointment, but the director had more success with Up the Down Staircase (1967), an adaptation of Bel Kaufman’s best seller about the trials and tribulations of a young teacher (Sandy Dennis) in the New York City school system. In 1968 Mulligan reunited with Peck on The Stalking Moon, a suspenseful western that starred the actor as a freelance scout who tries to protect a recently rescued white woman and her son from the latter’s Apache father. Although it failed to match the success of their earlier film, it still drew praise as an unconventional entry in the genre.

In 1971 Mulligan directed The Pursuit of Happiness, a drama about an alienated young man (Michael Sarrazin) who accidentally kills a woman with his car and accepts a prison sentence rather than prove it was an accident. The film drew criticism for its seemingly illogical turns, and it failed to find an audience. However, no one overlooked Summer of ’42 (1971), a nostalgic tale of first love that would have been considered overly sentimental if it were not so effective. The film resonated with audiences, and it became Mulligan’s biggest hit since To Kill a Mockingbird. The Other (1972) was a change of pace, a disturbing horror film that was based on Tom Tryon’s best seller about twin brothers whose family experiences a number of suspicious accidents; Uta Hagen made her big-screen debut as the boys’ grandmother.

The Nickel Ride (1974), with Jason Miller as a fence for the Mafia’s stolen goods, earned critical praise, but it failed at the box office. Audiences also ignored Bloodbrothers (1978), an adaptation of the Richard Price novel, with Richard Gere, Tony Lo Bianco, and Paul Sorvino. More popular was Same Time, Next Year (1978), which retained the wistful charm of the Bernard Slade play. Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn starred as two lovers who meet once a year for almost three decades. Kiss Me Goodbye (1982), however, was a dull romance about a widow (Sally Field) whose relationship with a professor (Jeff Bridges) is threatened when the ghost of her first husband (James Caan) appears. Not much better was Clara’s Heart (1988), an overly sentimental drama with Whoopi Goldberg as a Jamaican maid working in Maryland. The Man in the Moon (1991), however, a surprisingly touching coming-of-age piece set in 1957 Louisiana that starred Reese Witherspoon in her film debut, indicated that Mulligan could still fashion a winner, given the proper material. It was the last film he directed.

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