Jason Robards Jr.

Actor

Biography

Filmography

The Real Macaw (2000)

A Thousand Acres (1997)

The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (1996)

Himself

Photos & Videos

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Philadelphia (1993) -- (Movie Clip) They Panicked

Philadelphia (1993) -- (Movie Clip) Charles Wants To See You

Biography

Jason Robards built quite a career for himself as an Academy Award-winning actor. In his early acting career, Robards appeared in such films as the Lana Turner dramatic adaptation "By Love Possessed" (1961), the Katharine Hepburn dramatic adaptation "Long Day's Journey Into Night" (1962) and "Tender Is the Night" (1962). He also appeared in "Act One" (1963). Robards was nominated for a Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for "All the President's Men" in 1976 as well as for a Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Golden Globe Award for "All the President's Men" in 1976. Robards won a Best Actor National Board of Review Award for "Long Day's Journey Into Night" in 1962 as well as a Best Actor National Board of Review Award for "Tender Is the Night" in 1962. His film career continued throughout the eighties in productions like "The Legend of the Lone Ranger" (1981) with Klinton Spilsbury, the Werner Herzog documentary "Burden of Dreams" (1983) and "Max Dugan Returns" (1983). He also appeared in "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (1983). Film continued to be his passion as he played roles in the James Spader mystery thriller "Storyville" (1992), the dramatic adventure "The Adventures of Huck Finn" (1993) with Elijah Wood and "The Trial" (1993) with Kyle MacLachlan. He also appeared in "Philadelphia" (1993) with Tom Hanks and the Michael Keaton dramatic comedy "The Paper" (1994). Most recently, Robards appeared on "Eugene O'Neill: A Documentary Film" (PBS, 2005-06).

Filmography

Life Events

1939

Served as a radioman with the US Navy; stationed at Pearl Harbor at the time of the Japanese attack that precipitated American involvement in WWII

1947

Broadway debut in "The Mikado"

1947

Stage acting debut in "Out of the Frying Pan", Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

1951

Served as assistant stage manager at NYC's 48th Street Theatre

1951

Appeared in Broadway production of "Stalag 17" at 48th Street Theatre

1952

Was assistant stage managr at NYC's Playhouse Theatre

1956

Performed in acclaimed Circle in the Square production of Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh", directed by Jose Quintero, in which the audience was so close a patron once reached over and touched Robards' cheek; his OBIE-winning protrayal of Hickey revitalized his career, and the success of the production convinced the playwright's widow Carlotta to allow Quintero to stage "Long Day's Journey Into Night"

1957

Played Jamie Tyrone in the original Broadway production of O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night"

1958

Performed together onstage with his father for almost a year in Budd Schulberg's "The Disenchanted", which earned him his only Tony (Best Actor in a Drama) to date for his role as Manley Halliday (a thinly disguised F Scott Fitzgerald)

1959

Acted the part of Dr. Rank in an NBC "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation of Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House"; Julie Harris portrayed Nora and Christopher Plummer was Torvald

1959

Film acting debut as a Hungarian freedom fighter in Anatole Litvak's "The Journey"

1959

Starred as "Macbeth" in a Quintero-directed production in Cambridge, Massachusettes

1960

Acted on Broadway in Lillian Hellman's "Toys in the Atttic", garnering a Tony nomination

1962

Starred as Murray Burns in Broadway production of "A Thousand Clowns"

1962

Reprised his role as Jamie Tyrone in Sidney Lumet's film version of "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and starred opposite Jennifer Jones in "Tender Is the Night", based on F Scott Fitzgerald's novel

1963

Essayed the role of playwright George S. Kaufman in "Act One", a film adaptation of Moss Hart's autobiography

1964

First played Abraham Lincoln in a TV adaptation of Robert Sherwood's play "Abe Lincoln in Illinois"; received first Emmy nomination

1965

Reprised Murray Burns character and received top billing in a feature film for the first time in "A Thousand Clowns"

1968

Acted on Broadway in Joseph Heller's "We Bombed in New Haven", which bombed in New York

1970

Received credit as song performer in Sam Peckinpah's "The Ballad of Cable Hogue", singing "Butterfly Mornin's"; also starred in title role

1972

Played role of James Mills in "The House Without a Christmas Tree", the first of four CBS nearly annual TV-movies exploring the lives of a Nebraska family in the 1940s

1972

Was in a car crash on a California highway in the mountains; had no heartbeat when he arrived at the nearest hospital

1973

Played James Tyrone Jr opposite Colleen Dewhurst's Josie Hogan in Broadway production of O'Neill's "A Moon for the Misbegotten" (directed by Quintero), stopped drinking for good during its run (a process which he had begun soon after his near-death in the wreck), though he admitted to <i>The New York Times</i> (February 9, 1994): "Of course, every once in a while I'll take a glass of wine"

1973

Reteamed with Peckinpah for "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid", playing Governor Lew Wallace (the author of "Ben Hur")

1975

Earned second Emmy nomination for the "ABC Theatre" presentation of "A Moon for the Misbegotten"

1975

Acted a second time in "Long Day's Journey Into Night", this time in the role of the father, James Tyrone, in a production staged first at Washington DC's Eisenhower Theatre and the following year at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; also directed production

1976

Earned first Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of <i>Washington Post</i> editor Ben Bradlee in "All the President's Men"

1976

Made last of four TV-movies about the Mills family, "Addie and the King of Hearts"

1977

First TV miniseries, "Washington: Behind Closed Doors" (ABC), earned another Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Richard Monckton (a thinly-disguised Richard Nixon)

1977

Snagged second Best Supporting Actor Oscar as Dashiell Hammett in "Julia", based on Hellman's memoir "Pentimento"

1977

Acted in Broadway production of O'Neill's "A Touch of the Poet", directed by Quintero

1980

Oscar-nominated for his supporting turn as reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes in "Melvin and Howard"; first collaboration with director Jonathan Demme

1980

Received an Emmy nomination for his title portrayal in NBC's "F.D.R -- The Final Years"; also garnered praise as agent and producer Leland Hayward in CBS' "Haywire"

1983

Portrayed Grandpa Martin Vanderhof in Broadway revival of "You Can't Take It with You"; acted with Dewhurst during course of its run

1983

Played an American doctor fighting to survive in the aftermath of nuclear war in ABC's "The Day After"

1983

Starred in the title role of "Max Dugan Returns", scripted by Neil Simon

1984

Acclaimed for his portrayal of Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov in HBO's "Sakharov"

1985

Reprised his role as Hickey in Broadway production of "The Iceman Cometh", directed by Quintero

1988

Acted a third time (again as the senior Tyrone) in stage production of "Long Day's Journey Into Night", this time a Broadway revival directed by Quintero; done in repertory with O'Neill's lone comedy, "Ah, Wilderness!", in which he played Nat Miller; acted with Dewhurst and her son Campbell Scott in both productions

1988

Copped an Emmy as Henry Drummond in the NBC presentation of "Inherit the Wind"

1988

Only movie to date with son Sam, "Bright Lights, Big City"

1989

First collaboration with director Ron Howard, playing the father of grown children (Steve Martin, Dianne Wiest, Harley Kozak and Tom Hulce) in "Parenthood"

1990

Provided the voice of Ulysses S. Grant in Ken Burns' acclaimed PBS documentary "The Civil War"; had previously played Grant in the little-seen "The Legend of the Lone Ranger" (1981)

1991

Again played Abraham Lincoln in the ABC TV-movie "The Perfect Tribute"

1991

Hosted and narrated the 13-part PBS documentary series "On the Waterways"

1991

Portrayed Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) in "Mark Twain & Me" (The Disney Channel), a TV-movie based on the author's friendship with 11-year-old Dorothy Quick, as chronicled in her autobiographical account, "Enchantment"

1993

Played cold-hearted head of a law firm that dismisses a young colleague (Tom Hanks) with AIDS in Demme's "Philadelphia"

1993

Portrayed the grandfather in The Disney Channel miniseries remake of "Heidi"

1994

Reteamed with Ron Howard for "The Paper"

1994

Starred on Broadway with Christopher Plummer as two elderly British poets in revival of Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land"

1995

Acted in Pinter's "Moonlight" at NYC's Roundabout Theater's new Laura Pels Theater in NYC

1996

Last stage role to date in Brial Friel's "Molly Sweeney" with Alfred Molina (also for the Roundabout)

1997

Played the Lear-like patriarch in "A Thousand Acres"

1998

Played Mr. Bodwin in Demme's "Beloved", starring Oprah Winfrey

1999

Portrayed the dying patriarch Earl Partridge in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia"

2000

Starred opposite Sherry Stringfield as an elderly father who can no longer take care of himself in the CBS movie "Going Home"

Photo Collections

A Big Hand for the Little Lady - Movie Poster

Here is an original American movie poster for A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966), starring Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, and Jason Robards, Jr.

Julia - Movie Poster

Here is the American one-sheet movie poster for Julia (1977), starring Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave. One-sheets measured 27x41 inches, and were the poster style most commonly used in theaters.