Robert Parrish

Directing

Robert Parrish

Born 1916-01-04 · Columbus, Georgia, USA

Robert R. Parrish (born 4 January 1916, Columbus, Georgia – 4 December 1995, Southampton, New York) was an American actor, film editor, film director, and writer. He received an Academy Award for Film Editing for the 1947 film, Body and Soul. Parrish was the son of factory cashier Gordon R. Parrish and Laura R. Parrish. In the mid-1920s, the family moved from Georgia to Los Angeles and Parrish and his sisters Beverly and Helen began obtaining work as actors soon thereafter. Parrish made his film debut in the 1927 Our Gang short Olympic Games. (Their mother, Laura R. Parrish, was an actress as well and appeared in a few films of the 1940s.) He appeared in the anti-war classic All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Charles Chaplin's City Lights (1931), and in several films for John Ford. Ford then enlisted him as an assistant editor in 1936 on Mary of Scotland, and as a sound editor on Young Mr Lincoln (1939). Parrish worked as an assistant editor and sound editor on other Ford movies as Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940). Parrish and Ford were in the United States Navy during the Second World War, and worked on documentary and training films including The Battle of Midway (1942). In 1947 he won an Oscar for his debut as a feature film editor on Robert Rossen's high tempo boxing drama Body and Soul; the award was shared with Francis Lyon. Parrish was later nominated for another Rossen film – the political drama All the King’s Men (1949); he shared the nomination with Al Clark. Parrish went on to contribute his technical talents to a host of highly regarded films and made a promising directorial debut in 1951 with the gripping revenge melodrama, Cry Danger. His subsequent output met with varying success. The Purple Plain (1954) was nominated for "Best British film" at the 8th British Academy Film Awards. One of the most notorious of his films was the James Bond Parody Casino Royale (1967), in which he was one of the film's five directors. His last film, on which he shared co-director credit with Bertrand Tavernier, was Mississippi Blues (1983). Parrish wrote two memoirs, Growing Up in Hollywood (1976) and its sequel Hollywood Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1988). Of the first, Kevin Brownlow wrote, "His stories about these pictures were marvellous in themselves, and he often came at them sideways, so not only the punchline but the situation took you by surprise. We all entreated him to write them down and in 1976 he did so, producing one of the most enchanting - and hilarious - books about the picture business ever written. It was called Growing Up in Hollywood and it ought to be reprinted in this centenary year." Summing up Parrish's career, Allen Grant Richards wrote, "Other than his excellent editing work and early directing, Parrish may be most remembered as storyteller from his two books of Hollywood memoirs."

Acting credits

City Lights poster
8.3

A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.

City Lights

1931

All Quiet on the Western Front poster
7.8

When a group of idealistic young men join the German Army during the Great War, they are assigned to the Western Front, where their patriotism is destroyed by the harsh realities of combat.

All Quiet on the Western Front

1930

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans poster
7.8

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

1927

Up the River poster
5.7

Daily life at men and women's prison units where baseball and the marching band are serious business. Two prisoners escape in order to help paroled Steve from being blackmailed by his girlfriend's ex-partner-in-crime.

Up the River

1930

The Informer poster
6.8

Gypo Nolan is a former Irish Republican Army man who drowns his sorrows in the bottle. He's desperate to escape his bleak Dublin life and start over in America with his girlfriend. So when British authorities advertise a reward for information about his best friend, current IRA member Frankie, Gypo cooperates. Now Gypo can buy two tickets on a boat bound for the States, but can he escape the overwhelming guilt he feels for betraying his buddy?

The Informer

1935

History Is Made at Night poster
6.7

An American woman seeking divorce from her wealthy, controlling husband falls for a romantic Parisian who saves her from his entrapment.

History Is Made at Night

1937

Riley the Cop poster
5.7

In this early comedy from John Ford, Riley is a New York Irish cop sent to Germany to track down a young man who stole money from a local bakery.

Riley the Cop

1928

Anna Christie poster
6.0

Old sailor Chris Christofferson eagerly awaits the arrival of his grown daughter Anna, whom he sent at five years old to live with relatives in Minnesota. He has not seen her since, but believes her to be a decent and respectably employed young woman. When Anna arrives, however, it is clear that she has lived a hard life in the dregs of society, and that much of spirit has been extinguished. She falls in love with a young sailor rescued at sea by her father, but dreads to reveal to him the truth of her past. Both father and young man are deluded about her background, yet Anna cannot quite bring herself to allow them to remain deluded.

Anna Christie

1930

Steamboat Round the Bend poster
7.5

A Louisiana con man enters his steamboat into a winner-take-all race with a rival while trying to find a witness to free his nephew, about to be hanged for murder.

Steamboat Round the Bend

1935

Hollywood Blues poster
5.0

Having met him in 1993 when he was invited by Enrico Ghezzi to Taormina, Ciro Giorgini and Fabio Troncarelli film this interview with Robert Parrish, a living legend. Parrish, as he recounts in his autobiography "Growing up in Hollywood", has spanned seven decades of American cinema

Hollywood Blues

1993

The Miracle Man poster
5.9

A gang of crooks evade the police by moving their operations to a small town. There the gang's leader, John Madison, encounters a faith healer and uses him to scam the gullible public of funds for a supposed chapel. But when a real healing takes place, a change comes over the gang.

The Miracle Man

1932

Doctor Bull poster
6.7

In this engaging adaptation of James Gould Cozzen's novel The Last Adam, film icon Will Rogers portrays Dr. George Bull, a compassionate, highly regarded small-town physician who often prescribes a healthy dose of common sense! But when Bull begins dating a widow (Vera Allen), the local gossips misconstrue the story. To make matters worse, Bull's plainspoken manner earns him an enemy in the wealthy owner of a nearby construction camp. But once it's learned that the camp has caused illness by polluting the local water supply, the good doctor steps in to try to restore the town's health - and his reputation!

Doctor Bull

1933

Scandal Sheet poster
10.0

Confirming his principle that no one escapes the news, a tabloid editor prints a scathing story about his wife.

Scandal Sheet

1931

Blue Bayou poster
10.0

A Los Angeles lawyer has to go to New Orleans for a steamy case involving a troubled teen.

Blue Bayou

1990

The Right to Love poster
6.0

A woman becomes estranged from her daughter when the girl learns that she is illegitimate.

The Right to Love

1930

Mr. Doodle Kicks Off poster
8.0

A wealthy businessman promises to donate a huge endowment to his college alma mater, but there's one condition -- his loser of a son, a student at the school, must become a football hero. Comedy.

Mr. Doodle Kicks Off

1938

Behind the camera

Casino Royale poster
5.3

Sir James Bond is called back out of retirement to stop SMERSH. In order to trick SMERSH, James thinks up the ultimate plan - that every agent will be named 'James Bond'. One of the Bonds, whose real name is Evelyn Tremble is sent to take on Le Chiffre in a game of baccarat, but all the Bonds get more than they can handle.

Casino Royale

1967

Saddle the Wind poster
6.7

Steve Sinclair is a world-weary former gunslinger, now living as a peaceful farmer. Things go wrong when his wild younger brother Tony arrives on the scene with his new bride Joan Blake.

Saddle the Wind

1958

Doppelgänger poster
6.2

A planet is discovered in the same orbit as Earth's but is located on the exact opposite side of the sun, making it not visible from Earth. The European Space Exploration Council decide to send American astronaut Glenn Ross and British scientist John Kane via spaceship to explore the other planet.

Doppelgänger

1969

The Marseille Contract poster
6.0

An important drug lord settled in Marseille is suspected of having ordered the killing of an American agent, but it is impossible to impute him due to his political influences, so the dead agent's boss decides to hire the services of a hitman to kill him.

The Marseille Contract

1974

The Wonderful Country poster
6.1

Having fled to Mexico from the U.S. many years ago for killing his father's murderer, Martin Brady travels to Texas to broker an arms deal for his Mexican boss, strongman Governor Cipriano Castro. Brady breaks a leg and while recuperating in Texas the gun shipment is stolen. Complicating matters further the wife of local army major Colton has designs on him, and the local Texas Ranger captain makes him a generous offer to come back to the states and join his outfit. After killing a man in self-defense, Brady slips back over the border and confronts Castro who is not only unhappy that Brady has lost his gun shipment but is about to join forces with Colton to battle the local raiding Apache Indians.

The Wonderful Country

1959

The Purple Plain poster
6.5

An RAF airfield in Burma in 1945, during World War II. Canadian bomber pilot Bill Forrester is a bitter man who lives haunted by a tragic past. He has became a reckless warrior, and is feared by his comrades, who consider him a madman. Dr. Harris, the squadron physician, is determined to help him heal his tormented soul.

The Purple Plain

1954

Lucy Gallant poster
7.0

A spirited dressmaker's small store flourishes into a business empire in the midst of the Texas oil boom of the 1940s.

Lucy Gallant

1955

Fire Down Below poster
5.7

Tony and Felix own a tramp boat, and sail around the Caribbean doing odd jobs and drinking a lot. They agree to ferry the beautiful but passportless Irena to another island. They both fall for her, leading to betrayal and a break-up of their partnership. Tony takes a job on a cargo ship. After a collision he finds himself trapped below deck with time running out (the ship is aflame), and only Felix, whom he hates and has sworn to kill, left to save him.

Fire Down Below

1957

The Mob poster
6.7

An undercover officer tracks waterfront corruption from California to New Orleans and back.

The Mob

1951

A Town Called Bastard poster
5.0

A group of Mexican revolutionaries murders a town priest and a number of his christian followers. Ten years later, a widow arrives in town intent to take revenge from her husband's killers.

A Town Called Bastard

1971

Assignment: Paris poster
5.9

Paris-based New York Herald Tribune reporter Jimmy Race is sent by his boss behind the Iron Curtain in Budapest to investigate a meeting involving the Hungarian ambassador.

Assignment: Paris

1952

Duffy poster
6.2

Half-brothers Stefane and Antony despise their biological father, callous millionaire Charles Calvert. Because Charles refuses to share his wealth with his sons, Stefane and Antony ask hip American thrill-seeker Duffy to help steal the money they believe is their birthright. When Charles decides to move a large portion of his savings from Morocco to France, Duffy has an opportunity to stage a daring burglary attempt at sea.

Duffy

1968

Cry Danger poster
6.7

After serving five years of a life sentence, Rocky Mulloy hopes to clear his friend who's still in prison for the same crime.

Cry Danger

1951

Up from the Beach poster
8.0

After the D-Day landings in June 1944, a US squadron liberates a small village in Normandy from German occupation.

Up from the Beach

1965

The San Francisco Story poster
4.9

After five years of being away, Rick Nelson returns to San Francisco to find it filled with corruption - and crooked politicians. It isn't until he meets a beautiful San Franciscan, that Nelson decides to get involved with bringing law-and-order to the city by the bay!

The San Francisco Story

1952

The Bobo poster
6.2

Unsuccessful singing bullfighter Juan arrives in Barcelona to try his luck in a big town. He finally persuades a devious local impresario to book him, but only on the condition that Juan first manages to spend an evening with Olimpia, a "shrewd merciless beauty" who seems effortlessly to collect apartments and Maserati sports cars while leaving a trail of broken hearts behind her. Juan approaches the challenge by pretending to her he is an emissary for a rich count. Written by Jeremy Perkins

The Bobo

1967

Mississippi Blues poster
7.1

The two directors meander through rural Mississippi in search of the spirit of local music and society. Highlights the heritage of William Faulkner, the role of Black churches, and gospel and blues music.

Mississippi Blues

1984

In the French Style poster
5.9

A young American art student must decide whether to stay in Paris with her boyfriend or go back to the U.S. when her wealthy father arrives to bring her back.

In the French Style

1963

In the French Style poster
5.9

A young American art student must decide whether to stay in Paris with her boyfriend or go back to the U.S. when her wealthy father arrives to bring her back.

In the French Style

1963

Rough Shoot poster
6.7

An American military officer and his wife move to a cottage in what they think is the peaceful English countryside, only to discover the area is a hotbed of spies and secret agents.

Rough Shoot

1953

My Pal Gus poster
8.0

A single father falls in love with his son's schoolteacher.

My Pal Gus

1952