Robert Mitchum was born in 1917 to the son of a sea captain’s daughter and a railroad worker. Mitchum was known as a prankster as a child, often involved in fights and creating havoc in the neighborhood. At age 14 while in Savannah, Georgia, he was arrested for vagrancy and put on a local chain gang; he escaped to return to his family in Delaware.

A nervous breakdown due to job-related stress led Robert to look for work as an actor or extra in movies. He appeared in a few B-movie westerns and appeared as a villain in several films between 1942 and 1943.

Mitchum would become most well-known due to his film noir films that were popular in the mid- to late-40′s. But his career was checkered with bad-boy activity. After a string of successful films for RKO, he and actress Lila Leeds were arrested for possession of marijuana. After serving a week at the county jail, he spent 43 days at a prison farm. The arrest didn’t affect Mitchum’s success in the long term. In fact, the conviction was later over-turned, as it was proven to be a setup. His studio, however, was embarrassed by the ordeal, and they ordered Mitchum to clean up his act or they would terminate his contract. Read more