Robert Montgomery

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Actor Born Henry Montgomery Jr. on May 21, 1904 in Beacon , N.Y.

Robert Montgomery is one of the most versatile and successful men ever associated with movies and television.

There is only one way to describe Montgomery's career. It was golden.

He gained fame as a leading man, signed up for World War II before his country did, tried an unusual camera technique in his directing debut, put together one of the most acclaimed television drama series ever in the 1950s, served as President Dwight D. Eisenhower's radio-TV advisor and was president of Lincoln Center Repertory Theater in New York City.

He worked as a stage actor in New York in the 1920s. But from the moment he appeared in his first talking film in 1930, "So This Is College," he seemed destined for the big screen.

Montgomery made more than 60 films, including "Untamed," "Private Lives," "Inspiration," "Yellow Jack," "Earl of Chicago" and "Here Comes Mr Jordan."

After the war, Montgomery chose for his first full-time directing job the Raymond Chandler mystery "The Lady in the Lake." He also starred in the film, which appeared in 1945, but his handsome face was not in every frame. In fact it was in only one scene.

Always looking for ways to expand the medium. Montgomery decided to let the camera be the eyes of Chandler's main character, detective Philip Marlowe. Whatever Marlowe saw was what the camera showed. Montgomery, as Marlowe, was on the screen for only a few seconds when he looked into a mirror.

Montgomery's timing always seemed to be perfect. He became intrigued with the then new medium of television and in the late 1940s and in 1950 put together "Robert Montgomery Presents," as award-winning dramatic series that brought to television may noted literary works, including "The Last Tycoon" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Letter" by W. Somerset Maugham and "Appointment in Samara" by John O'Hara.

Among the actors whose careers got major boosts on "Robert Montgomery Presents" were Jack Lemmon, Gena Rowlands, Joanne Woodward and Cliff Robertson.

— Keith Love in the Los Angeles Times Sept. 28, 1981

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