Robards was born July 26, 1922, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of actor Jason Robards Sr. and Hope Maxine Robards (née Glanville).[1] He was of German, English, Welsh, Irish, and Swedish descent.[2][3] The family moved to New York City when Jason Jr. was still a toddler, and then moved to Los Angeles when he was six years old. Later interviews with Robards suggested that the trauma of his parents' divorce, which occurred during his grade-school years, greatly affected his personality and world view.[citation needed]
As a youth, Robards also experienced the decline of his father's acting career. The elder Robards had enjoyed considerable success during the era of silent films, but he fell out of favor after the advent of sound film, leaving the younger Robards soured on the Hollywood film industry. The teenage Robards excelled in athletics, running a 4:18-mile during his junior year at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles. (Note: The California state high school mile run record in 1940 was 4:26.)[citation needed] Although his prowess in sports attracted interest from several universities, Robards decided to enlist in the United States Navy upon his graduation in 1940.[citation needed]
During the Battle of Tassafaronga in the waters north of Guadalcanal on the night of November 30, 1942, Northampton was sunk by hits from two Japanese torpedoes. Robards found himself treading water until near daybreak, when he was rescued by an American destroyer. For its service in the war, Northampton was awarded six battle stars.[citation needed] Two years later, in November 1944, Robards was radioman aboard the light cruiserUSS Nashville, the flagship for the invasion of Mindoro in the northern Philippines. On December 13, she was struck by a kamikaze aircraft off Negros Island in the Philippines. The aircraft hit one of the port five-inch gun mounts, while the plane's two bombs set the midsection of the ship ablaze. With this damage and 223 casualties, Nashville was forced to return to Pearl Harbor and then to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, for repairs.[citation needed]
Robards moved to New York City and began working on radio and stage. His first role was the 1947 short film Follow That Music. His big break was landing the starring role in José Quintero's 1956 off Broadway theatre revival production and the later 1960 television film of O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, portraying the philosophical salesman Hickey; he won an Obie Award for his stage performance. He later portrayed Hickey again in another 1985 Broadway revival also staged by Quintero. Robards originated the role of Jamie Tyrone Jr. in the original Broadway production of O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning Long Day's Journey into Night (1956), which was also directed by Quintero. For his performance he earned the Theatre World Award and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.[12]
During this time he continued to act in theatre including Arthur Miller's After the Fall (1964), Clifford Odets's The Country Girl (1972) earning Tony Award nominations for both. Other O'Neill plays directed by Quintero and featuring Robards included Hughie (1964), A Touch of the Poet (1977), and A Moon for the Misbegotten (1973). He repeated his role in Long Day's Journey into Night in the 1962 film and televised his performances in A Moon for the Misbegotten (1975) and Hughie (1984).[citation needed]
Robards portrayed three presidents in films. He played Abraham Lincoln in the television film The Perfect Tribute (1991) and supplied the voice for two television documentaries, first for "The Presidency: A Splendid Misery" in 1964, and then again in the title role of the 1992 documentary miniseries Lincoln. He also played the role of Ulysses S. Grant in The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) and supplied the Union General's voice in the PBS miniseries The Civil War (1990). He also played Franklin D. Roosevelt in F.D.R.: The Last Year (1980). Robards appeared in the documentary Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1992). He played a congressman in the film Enemy of the State (1998). In his final film role, he played a cancer patient in the Paul Thomas Anderson directed drama Magnolia (1999).[22]
Personal life
Marriages and family
Robards was married four times and had six children. With his first wife, Eleanor Pittman, Robards had three children, including Jason Robards III. His second marriage to actress Rachel Taylor lasted from April 1959 to May 1961. He and actress Lauren Bacall, his third wife whom he married in 1961, had one son, actor Sam Robards. Robards and Bacall divorced in 1969, in part due to his alcoholism.[23] Robards had two more children with his fourth wife, Lois O'Connor, and they remained married until his death.
Health issues and death
In 1972, Robards was seriously injured in an automobile crash when he drove his car into the side of a mountain on a winding California road, requiring extensive surgery and facial reconstruction. The crash may have been related to his longtime struggle with alcoholism.[9][10] Robards overcame his addiction and went on to publicly campaign for alcoholism awareness.[24][25] Robards was an American Civil War buff and scholar, an interest which informed his portrayal of the voice of Ulysses S. Grant in The Civil War series by filmmaker Ken Burns.
Robards narrated the public radio documentary, Schizophrenia: Voices of an Illness, produced by Lichtenstein Creative Media, which was awarded a 1994 George Foster Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting. According to Time, Robards offered to narrate the schizophrenia program, saying that his first wife had been institutionalized for that illness.[56] Robards is in the American Theater Hall of Fame, inducted in 1979.[57][58] The Jason Robards Award was created by the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City in his honor and his relationship with the theater.[citation needed]
^Bloomfield, Gary L.; Shain, Stacie L., with Davidson, Arlen C., (2004). Duty, Honor, Applause – America's Entertainers in World War II. p. 264. Lyon's Press, Guilford, Connecticut. ISBN1-59228-550-3