He was an American film, television, and stage actor who had a career that spanned seven decades: Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936–November 7, 2021).
The Boy with Green Hair (1948), Anchors Aweigh (1945), The Green Years (1946), Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), and Kim acted as his first screen credits as a young actor under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1950).
In his twenties, he landed the main part in both the stage production of Compulsion on Broadway in 1957 and the film version in 1959.
Infancy and Childhood
Stockwell was raised in Los Angeles and New York City, where he was raised in the North Hollywood neighborhood by a family of entertainers. Elizabeth “Betty” (Veronica) Stockwell, a vaudeville performer, and Harry Stockwell, an actor, and lyric baritone singer, were the parents of the younger Stockwell.
After appearing in New York versions of Carousel and Oklahoma!, he went on to portray Snow White’s Prince Charming on screen.
Actor Guy Stockwell was Guy’s older brother. His stepmother Nina Olivette was a burlesque and theatre performer in New York and around North America, performing as a comedian, vocalist, and toe dancer. The ancestors of his mother’s mother’s mother’s father were Italian.
When Paul Osborne’s play Innocent Voyage, written by Stockwell’s father, was looking for kid players, he approached him while he was on Broadway in Oklahoma!
The mother of Stockwell’s two sons took them both to audition, and both were accepted. Despite the fact that Stockwell’s role in the play was minor and the production was short-lived, it helped him land a deal with MGM.
Back at Fox, he was cast as the grandson of Lionel Barrymore in Ships (1949) and as Richard Widmark’s protégé in Down to the Sea in Ships (1949), which was a box office failure.
Stockwell later referred to the image as the following: “More sobbing scenes! And, of course, meltdowns! However, working with Margaret was a pleasure; she was a gifted young actor.”
Flynn played a trick on him during production, delivering him a bowl of camel feces instead of food in a scene where he was supposed to do so.
Stockwell attended the University of California, Berkeley for one year after graduating from Los Angeles’ Alexander Hamilton High School.
That led to him later admitting, “I was sad and could not get along with people. During his time at UC Berkeley, he engaged himself in music and composed several little pieces.
Career
After a break of several years, he returned to performing in 1956 as an adult. On shows such as Front Row Center, Matinee Theatre, Schlitz Playhouse, The United States Steel Hour, Climax!,
Men of Annapolis, Cimarron City, General Electric Theater, and Wagon Train (as “Jimmy Drew,” brother to Shelley Winters in “The Ruth Owens Story”), he guest appeared (S1E3).
A supporting role in Gun for a Coward (1957) and the starring role in Arthur Hiller’s feature directorial debut, The Careless Years (1957), he had a wide range of roles.
A Kirk Douglas production firm, Bryna Productions, commissioned the film. Only one picture was made by the firm, despite signing a five-year contract.
When the Broadway rendition of Compulsion, which was based on the Leopold and Loeb story, premiered in 1957, he played Judd Steiner.
For his performance in the 1959 film adaptation, he shared the Best Actor award with Orson Welles and Bradford Dillman.
Stockwell went on to do a great deal of work on television, appearing on shows including Playhouse 90, Johnny Staccato, and Buick-Electra Playhouse.
As a member of the Topanga Canyon hippie subculture in the 1960s, Stockwell became close friends with artists George Herms and Wallace Berman, Russ Tamblyn, and musician Neil Young. Later on, he admitted, “I tried some drugs and went to several love-ins.
“The events of those days gave me a new perspective on my life, one that was far larger and more expansive than I had previously experienced. I’m not sorry I did what I did.”
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Come Back to The Stage
Actors Susan Strasberg and Jack Nicholson co-starred in Psych-Out (1968), in which Stockwell appeared as a supporting actor. With Sandra Dee, he starred in AIP’s The Dunwich Horror (1970), Thirty-Minute Theatre in Britain, and Bonanza.
In addition, he had an important role in Dennis Hopper’s The Last Picture (1971). In 1985, Stockwell praised this film as “a wonderful image.
When it first came out, it was ahead of its time, and it will continue to be as time goes on. Director Dennis Hopper is one of the best.”
A Person’s Private Affairs
On April 15, 1960, Stockwell married actress Millie Perkins. Sons and Lovers, starring Trevor Howard and Wendy Hiller, They divorced on July 30, 1962
Was released in the United Kingdom that year, and he was cast as Walter Morel’s son Paul Morel. He afterward referred to the picture as “a joy to work on”.
Cause of Death
On November 7, 2021, Dean died of natural causes at the age of 73.
Co-star Scott Bakula praised Dean’s work ethic on Quantum Leap.
Achievements
In 1962, he received two Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Awards for his performance as Edmund Tyrone in the film adaptation of Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
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Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor went to him.
Palme d’Or – Golden Palm
Palme d’Or du court métrage – Best Short Film
Grand Prix – Grand Prize of the Festival
Prix du Jury – Jury Prize
Prix de la mise en scène – Best Director
Prix d’interprétation masculine – Best Actor
Prix d’interprétation féminine – Best Actress
Prix du scénario – Best Screenplay
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