Robert Bushnell Ryan November 11 1909 July 11 1973 was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains Ryan was born in Chicago Illinois the first child of Timothy Ryan and his wife Mabel Bushnell Ryan He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1932 having held the schools heavyweight boxing title all four years of his attendance After graduation the 64 Ryan found employment as a stoker on a ship a WPA worker and a ranch hand in Montana Ryan attempted to make a career in show business as a playwright but had to turn to acting to support himself He studied acting in Hollywood and appeared on stage and in small film parts during the early 1940s In January 1944 after securing a contract guarantee from RKO Radio Pictures Ryan enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served as a drill instructor at Camp Pendleton in San Diego California At Camp Pendleton he befriended writer and future director Richard Brooks whose novel The Brick Foxhole he greatly admired He also took up painting Ryans breakthrough film role was as an antiSemitic killer in Crossfire 1947 a film noir based on Brookss novel The role won Ryan his sole career Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor From then on Ryans specialty was toughtender roles finding particular expression in the films of directors such as Nicholas Ray Robert Wise and Sam Fuller In Rays On Dangerous Ground 1951 he portrayed a burntout city cop finding redemption while solving a rural murder In Wises The SetUp 1949 he played an overthehill boxer who is brutally punished for refusing to take a dive Other important films were Anthony Manns western The Naked Spur Sam Fullers uproarious Japanese set gangland thriller House of Bamboo Bad Day at Black Rock and the socially conscious heist movie Odds Against Tomorrow He also appeared in several allstar war films including The Longest Day 1962 and Battle of the Bulge 1965 and The Dirty Dozen He also played John the Baptist in MGMs Technicolor epic King of Kings 1961 and was the villainous Claggart in Peter Ustinovs adaptation of Billy Budd 1962 In his later years Ryan continued playing significant roles in major films Most notable of these were The Dirty Dozen The Professionals 1966 and Sam Peckinpahs highly influential brutal western The Wild Bunch 1969 Ryan appeared several times on the Broadway stage His credits there include Clash by Night Mr President and The Front Page the comedy drama about newspapermen He appeared in many television series as a guest star including the role of Franklin HoppyHopp in the 1964 episode Who Chopped Down the Cherry Tree on the NBC medical drama about psychiatry The Eleventh Hour Similarly he guest starred as Lloyd Osment in the 1964 episode Better Than a Dead Lion in the ABC psychiatric series Breaking Point In 1964 Ryan appeared with Warren Oates in the episode No Comment of CBSs shortlived drama about newspapers The Reporter starring Harry Guardino in the title role of journalist Danny Taylor Ryan appeared five times 19561959 on CBSs Dick Powells Zane Grey Theater and twice 1959 and 1961 on the Zane Grey spinoff Frontier Justice He appeared three times 19621964 on the western Wagon Train
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