the lives of

      ROBERT

      RYAN

      J.R. JONES

      Wesleyan University Press | Middletown, Connecticut

      Wesleyan University Press

      Middletown, CT 06459

       www.wesleyan.edu/wespress

      © 2015 J.R. Jones

      All rights reserved

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      Designed by Mindy Basinger Hill

      Typeset in Garamond Premier Pro

      Wesleyan University Press is a member of the Green Press Initiative.

      The paper used in this book meets their minimum requirement for recycled paper.

      Portions of this book appeared previously in “The Dark Shadings of Robert Ryan: A Brief Biography,” Noir City, Vol. 6, No. 2, Summer 2011, and in “The Actor’s Letter” and “The Essential Robert Ryan,” Chicago Reader, October 29, 2009.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Jones, J.R., 1963–

      The lives of Robert Ryan / J.R. Jones.

      pages cm

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      Includes filmography.

      ISBN 978-0-8195-7372-8 (cloth: alk. paper)—

      ISBN 978-0-8195-7373-5 (ebook)

      1. Ryan, Robert, 1909–1973. 2. Actors—United States—Biography. I. Title.

      PN2287.R88J66 2015

      791.4302'8092—dc23

      [B] 2014033019

      5 4 3 2 1

      Cover illustration: Ryan relaxes on the RKO lot (1946) during production of The Woman on the Beach. Courtesy of the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.

       For Margaret

      Contents