Robert Gist

Robert Gist
Robert Marion Gist (October 1, 1917 – May 21, 1998) was an American actor and film director.
Life and career
Gist was reared around the stockyards of Chicago, Illinois, during the Great Depression. Reform school-bound after injuring another boy in a fistfight, Gist instead ended up at Chicago's Hull House, a settlement house originally established by social worker Jane Addams. There he first became interested in acting.
Work in Chicago radio was followed by stage acting roles in Chicago and on Broadway (in the long-running Harvey with Josephine Hull). While acting in Harvey, he made his motion picture debut in 20th Century-Fox's Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Gist was also seen on Broadway in director Charles Laughton's The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (1954) with Henry Fonda and John Hodiak.
While shooting Operation Petticoat (1959), Gist told director Blake Edwards that he was interested in directing. Edwards later hired Gist to helm episodes of the TV series Peter Gunn. Gist also directed episodes of TV shows Naked City, The Twilight Zone, Route 66 and many others.
Gist directed the world premiere of Edna St. Vincent Millay's Conversation at Midnight, produced by Worley Thorne and Susan Davis, in November 1961, on stage, at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles. Playing only on the three "off-nights" the theatre was available, Monday through Wednesday, the production was received enthusiastically by critics and audiences, and the small 160-seat theatre was filled to capacity each night for six weeks. With that success, the production moved to the larger Civic Playhouse, where it ran for more than four more months. In the cast were James Coburn, Jack Albertson, Eduard Franz, Hal England, Sandy Kenyon, Frank DeKova and Bill Berger. Three years later, Gist directed another production of the piece on Broadway, at the Billy Rose Theatre, again produced by Thorne, in association with Davis, with some of the first cast. However, notably absent in key roles were James Coburn and Jack Albertson. The "play," a dramatic dialogue of ideas, delivered in various poetic forms, did not do well on Broadway and closed within the week.
Personal life
He was married to actress Agnes Moorehead from 1954 to 1958, although they separated in 1955. They met during the filming of The Stratton Story (1949).
In a 1970 interview with David Frost, Gist discussed his involvement with and commitment to Synanon.
Filmography
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) - Department Store Window Dresser (uncredited)
Jigsaw (1949) - Tommy Quigley
The Stratton Story (1949) - Earnie
Scene of the Crime (1949) - P.J. Pontiac
Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949) - Musician (uncredited)
A Dangerous Profession (1949) - Roy Collins, aka Max Gibney
Wabash Avenue (1950) - Sailor (uncredited)
I Was a Shoplifter (1950) - Barkie Neff
Love That Brute (1950) - Rookie Police Officer Wilson (uncredited)
The Jackpot (1950) - Pete Spooner
Strangers on a Train (1951) - Det. Leslie Hennessey
One Minute to Zero (1952) - Maj. Carter
Angel Face (1953) - Miller
The Band Wagon (1953) - Hal Benton
Ford Star Jubilee (1955, TV Series) - Lt. Thomas Keefer
D-Day the Sixth of June (1956) - Dan Stenick
Ford Television Theatre (1956, TV Series) - Rev. Wilkerson
Studio One (1957, TV Series) - Coley Davis
The Phil Silvers Show (1957, TV Series) - Red Thompson
Flight (1957, TV Series)
The Walter Winchell File (1957, TV Series) - Lawton
The Walter Winchell File "The Boy From Mason City" (1957, TV Series) - Tony Romo
Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1958, TV Series) - Joe Quincy
Decision (1958, TV Series) - Dawes
The Naked and the Dead (1958) - Red
Gunsmoke (1955-1958, TV Series) - Cam Speegle / Rourke / Rabb Briggs
Wolf Larsen (1958) - Matthews
Goodyear Theatre (1959, TV Series) - Ben Moore
Black Saddle (1959, TV Series) - Milo Dawes
Al Capone (1959) - Dean O'Banion
The FBI Story (1959) - Medicine Salesman
Lock Up (1959, TV Series) - Wayne Powell
Johnny Ringo (1960, TV Series) - Virgil Kincaid
Alcoa Theatre (1959, TV Series) - Walter Parker
Men into Space (1959, TV Series) - Capt. Dan Freer
Operation Petticoat (1959) - Lt. Watson
Tales of Wells Fargo (1959, TV Series) - Stanley
Hawaiian Eye (1960, TV Series) - Barney Mitchell
The DuPont Show with June Allyson (1960, TV Series) - Lennie Vale
The Untouchables (1960, TV Series) - Fred 'Caddy' Croner
Death Valley Days (1960, TV Series) - Aaron Taggert
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater (1960, TV Series)
General Electric Theater (1960, TV Series) - Committee Chairman
Hennesey (1960, with Jackie Cooper, recurring role, TV Series) - Dr. Owen King
Perry Mason (1960, TV Series) - Deputy D.A. Claude Drumm
Hotel de Paree (1960) - Zack
Pony Express (1960, TV Series) - Slater
Sea Hunt (1960) - Captain Olsen
Blueprint for Robbery (1961) - Chips McGann
The Aquanauts (1960, TV Series) - Darrell Willoughby
The Americans (1961, TV Series) - Gen. Charles P. Stone
The Law and Mr. Jones (1961, TV Series) - District Attorney Tom Starkowski
Peter Gunn (1958-1961, TV Series) - Cesar Carlyle / Miles Spence / Jason Willows
The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor (1962, TV Series) - Tully
Rawhide (1959-1962, TV Series) - Harleck / Sheriff Ed Stockton / Sheriff
Have Gun - Will Travel (1958-1962, TV Series) - Gavin O'Shea / Sheriff Ernie Backwater / Ike Brennan / Matt Baker / Ben Tyler
Jack the Giant Killer (1962) - Scottish Captain
Vacation Playhouse (1965, TV Series) - Ben Moore
An American Dream (1966)
Nichols (1971, TV Series) - Gulley (final appearance)
Teaching
Robert Gist was appointed Head of the School of Arts at the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education (DDIAE)
now the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia from the beginning of 1973 to the end of 1975.
Also, during the 1960s, he made himself into a Hollywood acting coach, forming one of the actors' workshops of that time. In 1964, he used its members—who he named "The Group"—to perform several evenings of Carl Sandburg's poetry. The event was titled The People Yes.
Students
Philip Barter Cameraman/artist
Neville Tranter, Australian actor/puppeteer
Bernd Ullrich, German artist
Lenore Robbins [nee Lee], Australian dancer and choreographer. Contemporary dancer who, following a brief but highly successful performance career, has influenced a generation of young dancers through a succession of regional dance schools in Queensland, Australia.
References
External links
1917 births
1998 deaths
20th-century American male actors
American male film actors
American film directors
American male television actors
American television directors
Male actors from Los Angeles
Male actors from Miami
Joan Crawford FULL Interview (January 16th, 1970) / https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2865131750218048