Clifford Parker Robertson III (September 9, 1923 â€" September 10,
2011) was an American actor whose career in film and television
spanned half a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in
the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor
for his role in the film Charly. On television, he portrayed retired
astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the 1976 adaptation of Aldrin's
autobiographic Return to Earth, played a fictional character based on
Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms in the 1977 miniseries
Washington: Behind Closed Doors, and portrayed Henry Ford in Ford: The
Man and the Machine (1987). His last well-known film appearances were
as Uncle Ben in the 2002â€"2007 Spider-Man film trilogy.Robertson was
born in La Jolla, California, the son of Clifford Parker Robertson Jr.
(1902â€"1968), and his first wife, Audrey Olga Robertson (née
Willingham; 1903â€"1925). His Texas-born father was described as "the
idle heir to a tidy sum of ranching money". Robertson once said, "[My
father] was a very romantic figure â€" tall, handsome. He married four
or five times, and between marriages he'd pop in to see me. He was a
great raconteur, and he was always surrounded by sycophants who let
him pick up the tab. During the Great Depression, he tapped the trust
for $500,000, and six months later he was back for more."Robertson's
parents divorced when he was one, and his mother died of peritonitis a
year later in El Paso, Texas, at the age of 21. He was raised by his
maternal grandmother, Mary Eleanor "Eleanora" Willingham (née Sawyer,
1875â€"1957), in California, and rarely saw his father. He graduated
in 1941 from La Jolla High School, where he was known as "The Walking
Phoenix".He served in the U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II, before
attending Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and dropping out to
work as a journalist for a short time.
2011) was an American actor whose career in film and television
spanned half a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in
the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor
for his role in the film Charly. On television, he portrayed retired
astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the 1976 adaptation of Aldrin's
autobiographic Return to Earth, played a fictional character based on
Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms in the 1977 miniseries
Washington: Behind Closed Doors, and portrayed Henry Ford in Ford: The
Man and the Machine (1987). His last well-known film appearances were
as Uncle Ben in the 2002â€"2007 Spider-Man film trilogy.Robertson was
born in La Jolla, California, the son of Clifford Parker Robertson Jr.
(1902â€"1968), and his first wife, Audrey Olga Robertson (née
Willingham; 1903â€"1925). His Texas-born father was described as "the
idle heir to a tidy sum of ranching money". Robertson once said, "[My
father] was a very romantic figure â€" tall, handsome. He married four
or five times, and between marriages he'd pop in to see me. He was a
great raconteur, and he was always surrounded by sycophants who let
him pick up the tab. During the Great Depression, he tapped the trust
for $500,000, and six months later he was back for more."Robertson's
parents divorced when he was one, and his mother died of peritonitis a
year later in El Paso, Texas, at the age of 21. He was raised by his
maternal grandmother, Mary Eleanor "Eleanora" Willingham (née Sawyer,
1875â€"1957), in California, and rarely saw his father. He graduated
in 1941 from La Jolla High School, where he was known as "The Walking
Phoenix".He served in the U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II, before
attending Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and dropping out to
work as a journalist for a short time.
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.