Even though Cliff Robertson served in the USMM,..

and not the regular services, he did so because of a weak eye which kept him from passing his physical. He then joined the Merchant Marine and served in spite of his eyesight. He is probably most famous to many here for his portrayal of JFK in the movie PT-109.

Robertson, who went on to win an Oscar for his portrayal of a mentally disabled man in "Charly", died of natural causes Saturday afternoon in Stony Brook, a day after his 88th birthday, according to Evelyn Christel, his secretary of 53 years.


Goto:


Cliff Robertson, who played JFK in 'PT-109,' dies - Yahoo! News

I remember reading an article about Jackie after the movie was released, she said the only thing she disliked about the movie was that now JFK walked around pretending to be Robertson.

 

By coincidence, PT-109 was playing on the military channel this weekend. I hadn't seen that movie in a lot of years, and then I finally get to see it the same day Cliff dies.

 

Thanks for the post Clint, I wasn't aware he had died. I liked both the movie and the actor. RIP Mr. Robertson.

 

I'm sad to hear of his passing. He was great in "The Devil's Brigade" (one of my all-time favourite Saturday night popcorn movies) and 633 Squadron. He also owned a Spitfire. I found this; its an interesting read: http://www.jerrybilling.com/Jerry Billing Spitfire's/History of Spitfire MK923.htm

 

Photos from his WW2 films:

PT109:


The Devil's Brigade:


633 Squadron:

 

He's lucky. The casualty rate in the merchant marine was staggering, the highest among all services and branches. Not exactly a place for draft-dodgers and shirkers.

 

Excellent point Bobby, I hadn't considered that but it is very true. And George Patton, I had forgotten about his appearance in the "Devils Brigade", another movie I liked and another good performance by the late Mr. Robertson.

 

The Devil's Brigade seems to be a movie a lot forget about, but I consider one of my all-time favorites. Like many WW2 films now, (with Mr. Robertson's passing) almost all of the cast have passed on.

 

A fine actor. He lived a full life of 88 years. Rest in peace.

 

rest in peace

 

I think that was the only movie made about a sitting prez. the only thing JFK didn't like was that Robertson parted his hair on the wrong side. so every effort was made to correct that. AMCTV runs a lot of these classic war movies

[video=youtube;gJVYVrh2-Ig]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJVYVrh2-Ig[/video]