Robert Parrish

Born: 1916-01-04

Robert R. Parrish (born 4 January 1916, Columbus, Georgia – 4 December 1995, Southampton, New York) was an American actor, film editor, film director, and writer. He received an Academy Award for Film Editing for the 1947 film, Body and Soul. Parrish was the son of factory cashier Gordon R. Parrish and Laura R. Parrish. In the mid-1920s, the family moved from Georgia to Los Angeles and Parrish and his sisters Beverly and Helen began obtaining work as actors soon thereafter. Parrish made his film debut in the 1927 Our Gang short Olympic Games. (Their mother, Laura R. Parrish, was an actress as well and appeared in a few films of the 1940s.) He appeared in the anti-war classic All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Charles Chaplin's City Lights (1931), and in several films for John Ford. Ford then enlisted him as an assistant editor in 1936 on Mary of Scotland, and as a sound editor on Young Mr Lincoln (1939). Parrish worked as an assistant editor and sound editor on other Ford movies as Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940). Parrish and Ford were in the United States Navy during the Second World War, and worked on documentary and training films including The Battle of Midway (1942). In 1947 he won an Oscar for his debut as a feature film editor on Robert Rossen's high tempo boxing drama Body and Soul; the award was shared with Francis Lyon. Parrish was later nominated for another Rossen film – the political drama All the King’s Men (1949); he shared the nomination with Al Clark. Parrish went on to contribute his technical talents to a host of highly regarded films and made a promising directorial debut in 1951 with the gripping revenge melodrama, Cry Danger. His subsequent output met with varying success. The Purple Plain (1954) was nominated for "Best British film" at the 8th British Academy Film Awards. One of the most notorious of his films was the James Bond Parody Casino Royale (1967), in which he was one of the film's five directors. His last film, on which he shared co-director credit with Bertrand Tavernier, was Mississippi Blues (1983). Parrish wrote two memoirs, Growing Up in Hollywood (1976) and its sequel Hollywood Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1988). Of the first, Kevin Brownlow wrote, "His stories about these pictures were marvellous in themselves, and he often came at them sideways, so not only the punchline but the situation took you by surprise. We all entreated him to write them down and in 1976 he did so, producing one of the most enchanting - and hilarious - books about the picture business ever written. It was called Growing Up in Hollywood and it ought to be reprinted in this centenary year." Summing up Parrish's career, Allen Grant Richards wrote, "Other than his excellent editing work and early directing, Parrish may be most remembered as storyteller from his two books of Hollywood memoirs."


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All Quiet on the Western Front

as Schoolboy (uncredited)
Released: 1930-04-29

When a group of idealistic young men join the German Army during the Great War, they are...

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Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

as Boy (uncredited)
Released: 1927-11-04

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to...

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City Lights

as Newsboy (uncredited)
Released: 1931-02-06

A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a...

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The Big Trail

as Pioneer Boy (uncredited)
Released: 1930-11-01

Young scout Breck Coleman leads a wagon train along the dangerous trail to Oregon as he tries to...

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The Informer

as Young Soldier
Released: 1935-05-09

Gypo Nolan is a former Irish Republican Army man who drowns his sorrows in the bottle. He's...

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Anna Christie

as Boy at Coney Island (uncredited)
Released: 1930-02-21

Old sailor Chris Christofferson eagerly awaits the arrival of his grown daughter Anna, whom he...

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History Is Made at Night

as uncredited
Released: 1937-03-05

An American woman falls in love with a romantic Parisian head waiter who tries to save her from...

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Up the River

as Boy (uncredited)
Released: 1930-10-10

Daily life at men and women's prison units where baseball and the marching band are serious...

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The Right to Love

as Willie
Released: 1930-12-27

A woman becomes estranged from her daughter when the girl learns that she is illegitimate.

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Riley the Cop

as Boy
Released: 1928-11-25

In this early comedy from John Ford, Riley is a New York Irish cop sent to Germany to track down...

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Steamboat Round the Bend

as Boy
Released: 1935-09-06

A Louisiana con man enters his steamboat into a winner-take-all race with a rival while trying...

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Blue Bayou

as Tony
Released: 1990-01-15

A Los Angeles lawyer has to go to New Orleans for a steamy case involving a troubled teen.

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Doctor Bull

as Teenager
Released: 1933-09-22

In this engaging adaptation of James Gould Cozzen's novel The Last Adam, film icon Will Rogers...

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Mr. Doodle Kicks Off

as 2nd Sophomore
Released: 1938-10-07

A wealthy businessman promises to donate a huge endowment to his college alma mater, but there's...

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The Miracle Man

as uncredited
Released: 1932-04-01

A gang of crooks evade the police by moving their operations to a small town. There the gang's...

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Scandal Sheet

as Copy Boy
Released: 1931-01-31

Confirming his principle that no one escapes the news, a tabloid editor prints a scathing story...

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Sodankylä Forever

as Self
Released: 2010-08-05

The Midnight Sun Film Festival is held every June in the Finnish village of Sodankylä beyond the...

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