Mark Robson | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Article

Mark Robson

Mark Robson, director, editor, writer, producer (born at Montréal 4 Dec 1913; died at London, UK 20 Jun 1978). Mark Robson was educated at the University of California and began his career as a prop boy for Twentieth Century Fox.

Mark Robson

Mark Robson, director, editor, writer, producer (born at Montréal 4 Dec 1913; died at London, UK 20 Jun 1978). Mark Robson was educated at the University of California and began his career as a prop boy for Twentieth Century Fox. He worked as Robert Wise's assistant editor on Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942; both uncredited), and with Val Lewton's innovative RKO B-unit, editing such horror classics as Cat People (1942) and I Walked with a Zombie (1943).

Moving through the Hollywood ranks, Robson directed Boris Karloff in Isle of the Dead (1945) and Bedlam (1946; which he co-wrote); one of the first films to deal with anti-Black racism, Home of the Brave (1949); The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955) with William Holden and Grace Kelly; and Humphrey Bogart's last film, the boxing drama The Harder They Fall (1956). Mark Robson received back-to-back best director Oscar nominations for the trashy Peyton Place, in 1957, and the acclaimed Ingrid Bergman hit Inn of the Sixth Happiness, in 1958. His most commercially successful film, Earthquake, which he also produced, came at the end of his long career, in 1974.