Cliff Robertson

Highest Rated: 100% Sunday in New York (1963)

Lowest Rated: 17% Renaissance Man (1994)

Birthday: Sep 9, 1923

Birthplace: Not Available

The scion of a prosperous California ranching family, actor Cliff Robertson took up drama in high school simply because it was the only "legal" way to cut classes. After wartime service, Robertson entered Ohio's Antioch College, beginning his professional career as a radio announcer. His first extensive stage work consisted of two years with the touring company of Mister Roberts. He made it to Broadway in 1952 in a play directed by Joshua Logan, and in 1955 made his film debut in the Logan-directed movie version of Picnic. As Joan Crawford's schizophrenic boyfriend in Autumn Leaves (1955), Robertson achieved the critical acceptance that would enable him to seek out choice film roles. In 1963, Robertson became the first American actor to portray a living American president when he was selected to play John F. Kennedy in PT 109; one year later, he showed up as a paranoid Nixon type in The Best Man. Equally busy on television, Robertson was universally applauded for his grueling performance as an alcoholic in the 1958 TV staging of Days of Wine and Roses, and in 1965 won an Emmy for a guest appearance on the dramatic anthology Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre. Having lost the film version of Wine and Roses to Jack Lemmon, Robertson made certain that he'd star in the filmization of his 1961 TV drama The Two Worlds of Charly Gordon by buying up the story rights. The result was the 1968 film Charly, in which Robertson played a retarded adult turned into a genius by a scientific experiment -- for which he won an Academy Award. In 1977, Robertson made headlines when he was one of the whistle-blowers in the embezzlement scandal involving Columbia executive David Begelman -- a fact that did more harm to Robertson's career than Begelman's. Robertson continued to act into the 2000s, including the recurring role of Ben Parker in the Spider-Man franchise reboot. He died of natural causes a day after his 88th birthday in 2011.

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Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

RATING	TITLE	CREDIT	BOX OFFICE	YEAR
No Score Yet	Accidental Icon: The Real Gidget Story	Actor	—	2010
No Score Yet	For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots	Actor	—	2010
63%	Spider-Man 3	Uncle Ben Parker	$336.6M	2007
No Score Yet	Of Wind and Waves: The Life of Woody Brown	Narrator	—	2006
27%	Riding the Bullet	Farmer	$0.2M	2004
93%	Spider-Man 2	Ben Parker	$373.4M	2004
No Score Yet	Spider-Man 2.1 (Extended Cut)	Actor	—	2004
No Score Yet	Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star	Actor	—	2002
90%	Spider-Man	Uncle Ben	$403.8M	2002
40%	13th Child	Mr. Shroud	—	2002
No Score Yet	Mach 2	Vice President Pike	—	2001
No Score Yet	Family Tree	Larry	—	2000
No Score Yet	Falcon Down	Buzz Thomas	—	2000
No Score Yet	Race	Jack Durman	—	1997
52%	John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.	President	—	1996
No Score Yet	Judith Krantz's 'Dazzle'	Mike Kilkullen	—	1995
17%	Renaissance Man	Col. James	—	1994
No Score Yet	Sonja Henie - Queen of the Ice	Narrator	—	1993
50%	Wind	Weld	—	1992
70%	Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken	Doctor Carver	—	1991
No Score Yet	Sacred Ground: The North American Indians' Relationship to the Land	Actor	—	1991
No Score Yet	Cowboy Up	Host	—	1991
No Score Yet	Dead Reckoning	Daniel Barnard	—	1989
33%	Malone	Charles Delaney	—	1987
No Score Yet	The Little Prince & Friends	Actor	—	1987
No Score Yet	Ford: The Man and the Machine	Henry Ford	—	1987
No Score Yet	Dreams of Gold	Actor	—	1986
No Score Yet	Dreams of Gold: The Mel Fisher Story	Mel Fisher	—	1986
No Score Yet	Shaker Run	Judd Pierson	—	1985
No Score Yet	The Key to Rebecca	Actor	—	1985
90%	Star 80	Hugh Hefner	—	1983
59%	Brainstorm	Alex Terson	—	1983
25%	Class	Burroughs	—	1983
No Score Yet	Two of a Kind	Frank Minor	—	1982
No Score Yet	The Pilot	Screenwriter Mike Hagan Director	—	1980
No Score Yet	Dominique (Avenging Spirit) (Dominique Is Dead)	David Ballard	—	1979
No Score Yet	Little Prince	Narrator	—	1978
No Score Yet	Fraternity Row	Narrator	—	1977
76%	Obsession	Michael Courtland	—	1976
54%	Midway	Cmdr. Carl Jessop	—	1976
No Score Yet	Shoot	Maj. Rex Jeanette	—	1976
No Score Yet	The Kennedys Don't Cry	Actor	—	1975
86%	Three Days of the Condor	J. Higgins	—	1975
No Score Yet	My Father's House	Actor	—	1975
No Score Yet	Man on a Swing	Lee Tucker	—	1974
No Score Yet	Lincoln: Trial By Fire	Narrator	—	1974
No Score Yet	The Man Without a Country	Actor	—	1973
67%	The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid	Cole Younger	—	1972
No Score Yet	J.W. Coop	Director J.W. Coop Screenwriter Producer	—	1971
62%	Too Late the Hero	Lt. Lawson	—	1970
71%	Charly	Charly Gordon	—	1968
60%	The Devil's Brigade	Major Alan Crown	—	1968
50%	The Honey Pot	William McFly	—	1967
No Score Yet	Masquerade (A Shabby Tiger) (Operation Masquerade )	David Frazer	—	1965
No Score Yet	Love Has Many Faces	Pete Jordan	—	1965
No Score Yet	The Best Man	Joe Cantwell	—	1964
No Score Yet	633 Squadron	Wing Cmdr. Roy Grant	—	1964
No Score Yet	The Life and Times of John F. Kennedy	Actor	—	1964
100%	Sunday in New York	Adam Tyler	—	1963
60%	PT 109	Lt. John F. Kennedy	—	1963
No Score Yet	My Six Loves	Actor	—	1963
No Score Yet	The Interns	Dr. John Paul Otis	—	1962
No Score Yet	Underworld, U.S.A.	Tolly Devlin	—	1961
No Score Yet	All in a Night's Work	Warren Kingsley, Jr.	—	1961
No Score Yet	Battle of the Coral Sea	Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Conway	—	1959
44%	Gidget	The Big Kahuna	—	1959
83%	The Naked and the Dead	Lt. Hearn	—	1958
No Score Yet	The Girl Most Likely	Pete	—	1958
88%	Autumn Leaves	Burt Hanson	—	1956
57%	Picnic	Alan	—	1955

TV

RATING	TITLE	CREDIT	YEAR
No Score Yet	The Lyon's Den 2003	Hal Malloy Hal Molloy	2003
No Score Yet	The Outer Limits 1995-2002	Actor	1999
93%	Batman 1966-1968	Shame	1968 1966
91%	The Outer Limits (1963) 1963-1965	Actor	1963
80%	The Twilight Zone 1959-1964	Jerry Etherson Christian Horn	1962 1961 1960

Quotes from Cliff Robertson's Characters

Uncle Ben:

With great power, comes great responsibility.

Alan:

Same ol' Hal.