Mitchum Discusses (Sort Of) Role In ‘The Marshal’
Interviewing Robert Mitchum is rather like playing 20 Questions. With a snapping turtle.
He’s not unfriendly, or even unresponsive - he answers every question promptly - but there’s a vaguely amused edge in his voice that suggests the window of opportunity is about to slam shut and that if you don’t feed him a question that really interests him - and quickly - you might just get your fingers caught.
(Reporter. It’s what’s for dinner.)
The 78-year-old actor, veteran of about 100 movies, several miniseries and even a sitcom, had agreed to a phone interview about his role in tonight’s episode of “The Marshal,” in which he plays the father of Winston MacBride (Jeff Fahey).
The bags under Mitchum’s eyes that once made him so sexy hang deeper now (as usual, he eschews makeup), but as Frank MacBride, Mitchum still has the voice, and he brings a curmudgeonly charm to the role.
As for the interview, it went something like this:
Q. Why did you choose to do “The Marshal”?
A. I was asked.
Q. So after all these years, you still like to work?
A. Not particularly, no. (Longish pause.) But that rude fellow from the IRS keeps prodding me.
Q. Do you really owe money to the IRS?
A. No, but that’s because I work.
Q. But if you didn’t work, you wouldn’t owe. So why continue acting?
A. That’s what I do. That’s what it says on my job description.
Q. You’ve seen the “The Marshal”? What did you think?
A. I thought it was pleasant enough. And I’m a great fan of Mr. Fahey.
Q. I understand this part is going to be a recurring one. How often will you appear?
A. I don’t know anything about that.
Q. Oh. Would you be willing to appear again?
A. It depends up on the script and the circumstances, doesn’t it?
Q. So it does take more than merely asking to get you to do a role. What do you look for?
A. A minimum of involvement.
Q. How’s your health?
A. I think the phrase is, “as well as can be expected.”
Q. Would you be interested in doing movies again?
A. If something attractive happens, why not? Gets me out of the house.
Q. So you have no retirement plans?
A. I retire every morning.
(After a brief - imagine how brief - discussion of the difference between movies and television, Mitchum discloses that he’s never seen either “The Winds of War” or “War and Remembrance,” the two sprawling miniseries in which he starred.)
Q. Do you ever watch your old movies?
A. I watched “Thunder Road” and “Night of the Hunter” on TNT the other night.
Q. But what’s it like, seeing yourself on screen in movies made years ago?
A. I was always sort of shy about my appearance but I look at myself now and I didn’t look too bad.
Q. Will you watch “The Marshal”?
A. If I live till Monday, I may look at it.
Q. You’re famous for not enjoying interviews. Why not?
A. You know, you clock in, you clock out and it keeps going on. They keep coming at you, asking you why you did it.
Q. So how long will you keep working?
A. Until I get weary of it.