Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including Anchors Aweigh (1945), Song of the Thin Man (1947), The Green Years (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), The Boy with Green Hair (1948), and Kim (1950). As a young adult, he had a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and 1959 screen adaptation of Compulsion; and in 1962 he played Edmund Tyrone in the film version of Long Day's Journey into Night, for which he won two Best Actor Awards at the Cannes Film Festival. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for his starring role in the 1960 film version of D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers.
He appeared in supporting roles in such films as Dune (1984); Paris, Texas (1984); To Live and Die in L.A. (1985); Blue Velvet (1986); Beverly Hills Cop II (1987); and Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988). He received further critical acclaim for his performance in Married to the Mob (1988), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He subsequently had roles in The Player (1992), Air Force One (1997), The Rainmaker (1997), Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000) and The Manchurian Candidate (2004).
His television roles include Rear Admiral Albert "Al" Calavicci in Quantum Leap (1989–1993), Navy Secretary Edward Sheffield on JAG (2002–2004), and Brother Cavil on Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009). Following his roles on Quantum Leap and Battlestar Galactica, he appeared at numerous science fiction conventions. He retired from acting in 2015 following health issues and focused his later life on sculpture and other visual art.
Biography
1936–1950: Early life and career beginnings
Stockwell was born into a family of entertainers in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, and grew up between there and New York City. He was the younger son of Elizabeth "Betty" (Veronica) Stockwell, a vaudeville actress, and Harry Stockwell, an actor and lyric baritone singer. His father appeared in New York productions of Carousel and Oklahoma!, and was the voice of the Prince in Disney's 1937 animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. His elder brother was television and film actor Guy Stockwell. His stepmother, Nina Olivette, was an actress, comedian, singer, and toe dancer in burlesque and theater in New York and throughout North America. His mother's family was Italian.
Stockwell's father was appearing on Broadway in Oklahoma! when he heard about a play, Innocent Voyage by Paul Osborne, that was looking for child actors. Stockwell's mother took their two sons down to audition, and both boys were successful. Stockwell's part was small and the play had only a short run, but it led to a contract with MGM.
The studio cast him in a small role in The Valley of Decision (1945), a popular melodrama. Producer Joe Pasternak gave him a bigger part in Anchors Aweigh (1945) with Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly, where he played the nephew of Kathryn Grayson.
The film was popular, and MGM gave him a key role in The Green Years (1946) as Robert Shannon, an Irish Catholic orphan who grows up in a Scottish Presbyterian household. It was a huge hit. He also made a brief appearance in the MGM school room during the chase sequence of Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945).
20th Century Fox borrowed him for Home Sweet Homicide (1946) with Peggy Ann Garner where he was billed fourth. He co-starred with Wallace Beery in The Mighty McGurk (1947) at MGM, a remake of The Champ (1931) which Beery had made previously with Jackie Cooper. He also had the lead in the short A Really Important Person (1947).
He had supporting roles in The Arnelo Affair (1947), The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947) (as Janet Leigh's brother), and Song of the Thin Man (1947), billed fourth as the son of William Powell and Myrna Loy's characters. He later said, "I have very positive feelings regarding both of them, they were very sweet people, especially Myrna Loy. And that cute little dog, Asta. I liked that little dog."