Obituary: Robert Mulligan

Dec 26 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

MOOD filled the screen – the moods, which arise from the humming of insects, the whirring of fans, the croaking of frogs, sweat on your collar, heat, oppressive heat, a slavering dog, childhood’s wide-eyed wonder, southern courtesy, seats swinging on creaking verandahs and ... hate.

Yes, it is usually difficult for the movie to match the book, particularly if the book is recognised as a masterpiece of its style. Such was the case with To Kill A Mockingbird – the 1960 Pulitzer Prize winner from Harper Lee about a brother and sister eager to discover more about the mysterious recluse, Boo Radley, and how they come to appreciate the quiet courage of their father Atticus Finch, who defends a black man wrongly accused of raping a down-trodden white woman.

The film, which followed two years later, met the standard, thanks to superb direction from Robert Mulligan, as well as delicately measured performances from Gregory Peck (Finch) and Mary Badham as his daughter Scout, Phillip Alford as her brother Jem and Robert Duvall as Boo.

It was nominated for eight Academy awards.

The son of a policeman, Mulligan was “Bronx Irish”. He studied at Fordham University, before serving with the United States Marine Corps during the war.

After a brief spell in journalism, his abundant talent led to rapid advancement at CBS TV. In 1959 he won an Emmy for directing The Moon and Sixpence, the American small-screen debut of Sir Laurence Olivier. Two years earlier, Mulligan was acclaimed for directing his first feature film, Fear Strikes Out, starring Anthony Perkins as a tormented baseball-player.

In The Stalking Moon, starring Peck again, Mulligan returned to racial divisions. This time between the whites and Apaches.

A fine conversationalist with a liking for drink, Mulligan’s best work featured confrontational drama. However, The Summer of ‘42, which Mulligan also narrated, was a huge box office success, telling of a teenage boy’s passion for a woman whose husband is away at war – starring Gary Grimes and Jennifer O’Neill.

His last success was The Man in the Moon (1991), a charming introduction to the big screen for Reese Witherspoon. Mulligan married twice and had three children.

Robert Mulligan film director, born August 23, 1925; died December 20, 2008.