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Robert Young, Hollywood’s embodiment of the clean cut kid in the 1930s, a wholesome likable leading man, died Tuesday in California at the age of 91. You might remember him from TV as the head of the household in Father Knows Best or the kindhearted family doctor in Marcus Welby MD. But before these long running roles on the small screen, Robert Young was a headlining name in over 100 movies. Although his first film was a Charlie Chan vehicle for Fox Studios called The Black Camel (1931), Young got his break in MGM’s The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931). He remained with MGM Studios for the next 20 years playing dutiful sons, romantic suitors and second bananas. Madelon Claudet is a well-crafted tear-jerker about a woman turned to prostitution to support her illegitimate son. Years later, the son shows mercy on the elderly woman never knowing she was his mother. The film won Helen Hayes an Academy Award and Young a place in audiences’ hearts. In the 1930s, Young was making up to nine films a year, starring opposite some of Hollywood’s biggest names: Clark Gable in Strange Interlude (1932); Gary Cooper in Today We Live (1933); Joan Crawford in The Bride Wore Red (1937), Spencer Tracy in Northwest Passage (1940) and Errol Flynn and Greer Garson in That Forsyte Woman (1950). Young worked with some of cinema’s strongest directors as well, Alfred Hitchcock in The Secret Agent (1936), Howard Hawks in Today We Live (1933) and Fritz Lang in Western Union (1941). When his Hollywood roles began to grow thin in the late 1950s, Young made the transition to television. He remained a familiar face in Father Knows Best. He played the benevolent patriarch Jim Anderson for eight years from 1954-1962. As Marcus Welby MD, Young entrenched his standing in every household, it remains the role that he is most identified with. He played the good doctor from 1969-1976 with reunion shows in 1984 and 1988. Young once said that the secret to his success was the fact that the audience liked to see him in the role of the good guy. And one of the great leading men of the screen, Robert Young will always be. Turner Classic Movies Salutes Robert Young with a 24-hour, 13 movie tribute on July 24. 6:00 AM - The Sin of Madelon Claudet 7:30 AM - Hell Below 9:30 AM - Today We Live 11:30 AM - Paris Interlude 1:00 PM - The Band Plays On 2:30 PM - West Point of the Air 4:00 PM - The Emperor's Candlesticks 6:00 PM - The Bride Wore Red 8:00 PM - The Mortal Storm 10:00 PM - Northwest Passage 12:30 AM - Cairo 2:30 AM - The Canterville Ghost 4:30 AM - Crossfire |
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