RIP Oscar Winner Cliff Robertson

Cliff Robertson, who won an Oscar for portraying a mentally handicapped man in Charly in 1968, died on Saturday of natural causes.

It was one day after his 88th birthday.

Most of you will remember him as Uncle Ben in the Spider-Man movies but he had a long, wonderful career that lasted 60 years.  He played a young John F. Kennedy in P.T. 109 and starred in the films Gidget, Three Days of the Condor among others.

For an in-depth obituary, check out the Washington Post’s here.

Below is an interview he did a few years ago. It’s an hour-long but he talks about his entire career, the good and the bad. If you have some free time, I’d check it out.

Here, he talks about working in anthology series during the “live” television era of the 1950s, and discusses his rol Actor Cliff Robertson talks about working in anthology series during the “live” television era of the 1950s, and discusses his role as mentally disabled “Charlie Gordon” on “The U.S. Steel Hour.”

 

 

He also talks in great detail about his work with director John Frankenheimer on the “Playhouse 90″ episode “The Days of Wine and Roses.”

 

He talks about his two appearances on the classic anthology series “The Twilight Zone” and spoke about series creator Rod Serling. He also talks about appearances on shows including “The Outer Limits,” “Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers,” “The Untouchables,” and “Ben Casey.” He also talks about his blacklisting by the industry following “Hollywoodgate,” in which he accused Columbia Pictures head David Begelman of forging a check.

 

Here, he talks about his guest appearances on numerous television series including “Batman,” “Falcon Crest,” and various made-for-television movies. He also talks about the changes in television during his career, and gives advice to aspiring actors.