That barrel-chested tough guy and master of sleepy-eyed villains was in a playful mood as he met the Spanish press.
Why did he stop writing poetry and children's stories?"Because it contradicted my image," shot back Robert Mitchum.
What is your image?
"Dissolute, brutal, untrustworthy, a general ne'er-do-well."
Does your wife believe that image?
"Obviously not. She stuck around for 53 years."
And how did Mitchum feel about playing a minor role for small money in the remake of "Cape Fear," when he had starred in the 1962 original?
"I wouldn't call $250,000 for one day's work small money."
Mitchum was in Spain to receive the San Sebastian Film Festival's Donastia award for lifetime achievement.
"After 130-40-50 movies, maybe I deserve this," said Mitchum, whose roles ranged from light-hearted in "The Sundowners" to terrifying in "The Night of the Hunter" and the original "Cape Fear."
It was a rare lapse of modesty for the long-lasting star who has a history of deprecating all things Hollywood, including himself.
Last January, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association also handed him a career achievement award.
A star since 1945, Mitchum, 76, has been ignored by the Academy Awards after his supporting-actor nomination for "The Story of G.I. Joe," his first important role.
Why the belated recognition?
"They can't find anybody else," he said. "You get the feeling: `Get him while he's still around. He's failing. Get him quick.' "
Mitchum remained in character throughout his stay in this seaside resort in northern Spain. He grumbled about having to don a tuxedo on four occasions. He complained about lack of sleep. And while other festival visitors were viewing films from many countries, Mitchum stared blankly at CNN on a television in his hotel suite.
"Bob can't go anywhere," explained his wife, Dorothy. "Once in Rome we were told there would be no problem during the siesta. We went for a walk, and it ended in a riot. We had to take refuge in a shop until the police came."
One morning at the hotel, Mitchum came downstairs in the service elevator to have a breakfast interview in a closed dining room. The face is craggier, the eyelids annually droop one or two millimeters, otherwise the actor's appearance remains the same as in his film noir period at RKO.
He seems willing to leave his Santa Barbara home and fly anywhere in the world to ply his trade, as long as the price is right ("I work cheap") and paid in advance. His latest film was a South African adventure with Bo Derek, which he said went directly to video.
The actor's resume includes such prestige items as "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" (John Huston), "Rio Grande" (Howard Hawks) and "Ryan's Daughter" (David Lean). Also numerous duds. Today's generation knows him primarily as the gruff but tender Navy officer in the epic TV miniseries "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance."
Mitchum's early years have long been befogged in legend and mystery. With little prodding, he reminisced about his life after leaving home at 16 in mid-Depression. His journey southward was interrupted in Savannah, Ga.
"They had a cure for the homeless then - 180 days on the Chatham County Gang No. 1," he recalled. "We got 21-10 - 21 meals a week and 10 cents worth of Bull Durham Golden Grain."
After concluding work on the road gangs, Mitchum decided to head west and join his sister in Long Beach, Calif. Unlike other future stars, he did not travel by Super Chief. He rode the rails.
"Whole families would be huddled in freight cars," he recalled. "I was warned: `Don't go into L.A. They'll put you in Lincoln Heights jail for delousing.' I was so weary I rode right into the Santa Fe freight yards.
"Five Mexicans were under a water tower with three gallons of wine. They called me over, gave me some wine and told me how to get out. I thought, `Jeez, a welcoming party for the bums! This is home!' "
His first meal in California came at the Midnight Mission on L.A.'s Skid Row ("The food? Not bad. Better then the stale bread I'd been eating."). He moved in with his sister and her Navy husband, worked as a dishwasher, busboy and longshoreman and acted in a local theater.
The defense industry was booming, and Mitchum hired on at Lockheed aircraft.
"I was working the graveyard shift, and I never slept," he said. "I'd work two nights on 15 minutes' sleep. Finally I went blind."
A Glendale doctor diagnosed his problem: "It's a symptomatic reaction; you hate your job."
His sight restored, Mitchum briefly sold shoes before accepting an agent's offer of studio interviews. He bombed at Paramount Pictures and walked across Melrose Avenue and was hired for the Hopalong Cassidy Westerns at $150 a week.
"I figured I'd play the romantic lead," Mitchum remarked. "But Bill Boyd (Hoppy) took one look at me and said, `You look mean around the eyes; you'll do for the villain."'