This is part of a continuing series of stories about movie stars of the past with Utah roots.
When future film actor Robert Hudson Walker was born in Salt Lake City on Sunday, October 13, 1918, the Deseret News front page was filled with stories about the closing days of World War I.Locally, ZCMI was about to celebrate its 50th anniversary, Charlie Chaplin's early Keystone comedies of 1914 were being recycled weekly at a local theater (with different titles, so they would appear to be new), the epic movies of the time were being directed by D. W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille and the biggest stars were in Westerns, Tom Mix and William S. Hart.
Horace Walker, city editor of the Deseret News, and his wife, Zella ,had hoped for a daughter, as they already had three sons. Both parents came from large Mormon families and wanted their children to be strong in the LDS faith.
Bob, as they called Robert, was near-sighted and small for his age. As he grew older, he often found himself in trouble at school, and when he was 11, his father left the Deseret News and tried his hand at advertising in Ogden. The new surroundings gave young Robert a clean slate at school, and he did better but still felt as if he didn't belong.
Soon, his Aunt Tenny Odlum stepped in and offered to finance him at a military academy in California. But once the glamour of the cadet uniforms wore off, the boy was again fighting drills and studies.
Around this time he tried out for a small part in a school drama, and it changed the course of his life. He won the lead, and by the end of the term was declared, "Best Actor in San Diego County," in a high-school drama competition. The next year (1936), he tied for "Best Actor" and was offered a scholarship at the Pasadena Playhouse. He was heartbroken when the school held him back because of low grades.
The following year his grades improved greatly, as did his reputation as an actor. Bob's Aunt Tenny stepped in again, to help him audition for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, and at age 19 he was accepted.
Around Christmas of that year (1938), Bob spotted a young woman at the academy and could not get her off his mind. He finally gathered up the courage to introduce himself, and they soon paired off for acting assignments.
Her name was Phyllis Isley, and together they made strong impressions with their acting abilities. Later, Robert Walker would say in an interview, "We were both in love with acting and were mutually attracted. I was only 19, but even then I knew there could never be anyone else."
Bob and Phyllis decided to skip their second year at the academy and tackle Broadway, but the best they could do was earn 50 cents a night in Greenwich Village. Soon, they married on the anniversary of their first meeting, in a private ceremony on January 2, 1939. And then it was off to California, to try their luck at movies.
A letter of introduction from Phyllis' father led to a screen test and a six-month contract at Republic Pictures, where she was cast as the romantic interest in a John Wayne "B" Western, "New Frontier," and found herself the only female cast member in the 15-chapter serial, "Dick Tracy's G-Men." Meanwhile, Bob found work in a few walk-on parts at MGM.
Disillusioned with the movies, they returned to New York and on April 15, 1940, Robert Walker Jr. was born. By now, Bob was getting work in radio and was soon doing shows at both NBC and CBS. His self-esteem soared. Then, just as Phyllis was about to try and resume her acting career, she became pregnant once again. On March 13, 1941, a second son, Michael, was born.
Eventually, Phyllis tried out for the Chicago stage company of a play, for which Hollywood producer David O. Selznick ("Gone With the Wind") had purchased the film rights. He was impressed with Phyllis and put her under a personal movie contract (a common Hollywood practice at the time).
Bob, starring in the New York-based CBS radio show, "Maudie's Diary," stayed on the East Coast with their sons while his wife went to the Hollywood and Selznick shaped her career, waiting for the perfect film role in which to make her starring debut. Bob, agonizing over their separation, telephoned her every evening.
It was 1942, and with the United States entry into World War II, Selznick sold off some of his assets, but he renewed Phyllis' contract and officially changed her screen name to Jennifer Jones, predicting, "The whole world will fall in love with you -- I'll make sure of that." He made good on his promise by helping her get the title role in 20th Century Fox's "The Song of Bernadette." (She would win the best actress Academy Award for her efforts.)
Meanwhile, Bob declined to renew his CBS contract and followed Phyllis to Hollywood with their sons. He found the controlling Selznick would not allow him on the movie set and was deliberately keeping his star's marriage and motherhood out of the press. But he managed to earn his own Hollywood contract after winning a role in MGM's "Bataan." His stock soared after he was then cast with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in "Madame Curie" and became a hit with wartime audiences as the title character in the military comedy "See Here, Private Hargrove."
Next came Selznick's "Since You Went Away," with Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple as Claudette Colbert's teenage daughters. Selznick cast Robert Walker as Jones' love interest and encouraged publicity about their marriage and children.
Bob was excited about being teamed with his wife, but his happy world was about to crash. Jennifer asked him for a separation, which made working on the film together painful for both of them. Jennifer would often break into tears, and Selznick was there to comfort her.
Shortly after shooting began, Bob was riding his motorcycle back to his apartment when a car hit him broadside. Miraculously, he was not killed or seriously injured, but his recovery took nearly a month. Selznick could have used this as an excuse to replace him but did not.
20th Century Fox was anxious that the divorce be delayed and the separation kept out of the newspaper until after "Since You Went Away" opened in December of 1943.
Liquor became Bob's way of handling his hurt, and he lost interest in his own career. In March 1944, Jones won her Oscar. The next day, she filed for divorce.
The divorce was granted in 1945. Selznick received a final decree of his divorce from his wife, Irene, in January 1949. The two were married in July of that year.
Career-wise, Robert Walker was zooming upward. He was cast with Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson in "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" (1944), then opposite Judy Garland in "The Clock" (1945).
Offscreen, Walker spent a good deal of time with his two sons, but his drinking increased. He dated several women in Hollywood -- including fellow Utahn Marie Windsor, a budding actress who would become best-known for vixens ("The Killing," "Narrow Margin"), but no one could replace his ex-wife.
MGM continued to cast him in major films: as songwriter Jerome Kern in "Till the Clouds Roll By" (1946), Katherine Hepburn's illegitimate son in Elia Kazan's "The Sea of Grass" (1947), as composer Johannes Brahms in "Song of Love" (1947), again with Hepburn.
Though the drinking and depression continued, he would eventually remarry. For Barbara Ford, daughter of famed director John Ford, it was love at first sight, and following a short courtship, they were married in July 1948. But it lasted only six weeks, and Walker suffered the first of several nervous breakdowns.
He eventually was committed for psychiatric treatment (at MGM's expense) in the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kan. And in May 1949, he resumed his movie career with "Please Believe Me" (1950), opposite Deborah Kerr, and as the villainous brother of Burt Lancaster in "Vengeance Valley" (1951).
When he finished shooting "Vengeance Valley" on location in Colorado, he learned that Alfred Hitchcock wanted him for the role Bruno Anthony, a psychopathic playboy, in his next film, "Strangers on a Train" (1951). It would eclipse all his other work in terms of cinematic history.
Next, he took a role in the anti-communist drama, "My Son John." But before the film could be completed, the 32-year-old actor died suddenly, on Aug. 30, 1951, reportedly after undergoing medical treatment for yet another emotional outburst.
After his body was shipped to Ogden, on Sept. 4, 1951, LDS Bishop and former Ogden mayor David S. Romney conducted the funeral services as more than 400 people packed the church. Robert Walker was buried in Washington Heights Cemetery.
Eleven of Walker's 19 major movies are currently available on video. You'll find most of them (as well as many Jennifer Jones titles) at Avalon Video and Video Vern's (3 stores) in Salt Lake City.