On this day, Feb. 25, 1949, actor Robert Mitchum was released from a prison farm after a two-month sentence for marijuana possession.
At an early age, Mitchum had contempt for authority and spent part of his teen years adventuring around the country in boxcars. At age 14, in Savannah, Ga., he was arrested for vagrancy and put on a chain gang. He escaped and went west, where he eventually picked up acting.
In 1948, Los Angeles detectives burst into a small party and found Mitchum smoking a joint. Mitchum, who two years earlier had been nominated for an Oscar in “The Story of G.I. Joe,” reportedly said, “This is the bitter end of everything.”
Instead, it seemed to enhance his image as a rebel, and his next movies were box office smashes. Mitchum went on to define the film noir in classics like “Crossfire,” “Out of the Past” and in his portrayals of psychopaths in “The Night of the Hunter” and “Cape Fear.”
Mitchum died in July 1997. He was 79.
