Here’s To You, Cliff Robertson
Cliff Robertson won the 1968 Best Actor Oscar for his role as a mentally disabled man in the film Charly. His triumph led to offers to star in films like Straw Dogs and Dirty Harry. He turned these down and opted instead to write, direct and star in an awful film called J.W. Coop (1972). Reflecting on this decision years later Robertson said, “Nobody made more mediocre movies than I did. Nobody ever did such a wide variety of mediocrity.”
Robertson took supporting roles in studio films like Three Days of the Condor (1975) and Midway (1976). He then became involved in a scandal that changed his life. In 1977, Robertson learned that a $10,000 check paid to him by Columbia Pictures for work he never performed had been forged and cashed by someone else. He reported the incident to the FBI who discovered the person perpetrating the forgery was Columbia studio head David Begelman.
The studio wanted to keep the story out of the media. They quietly fired Begelman claiming he suffered from “emotional problems.” They asked Robertson to remain silent on the matter. Robertson was indignant and spoke to the press. His whistle blowing led to him being blacklisted in Hollywood. (David McClintock’s 1982 book Indecent Exposure covers the story in detail.)
In his 1988 memoir The Ragman’s Son, actor Kirk Douglas wrote: “This is the town where Cliff Robertson…
