Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor of stage and screen.
Robards made a name for himself on stage in the 1950s and '60s as one of the foremost performers in the plays of Eugene O'Neill, perhaps most notably in his role as the troubled traveling salesman Hickey in The Iceman Cometh and as the alcoholic washed-up actor Jamie Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night and its sequel A Moon For The Misbegotten.
On screen, Robards was probably best-known for his supporting roles in such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, All the President's Men, Melvin and Howard, Philadelphia, and Magnolia. During his fifty-year acting career he was nominated for eight Tony Awards, more than any other male performer to date; not to mention three Academy Awards, five Emmy Awards, and five Golden Globes.
The son of actor Jason Robards Sr. (whose career extended from the silent era to the early 1960s), Robards served in the US Navy during World War II. He was married four times (to Eleanor Pittman, Rachel Taylor, Lauren Bacall, and Lois O'Connor) and had six children, including Sam Robards, his son with Bacall.
Robards died in 2000 at the age of 78 from lung cancer.
Robards' appearances on stage and screen:
- The Journey as Paul Kedes
- By Love Possessed as Julius Penrose
- Tender Is the Night as Dr. Richard 'Dick' Diver
- Long Day's Journey Into Night as Jamie Tyrone
- Act One as George S. Kaufman
- A Thousand Clowns as Murray
- A Big Hand for the Little Lady as Henry Drummond
- Any Wednesday as John Cleves
- Divorce American Style as Nelson Downes
- The St Valentines Day Massacre as Al Capone
- Hour Of The Gun as Doc Holliday
- Isadora as Singer
- Once Upon a Time in the West Manuel 'Cheyenne' Gutierrez
- The Night They Raided Minskys as Raymond Paine
- Julius Caesar as Marcus Junius Brutus
- Rosolino Paterno Soldato as Sam Armstrong
- The Ballad of Cable Hogue as Cable Hogue
- Tora! Tora! Tora! as Gen. Walter C. Short
- Fools as Matthew South
- Johnny Got His Gun as Joe's Father
- Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971) as Cesar Charron
- The War Between Men And Women as Stephen Kozlenko
- Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid as Gov. Wallace
- A Boy and His Dog as Lou Craddack
- Mr Sycamore as John Gwilt
- Addie And The King Of Hearts as Jamie Mills (TV Movie)
- All the President's Men as Ben Bradlee
- The Spy Who Never Was as Inspector Barkan
- Julia as Hammett
- Comes A Horseman as Ewing
- Hurricane as Capt. Charles Bruckner
- Caboblanco as Gunther Beckdorff
- Raise the Titanic! as Admiral James Sandecker
- Melvin and Howard as Howard Hughes
- The Legend of the Lone Ranger as Pres. Ulysses S. Grant
- Max Dugan Returns as Max Dugan
- Something Wicked This Way Comes as Charles Halloway
- Square Dance as Dillard
- Bright Lights, Big City as Drunken Writer (Uncredited Role)
- The Good Mother as W.O. Muth
- Dream A Little Dream as Coleman Ettinger
- Inherit the Wind as Henry Drummond
- Reunion as Henry Strauss
- Parenthood as Frank
- Black Rainbow as Walter Travis
- Quick Change as Chief Rotzinger
- Mark Twain And Me as Mark Twain (TV Movie)
- Storyville as Clifford Fowler
- The Adventures of Huck Finn as The King
- The Trial as Dr. Huld
- Philadelphia as Charles Wheeler
- The Paper as Graham Keighley
- Little Big League as Thomas Heywood
- Crimson Tide as Rear Admiral Anderson (uncredited)
- A Thousand Acres as Larry Cook
- The Real Macaw as Grandpa Girdis
- Beloved as Mr. Bodwin
- Enemy of the State as Congressman Hammersley (uncredited)
- Heartwood as Logan Reeser
- Magnolia as Earl Partridge
- Justice as Karder (2 episodes)
- Omnibus as Prime Minister (1 episode)
- Ghost Story as Elliot Brent (1 episode)
- Washington Behind Closed Doors as Pres. Richard Monckton
- Broadway On Showtime as Eric Smith (1 episode)
- American Playhouse as Eric Smith (1 episode)
- Great Performances as Grandpa Martin Vanderhof (1 episode)
- The Atlanta Child Murders as Alvin Binder
- The Long Hot Summer as Will Varner
- Long Day's Journey Into Night as James Tyrone Jr.
- Henry IV, Part 1 as Hotspur
- A Winters Tale as Plixness
- The Disenchanted as Manley Halliday
- Toys In The Attic as Julian Berniers
- Big Fish Little Fish as William Baker
- A Thousand Clowns as Murray Burns
- After The Fall as Quentin
- Hughie as 'Erie' Smith
- The Devils as Urbain Grandier
- We Bombed In New Haven as Captain Starkey
- The Country Girl as Frank Elgin
- A Moon For The Misbegotten as James Tyrone Jr.
- A Touch Of The Poet as Cornelius Melody
- You Can't Take It With You as Martin Vanderhof
- The Iceman Cometh as Theodore 'Hickey' Hickman
- Ah Wilderness as Nat Miller
- Long Day's Journey Into Night as James Tyrone
- Love Letters as Andrew Makepiece Ladd III
- No Mans Land as Hirst
