Robert J. Anderson
Encyclopedia
Robert J. Anderson better known by his stage name Bobby Anderson (or sometimes Bobbie Anderson), was an American
actor
and television producer, most famous for his role as Little George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life
.
Anderson grew up in a Hollywood
family. His father, Gene Anderson was an assistant director and production manager, and his brothers and cousins were editors
and production managers in their own right. He was also the nephew of directors William Beaudine
and James Flood.
Anderson enlisted in the Navy
during the Korean War
, serving as a photographer on aircraft carrier
s. After his time in the Navy, he went on to work behind the scenes in assistant directing, then later production with Disney, Warner Bros.
, Universal
, HBO, United Artists
, Columbia
, and 20th Century Fox
on such films as The Apartment
, Hawaii
, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
, I Love Lucy
, Code Red
, Police Story
, and Ripley's Believe It or Not!.
He also worked as a line producer and production consultant for films such as Passenger 57
, Demolition Man
and Heat.
He died of cancer at age 75 at his home in Palm Springs, California
. He is survived by his wife, Victoria; sons John, Bob Jr., and Joe; daughters Kathleen Inman, Deborah Gutierrez, and Heidi Anderson-Robinson; and 11 grandchildren.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and television producer, most famous for his role as Little George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
.
Anderson grew up in a Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
family. His father, Gene Anderson was an assistant director and production manager, and his brothers and cousins were editors
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
and production managers in their own right. He was also the nephew of directors William Beaudine
William Beaudine
William Beaudine was an American film actor and director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out films in remarkable numbers and in a wide variety of genres.-Early life and career:...
and James Flood.
Anderson enlisted in the Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, serving as a photographer on aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s. After his time in the Navy, he went on to work behind the scenes in assistant directing, then later production with Disney, Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, HBO, United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
, Columbia
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, and 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
on such films as The Apartment
The Apartment
The Apartment is a 1960 American comedy-drama film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray. It was Wilder's follow-up to the enormously popular Some Like It Hot and, like its predecessor, was a commercial and critical hit, grossing $25...
, Hawaii
Hawaii (film)
Hawaii is a 1966 American film directed by George Roy Hill and based on the novel of the same name by James A. Michener. It tells the story of an 1820s Yale University divinity student who, along with his new bride , becomes a Calvinist missionary in the Hawaiian Islands...
, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (film)
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is a 1968 film adaptation of the Carson McCullers novel of the same name. It was directed by Robert Ellis Miller. It stars Alan Arkin, Sondra Locke, Laurinda Barrett, Stacy Keach, Percy Rodriguez, Chuck McCann and Cicely Tyson...
, I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
, Code Red
Code Red (TV series)
Code Red is an American television series that ran from 1981 to 1982 on ABC and was produced by Irwin Allen. This was Allen's sixth and final television series....
, Police Story
Police Story
Police Story is an anthology television crime drama that aired on NBC from 1973 through 1978. The show was the brainchild of author and former policeman Joseph Wambaugh and represented a major step forward in the realistic depiction of police work and violence on network TV...
, and Ripley's Believe It or Not!.
He also worked as a line producer and production consultant for films such as Passenger 57
Passenger 57
Passenger 57 is a 1992 American action film starring Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne. The film's success made Snipes a popular action hero icon.-Plot:...
, Demolition Man
Demolition Man (film)
Demolition Man is a 1993 American, science fiction action film directed by Marco Brambilla, and starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne, and Denis Leary co-star....
and Heat.
He died of cancer at age 75 at his home in Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
. He is survived by his wife, Victoria; sons John, Bob Jr., and Joe; daughters Kathleen Inman, Deborah Gutierrez, and Heidi Anderson-Robinson; and 11 grandchildren.
Filmography
- Maryland (19401940 in filmThe year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
), Lee Danfield, age 7 - Young People (1940), Jerry Dakin
- Youth Will Be Served (1940), Boy
- Willie and the Mouse (19411941 in filmThe year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
), Boy with Airplane - The Officer and the Lady (1941), Jimmy
- Rover's Big Chance (19421942 in filmThe year 1942 in film involved some significant events, in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest of all time, Casablanca.-Events:...
) - Election Daze (19431943 in filmThe year 1943 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 3 - 1st missing persons telecast * February 20 - American film studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor films....
) - Mystery of the 13th Guest (1943), Family Member
- A Tree Grows in BrooklynA Tree Grows In Brooklyn (film)A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a 1945 film, the first film directed by Greek-American director Elia Kazan, starring James Dunn , Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, and Peggy Ann Garner .The film is based on an American novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith first published in 1943...
(19451945 in filmThe year 1945 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Paramount Studios releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, featuring a ghost named Casper.* With Rossellini's Roma Città aperta, Italian neorealist cinema begins....
), Augie - Colorado Pioneers (1945), Parish Boy
- Gentleman Joe Palooka (19461946 in filmThe year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...
), Young Boy - It's A Wonderful LifeIt's a Wonderful LifeIt's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
(1946), Young George Bailey - The Bishop's WifeThe Bishop's WifeThe Bishop's Wife is a 1947 Samuel Goldwyn romantic comedy feature film starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven in a story about an angel who helps a bishop with his problems. It was released by RKO. The film was adapted by Leonardo Bercovici and Robert E...
(19471947 in filmThe year 1947 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 22 - Great Expectations is premiered in New York.*November 24 : The United States House of Representatives of the 80th Congress voted 346 to 17 to approve citations for contempt of Congress against the "Hollywood Ten".*November 25...
), Defence Captain - RuthlessRuthless (film)Ruthless is a drama film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring Zachary Scott and Louis Hayward.-Plot:Horace Vendig shows himself to the world as a rich philanthropist. In fact, the history of his rise from his unhappy broken home shows this to be far from the case...
(19481948 in filmThe year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :...
), Horace Vendig - Silver RiverSilver River (film)Silver River is a 1948 western film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan. The film is based on a Stephen Longstreet novel.-Plot:...
(1948), Boy - Just Suppose (1948), Son
- Let's Cogitate (1948)
- Samson and DelilahSamson and Delilah (1949 film)Samson and Delilah is a 1949 film made by Paramount Pictures , produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr as the title characters...
(19491949 in filmThe year 1949 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello...
), Boy - A Place in the SunA Place in the SunA Place in the Sun is a 1951 American drama film based on the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the play, also titled An American Tragedy, which was adapted by Patrick Kearney from the novel. It tells the story of a working-class young man who is entangled with two women; one who...
(19511951 in filmThe year 1951 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
), Eagle Scout - Born to the SaddleBorn to the Saddle-Plot:Bent on revenge for the death of his father and the theft of their ranch, young Bill Walton rides into town seeking the aid of his uncle. As he rides into town, he takes a bullet meant for gambler Matt Daggett and across the street lies his uncle, victim of the gambler's gun...
(19531953 in filmThe year 1953 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*September 16 — The Robe debuts as the first anamorphic, widescreen CinemaScope film.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:A...
), Ricky Summers - The Further Adventures of Spin and Marty (19561956 in filmThe year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...
), Terry Moore